Lake Natron

Lake Natron is a mineral-rich soda lake in northern Tanzania, at the border with Kenya. It's a breeding ground for hundreds of thousands of lesser flamingos, despite the highly alkaline state of the bright red lake water.

The 4 hour drive to our accommodation, the Safari Comfort Bungalow, was once again on a bumpy and dusty road over volcanic rocks, around a big active volcano and avoiding wandering herds of cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys. It sits below Ol Doinyo Lengai, a soaring, active volcano in the Rift Valley.

On the way, we stopped for a short break at a steep-sided mini volcanic crater, called God’s Hole, about 300m deep and 1km wide. There were great views of the surrounding areas from this site and of course, there were a few Maasai women under a tree selling their beaded jewellery.

We continued on, crossing over old lava ‘river’ beds until we reached a town that had a significant river flowing through it. All the animals and people from the area gather at this spot to drink/get water.

Finally, at the end of the world, no I mean at the end of the road, we arrived at the accommodation and it was lovely. A very large and fancy restaurant, a big swimming pool and several good-sized cabins spread out over a landscaped property overlooking Lake Natron.

We had our lunch there and then Norton whisked us off to go on a hike to a waterfall.

Right next door to Lake Natron is Ngare Sero gorge. It is a 600 metre-deep crack in the Great Rift Valley with a pretty waterfall that you can hike to by walking up the river. The waterfall is part of a beautiful, small oasis where we were told we could swim.

The first hundred metres of the hike doesn't look like much. Pat even wondered why we needed a Maasai guide. But once we entered the gorge, we quickly realized that we were in for a real treat and a guide was a good idea.

The hike first took us up and down some stone stairs at the side of the gorge but then we went down to the bottom. We spent a fair bit of time walking over the jumble of rocks alongside the river, but then had to crisscross the river. We had been told to wear our bathing suits and shoes.

There was a section where we had to walk right in the river. At times, we would put our foot down on what we thought was solid ground and sink in the lava sand on the river bottom. The river current was somewhat strong and at times we were walking in water up to our waists. It was somewhat challenging.

Finally we arrived at the beautiful waterfall.Standing under the waterfall and swimming in its pool was the perfect reward for hiking in the heat to get there.

I read that all in all it was a 5.5 km hike. Not long but scrambling over hot slippery rocks and dealing with the running water made it a little challenging. Our shoes filled up with sand and we needed time to dump them before we could walk back. Thanks to our guide though, we all felt well taken care of.

But the day wasn’t over! Norton drove us closer to the blood red lake. It is truly an unusual lake.

Facts about Lake Natron:
The area is 1.040 km²
2,5 millions flamingos come there yearly to breed (75% of the world population)
Lake Natron has the largest flamingo migration in the world
Lake type: salt lake
Size of the lake when it is full 57 km, by 22 km
Water temperature: between 40-60°C

What a day. We were all exhausted but it was nice place to stay before we head back to Arusha where we started this trip out.Read more