Times in Tanzania: Lake Natron

Ol Donyo Longai 2,878m/9,442 ft.

The lake with some rare green on the edge.

This week marked our two year mark in Tanzania and we decided it was a great excuse to take a big trip. Lake Natron has always been on our radar but it is quite a distance away and before we had a car it was impossible to reach. A few weeks ago I heard that it was brimming with flamingoes (which isn't always the case) so I decided it was a great time to take the trip.

Lake Natron is a vast and shallow soda lake in dry and desolate area. The landscape has a strange beauty to it and the vastness is incredible. There are a few mountains in the area that help to create a stunning backdrop, most notably Ol Donyo Lengai, East Africa's only active volcano. The volcanic springs feed the lake and the salt, sodium carbonate and magnesite make the lake water highly corrosive. Still, there is some highly adapted and specialized life and Natron is famous for being the sole breeding ground for 2.5 million Lesser Flamingoes who feed off a pink algae that in turn gives them their pink color.

The flamingoes breed around September to October so we were certain there'd by significant flamingoes to be seen. We were also told the short rains had started so the landscape on the way to the lake wouldn't be as dry and desolate as usual and the temperatures would be slightly less hellish than normal.

The drive is a 3 1/2 hour drive on the highway and a further 3 1/2 hours on a rough road. We drove the first leg on Friday night and stayed at the small but serviceable town of Mtu wa Mbu. We were stopped with about a half hour or so to go by the traffic police and they warned us to go slow because there are a lot of wild animals roaming about. We were quite excited for this and sure enough we saw some zebras and the skunk like zorrilla on our way. It was a good omen.

The road on the way to Natron.

The next day we set off early and the drive to Lake Natron was beautiful. The land is unpopulated aside from a few small Masaai "bomas" and the areas that had received some rains contrasted their verdant grasses with the dry and brown areas that had yet to receive rain. Small mountains dotted the landscape and we only passed a handful of vehicles, mainly public transportation to the two or three small villages between Lake Natron and Mtu wa Mbu.

There is a very small village on the edge of Lake Natron called Engeresero with four or five accommodation options. We stayed at one that appeared to be an oasis with shady cover and basic camping facilities. They also had a small river fed pool, which was enjoyable not only for cooling off but also for watching birds come to take baths and drink.

Our campsite.

Relaxing at the pool.

The signs of safari tourism were certainly apparent in the town with every Masaai woman having a bag with bracelets that they attempted to sell. It was interesting being deep in Masaai land as the majority of people did not speak Swahili. It was like we were back at square one with the language barrier, which was frustrating since our Swahili is pretty decent these days. We were disappointed that the guy managing the camping area was a bit pushy and I felt he was trying to cheat us with the activity fees. He even wanted to charge us $20 for firewood! (I later bought some in town for $2). As a result we said that we'd explore the first day and if we couldn't find interesting spots on our own, we'd possibly come crawling back.

The road to the lake was very difficult to find and there was one other safari vehicle with tourists that we spotted. We took turns following each other and I thought he would lead us to the lake but later he stopped us and asked us what we were doing and where we were going and it was obvious we both had the same strategy and we both didn't want to let on that we didn't know where we were going. The road ends in a small village called Monica and the safari car stopped in the center attracting the attention of the locals. I tried to pretend the road continued but eventually we were on the outskirts of town and I decided to stop. There just so happened to be a shop keeper that spoke Swahili and we explained that we were looking for the lake. He tried to explain how to reach there but it was quite confusing and unclear so we agreed that he would join us and show us the way.

I was happy that he joined us because we would have never found the road by ourselves. He shared with us that he was from a village a few hours away and had moved a few months ago to start a small shop with his wife in Monica. He said he would like to join more tourists and alluded to poor management or a monopoly by certain people, likely those that spoke English. We spent the afternoon chatting and driving along the edge of the lake, stopping to take in the views, birds and flamingoes in the far distance. It's kind of unfortunate that the flamingoes like to breed in the middle of the lake, far from predators, as you can't see them very well without a telescope, though the vast numbers are still unimaginably impressive.

We even found our way to the "hot springs" which I was told was an additional $30 to visit. They weren't a traditional bathing hot springs but rather an extremely shallow area with some pools of hot water. We were told the road continued along for a few hours till you reached Kenya, perhaps a trip for another time.

We returned to our campsite and enjoyed a nice evening. It rained that evening so the temperatures remained cool and the soft lighting added another mystical dynamic to the landscape. The next day we met up with our new friend again and went to a waterfall, after which we took a walk through some acacia scrub land to try to find the lake (we were unsuccessful).

Lake Natron isn't on every tourists (or locals) radar because of it's isolated location and lack of big game wildlife. Still, the views are unique and beautiful and the area gives off an aura that is worth the trip!