![]() Over time, as water evaporates, it leaves. It should only be undertaken with an experienced local guide, ideally leaving shortly before midnight to reach the crater rim for sunrise. The ghastly Lake Natron, in northern Tanzania, is a salt lake meaning that water flows in, but doesn’t flow out, so it can only escape by evaporation. The steep ascent of Lengai, ideally undertaken overnight to avoid sun exposure on the black shadeless slopes, is a popular hike with fit and adventurous travellers, at least when the volcano is sufficiently placid. Nearest towns to Lake Natron are Arusha in Tanzania and Magadi in Kenya. ![]() Lake Natron is found in the northern part of Tanzania. Probably the most active volcano in East Africa, Lengai has erupted at least a dozen times in the past 150 years, experienced almost continuous low-key activity over the last past century and a half, the most dramatic in recent years being over 2007, when it emitted an ashen steamy plume that travelled almost 20km downwind. Lake Natron, at a glance Located in northern Tanzania, near the border with neighbouring Kenya, Lake Natron is situated north east of the Ngorongoro Crater. Lake Natron A soda lake at the base of the active Ol Donyo Lengai volcano, the area around Lake Natron is often described as having a desolate and almost lunar beauty. The substance enters the lake through material eroding from the surrounding hills. The nature of the lake comes from a chemical called natron which is a mixture of sodium carbonate and baking soda. Ngare Sero Lake Natron Camp offers eight Bedo-style tents. Moivaro Lake Natron offers nine guest tents with simple furnishings, as well as four basic bandas with running water, flush toilet, shower and electricity. The main attraction close to the Natron is Ol Doinyo Lengai, the Maasai ‘Mountain of God’, a textbook volcano that rises more than 2km above the surrounding Rift Valley floor to an altitude of 2,960m. Lake Natron is a salt lake, meaning that it has no outlet for the water to exit the lake other than evaporation. The two accommodations are Moivaro Lake Natron Tented Camp and Ngare Sero Lake Natron Camp, both are Tier 3 budget accommodations. Natron also attracts up to 100,000 migrant waders during the European winter. There is some large wildlife in the area, but Natron’s main faunal claim to fame is as the only known breeding ground for East Africa’s 2.5 million lesser flamingos, which congregate at an inaccessible part of the lake between August and October. Almost 60km long but nowhere more than a metre deep, this primordial alkaline sump is renowned for its caustic and unusually viscous waters, which are enclosed by a crust of volcanic ash and salt, as well as a few isolated swamp patches fed by bubbling hot springs. Set within the Rift Valley on the eastern border of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Natron is perhaps the most starkly beautiful of all the Rift Valley lakes south of Turkana.
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