In fact, over three-quarters of the world’s population breeds here because food is plentiful and nesting sites abound. Visiting Lake Natron was one of our highlights!īesides feeding into the lake, the up to 50 degrees hot springs provide warm, mineral-rich water, which is ideal for the growth of salt-loving microorganisms devoured by millions of flamingos. Even though the mysterious Lake Natron, with its surreal and drastically varying landscape, is located close to Arusha, it was spared by mass tourism. However, it becomes home to millions of migrating flamingos of magnificent pink color. Walking through the golden savannah, we encountered kids as young as five years herding goats. They are constructed to keep the hot sand from burning your feed. Masai shoes are often crafted from old tires. Trying to protect our feed from the hot sand, we quickly began to recognize the virtue of Masai shoes. It was the last time for days that we had access to water. Looking back, we should have enjoyed the water a bit longer. We dived right into the freshwater pouring down on us. It’s almost unreal to see such a powerful and high waterfall after walking through absolute dryness for two hours. But we were excited to cool down after 2 hours of sweltering heat. The walk through the dramatic landscape of a savage was impressive. We quickly earned our new nickname, “pole & pole,” which translates into slow. So, equipped and prepared for a “short” walk, we started walking in flip-flops with very little water. Their semi-nomadic lifestyle accustoms them to walking long distances under the burning sun of the African savannah.

What we didn’t know back then: You can entirely rely on Masai people with anything BUT their definition of “nearby.”

Massai and Papakinye proposed to visit the “nearby” waterfalls along the Ngare Sero river.

What does lake natron do