“You’d literally get, say, a hundred finches washed ashore in a 50-yard stretch. ![]() I saw entire flocks of dead birds all washed ashore together, lemming-like,” he says. During dry season, Brandt discovered, when the water recedes, the birds’ desiccated, chemically-preserved carcasses wash up along the coastline. At the base of a mountain in Tanzania’s Gregory Rift, Lake Natron burns bright red, surrounded by the calcified remains of animals that were unfortunate enough to fall into the salty water. The notion of portraits of dead animals in the place where they once lived drew photographer Nick Brandt to create the images in his 'Calcified' series. It in no way affected humans so no practices were. 5 of 7 Nick Brandt/Courtesy Hasted Kraeutler, NYC Eerie Animals Look Like They're Stone Calcified Reflected Flamingo, Lake Natron, 2010. It sits within the Gregory Rift just south of the Lake Manyara National Park. ![]() Brandt theorizes that the highly-reflective, chemical dense waters act like a glass door, fooling birds into thinking they’re flying through empty space (not long ago, a helicopter pilot tragically fell victim to the same illusion, and his crashed aircraft was rapidly corroded by the lake’s waters). The lake if full of natron (hence the name) and the temperature rises very high, calcifying animals. Lake Natron is a salt and alkaline ‘soda lake’ in the Arusha region of northern Tanzania. A swallow © Nick Brandt 2013, Courtesy of Hasted Kraeutler Gallery, NYĪs you might expect, few creatures live in the harsh waters, which can reach 140 degrees Fahreinheit-they’re home to just a single fish species ( Alcolapia latilabris), some algae and a colony of flamingos that feeds on the algae and breeds on the shore.įrequently, though, migrating birds crash into the lake’s surface.
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