Lake Natron

“Lake Natron is so caustic it can calcify the animals that die in it - yet this blood-red soda lake is the single most important breeding ground on Earth for the lesser flamingo.”

About Lake Natron

Lake Natron's extreme chemistry comes from volcanic mineral inflows with no outlet, concentrating sodium carbonate into a caustic brine in the hot Rift Valley basin. The lake has long been central to the lives of the Maasai who live around it, and to the sacred volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai above it. Its irreplaceable role as the breeding site for the bulk of East Africa's lesser flamingos has made it a focus of conservation concern, with proposed industrial and dam schemes repeatedly opposed for the threat they pose to the flamingos.

Overview Lake Natron, in the Rift Valley near the Kenyan border, is one of the most extreme and otherworldly lakes on Earth: a shallow, blood-red soda lake so alkaline and caustic that it can preserve and calcify the bodies of animals that die in it. Its waters, coloured by salt-loving microorganisms, can burn skin and eyes, and temperatures at the lake can be punishing.

The Flamingo Nursery For all its hostility to most life, Lake Natron is the single most important breeding site on Earth for the lesser flamingo. The caustic water and isolated mudflats protect the nesting birds from predators, and over a million flamingos can gather here, feeding on the lake's algae and turning its margins pink.

A Mountain of God Looming above the lake is Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano sacred to the Maasai, who call it the 'Mountain of God', the only volcano on Earth to erupt a rare, cool-flowing carbonatite lava.

A Harsh, Remote Beauty Far off the standard circuit, the area also offers waterfall hikes and Maasai culture, in a stark, dramatic Rift Valley setting.

The Experience

Reaching Lake Natron means a journey into a remote, baking corner of the Rift Valley, where the red-tinged water shimmers under fierce heat and flamingos line the distant shallows in pink ribbons. The eerie, lifeless-looking shore contrasts with the abundance of birds the lake quietly sustains. Visitors often hike to nearby waterfalls for relief from the heat, learn about Maasai life, and gaze up at Ol Doinyo Lengai, with the hardy able to climb the active volcano on a tough overnight ascent. It is a destination for those drawn to extremes and solitude.

Why It Matters

Lake Natron is one of Earth's most extreme soda lakes and the most important breeding site in the world for the lesser flamingo, set beneath the active, Maasai-sacred volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai in a remote stretch of the Rift Valley.

Why Visit

It is a starkly beautiful, otherworldly destination combining an extreme lake, vast flamingo flocks and a sacred volcano well off the tourist trail. View the flamingos from a respectful distance, hike to the cooling waterfalls, and consider the tough Ol Doinyo Lengai climb.