The soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry,” Brandt writes in his new photo/essay book, Across The Ravaged Land. The water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. “I unexpectedly found the creatures - all manner of birds and bats - washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. Lake Natron, situated in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in the Great Rift Valley, is one of the most peaceful places in Africa. Photographer Nick Brandt’s eerie black and white photos allow both interpretations. It may look like this bird was gripped by the icy hand of death, but scientists will explain that it was actually calcified in the caustic waters of Tanzania’s Lake Natron. More info: Nick Brandt (h/t: discovermagazine)

Every lake in Tanzania is the home of some of the most unbelievable ecosystems that encompass hundreds of species of flora and fauna. These deposits of sodium carbonate was once used in Egyptian. It’s a paradise for those who want to enjoy the unspoiled natural beauty of Eastern Africa. Lake Natron, located in Tanzania, Africa is one of the most beautiful lakes Tanzania has to offer, with serene views and a calm quiet you won’t find many places on this earth. High levels of evaporation have left behind natron or sodium carbonate decahydrate and trona or sodium sesquicarbonate dihydrate. The lake is fed by mineral hot springs and a river, but no water flows out except through evaporation. The United Republic of Tanzania is part of the African Great Lakes area. The leg was artificially mummified using a synthetic natron mix and. Tanzania’s Lake Natron takes its name from the naturally occurring mix of chemicals it contains: mainly sodium carbonate decahydrate (soda ash) and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda). Lake Natron in Tanzania is one of the most tranquil lakes in Africa, but it’s also the source of some of the most eerie photographs ever taken images that appear to show living animals turned to stone. An experimental mummification model following ancient Egyptian methods was created.

Lake natron mummies