MOUNTAIN OLDONYO LENGAI

Game drive viewing to Tarangire National Park-Ngorongoro crater-climb Mt Oldonyolengai volcanic active Mountain- also called Maasai Mountain of God- visit Lake Natron Tanzania one of the most serene lakes in Africa- visit waterfalls-visit Lake Eyasi-local hunting with Hadzabe bushmen’s around Lake Eyasi wooden bush land.

Lying on the base of the mountain, Lake Natron is said to be the only breeding area for the endangered Lesser Flamingoes that live in the Great Rift Valley and it is believed to be the world’s most important breeding site for the Lesser Flamingoes, accounting for 75 per cent of the global population.

The soda lake sits on the lowest point of the Great Rift Valley part in East Africa and is quite shallow, less than three metres deep, and varies in width depending on its water level. The temperatures in the lake mud can reach more than 40 degrees Celsius where evaporation causes high alkalinity. It is said the lake’s high alkaline environment is a barrier against predators trying to reach the flamingo nests.

The area around Lake Natron is often described as having a desolate and almost lunar landscape beauty. Walks around the lake and to the streams and waterfalls along the nearby escarpment, make for a fantastic adventure off the beaten track.Ol Doinyo Lengai is an extremely fascinating volcano: it is the only active volcano known to erupt carbonatite lava, a sensational discovery scientists made as recently as in the 1960s: the lavas it erupts are NOT melts based on silica, but on natroncarbonate!
Thus, the temperatures of these lavas are much lower, “only” about 600 deg. C., and Lengai’s lava does not emit enough light to glow during day,- only at night, a dull reddish glow that does not illuminate anything is visible. Also because of its peculiar chemical composition, the lava is extremely fluid and behaves very much like water, with the exception that it is black like oil. After it is cooled down it quickly alters and becomes a whitish powder.