Hike to the Engaresero rivierĪ Maasai guide will lead you along the ridges of the lake to the source of the Engaresero River. In the dry season, you feel as if you are in an apparently uninhabited, dessert-like dream world. The quiet calmness returns.Ī Maasai guide will take you for a walk along the shores of the lake. And as suddenly as they arrive, they disappear in spectacular waves of pink. Each year, around February or March, enormous flocks of gaggling birds converge on the salt lake. It is also the most important breeding ground worldwide for the Lesser Flamingo.

In the dry season, a bacteria turns the dry surface red. Breeding ground for the endangered Lesser Flamingo.However, in the dry season, the view becomes almost a moon landscape, in which bright pink cactus blooms contrast against the dry, dusty rocks. The lake fills up from mineral-rich water flowing down from the Great Rift Valley. Sometimes one can even see the lava stream from Ol Doinyo Lengai, a sacred place to the Maasai. Majestic and active volcano as a prominent backdrop.If rain has fallen, or not if the millions of flamingo have arrived, or if the lake is still dry, it is an experience which cannot be replicated anywhere else in the world! Pink flamingos can be spotted in other places around Tanzania such as the Momella lakes, at Lake Manyara, Lake Magadi around the Ngorongoro Crater and other alkaline lakes in the northern parts of the country.Off the beaten track away from the masses! Real adventure seekers who visit Lake Natron, will be rewarded with a unique, near magical experience. When the chicks are strong enough, a few adults escort them to the fresh water by foot. The sight of around 100,000 chicks protected by their parents is truly amazing. They eat their egg's shell and then are fed by their parents for a few months. Small grey chicks usually hatch between December-February. A single egg is laid and incubated by both parents for 28 days. It's impressive to see how a pair of flamingoes builds a nest, which can be up to 30 cm high to protect the chicks from the floods and to keep it cool. If you want to see the egg laying and hatching, the best season starts with the receding of the water level, October and December is the peak. Over 75% of the world's population of flamingoes are born in the Lake Natron, as this is the only place where the eggs are regularly laid.

Lake natron flamingos