Even the water temperature is usually between 104 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit (40 and 60 Celsius).Īlthough most creatures can’t handle the hot lake water, it’s a perfect environment for a salt-loving microorganism called cyanobacteria. The climate there is so arid that most of the small amount of rain the area receives evaporates before hitting the surface. It also contains high amounts of sodium carbonate decahydrate called natron, hence the name Lake Natron. Since the water flowing into the lake leaches through the surrounding bedrock that is composed of alkaline, the lake’s water is very salty. Most of its water comes from hot springs and the Southern Ewaso Ng’iro River. It is 35 miles long from north to south, and 14 miles wide. the posed compositions reanimate the lifeless animals, alive again in death.In northern Tanzania, just next to Kenya, lies the beautiful, and notorious Lake Natron. for his monochrome portraits, brandt carefully removes the found birds from the water and places them in living positions, perching them on branches, and arranging them as floating figures on the stagnant shore. The mummified species are the eerie aftermath of nature’s nightmarish unpredictability.

brandt notes that the chemical level was so extreme, that while he was capturing the images, the ink stripped off his kodak film boxes within just a few seconds. the waterway contains a deadly chemical composition - a very high soda and salt content - which causes any creature who dares to dip in to die, calcify, and remain perfectly preserved as they dry. the animals had washed up along the shoreline of the lethal lake natron, a salt lake located near the kenyan border. While traveling northern tanzania for a pictorial journey of east africa, british photographer nick brandt unexpectedly came upon a number dead birds and bats that appeared to be made out of stone. Image © nick brandt 2013 / courtesy of hasted kraeutler gallery, NY Lethal lake natron calcifies animals into stone-like corpses

Lake natron calcified animals in color