The area of Lake Natron is one of the most evocative places of the entire African continent: a spooky lake, whose origins date back to a million and a half years ago, no more than 50 cm deep, which extends for 58 km in length and between 15 and 24 km in width from Kenya to Tanzania, changing its color, its shape and its surface depending on the rains and the season. Its waters are anything but inviting: fed mainly by the Ewaso Ng’iro River at the northern end, they evaporate rapidly due to the arid climate, and are strongly characterized by an unusual chemistry, due to over 20 underground springs from the volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai, 20 km south of the lake. Molten mixtures of sodium carbonatite (natron) and calcium carbonate salts arrive at the lake through a fault system, giving the water an alkaline level almost equal to that of ammonia and a temperature that can reach up to 60 º C.
Very few animal species are able to live in such an environment, which on the contrary is the ideal habitat for some microorganisms, such as the spirulina alga, which stain of pink and red the shallow water, and for the minor flamingos, which of the spirulina alga are nourished, and which contributes to the rose of their feathers. The safety of the place, inaccessible to predators, makes it between August and October the most important reproduction and nesting site of lesser flamingos in the world: in East Africa there are over two million smaller flamingos, or three quarters of the world population, and most of them were born in Lake Natron! The survival of the lesser flamingos passes from the protection of Lake Natron from the temptations of exploitation of the site for the extraction of soda. Besides the flamingos, in the extreme habitat of the waters of the lake has managed to settle only one species of fish, the endemic white-lipped tilapia (Oreochromis alcalica).
The landscape that characterizes the Lake Natron WMA is one of the most vivid evidence of the geological origins of the Rift Valley, on which stands the volcano, lava black, which when in contact with water turns into bright white ash, impressive enough to deserve the name Ol Donyo Lengai, or Mountain of God. The bright contrast that characterizes it is due to the fact that it is the only volcano in the world whose lava consists of sodium carbonatite (natron), similar to petroleum, which flows from its slopes at a temperature that, for a volcano, can be considered cold (500 º C compared to over 1.000 º C normal for lava)!
Although not a park to visit for the wildlife, during the excursions you can easily see zebras, gazelles and other animals.