Deadly lake turns animals to stone

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Looks like a story out of a horror flick right? Here's what it's all about. In Northern Tanzania, there's a lake that turns any animal it touches to stone, well atleast figuratively speaking. Lake Natron, is known for its high alkanity levels levelling around 9.5 to 10.5 pH (which is extremely basic) and with high levels of salts preserves these animals for eternity. The lake gets its alkaline nature from volcanic ash that has accumalated from the Great Rift Valley. According to photographer Brandt (who has taken these hauntingly startling pictures) said, "I unexpectedly found the creatures - all manner of birds and bats - washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. No-one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake's surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake. 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. The soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry.I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living' positions, bringing them back to ‘life', as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death."All images are copyrighted Nick Brandt 2013. More startling pictures can be found in Nick Brandt's book: Across the Ravaged Land

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