Does Lake Natron lake really turn animals into 'stone'? What's the truth?

Lake Natron is an alkaline lake located in the north Ngorongoro District of the Arusha Region in Tanzania. The details about this surreal lake can be extremely scary. Over a period of time, this lake has become a centre of attraction for experts and analysts. The crimson water looks beautiful but not enticing enough to force people to dive and take a dip in it. But why?

It has been reported that the lake turns animals that touch it into "stone". This sounds like folklore or a horror movie script, but it can be true to some extent because of the presence of salt in it.

The lake contains salt, soda, and magnesite deposits. Ol Doinyo Lengai, also known as the Mountain of God, contributes to the lake's hostile conditions. It is the only active volcano to emit natrocarbonatites -a rare carbonatite lava.

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Sodium carbonate and other minerals that enter the lake from the surrounding hills make the water alkaline. For the unversed, the deposits of sodium carbonate were apparently once used in the process of Egyptian mummification also.

In this Eastern African lake, the same process acts as a type of preservative for those animals who lost their lives in its waters.

Several media reports say so, but it is difficult to establish that the lake water was responsible for turning animals to stone when they died after coming into contact with the lake. But there's no proof. In fact, the same water also supports a thriving ecosystem of salt marshes, freshwater wetlands, flamingos, etc.

The lake, deemed one of the world's deadliest, must be terrifying for most animals, but not for flamingoes. This lake is a thriving place and the only regular breeding area in East Africa for the 2.5 million lesser flamingoes.

The salty water in Lake Natron has a pH of over 10.5 and reports said that the water is so caustic that it can burn the skin and eyes of animals that aren't adapted to it. The lakegetsits blood-red tone fromBacteria, which can tolerate harsh conditions.

Nick Brandt, an English photographer, whose work mostly focused on the rapidly disappearing natural world because of environmental destruction, and climate change, published a book in 2013 titled - "Across the Ravaged Land".

The book is the third and final volume in Brandt's trilogy of books documenting the disappearing animals of eastern Africa. He published a series of images which showed haunting images of the lake and reportedly its dead.

As quoted byNBC News, Brandt said: "I unexpectedly found the creatures — all manner of birds and bats — washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in 'living' positions, bringing them back to 'life'."

A look a some of the images:

In his book,Brandt explained: 'I unexpectedly found the creatures — all manner of birds and bats — washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron."

"No one knows for certain exactly how they die, but … the water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds," he added.

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