Lake Natron is another location well off the beaten path. As a matter of fact, it’s over 100 km of nasty 4x4 track. They call this kind of road an “African Massage” because of all the bouncing and bumping you get the whole time. This one is so bad,, they call it “African Deep Massage”. It’s a very scenic route, however. You pass across vast dry Savannah’s with scatterings of Masai and their cattle herds and occasional small groups of Zebra and Wildebeest. The scenery is dominated by Africa’s most active volcano, Oldonyo L’Engai (The Mountain of God). It erupts every three or four years, which on a geological timescale it outright flatulent. It last erupted in 2013, so it is due in a year or two. Lake Natron is a soda lake and is the breeding home of Africa’s two species of Flamingos (greater and lesser). It is dotted with tiny Masai villages. We camped in one of the villages near a small river called Ngare Sero. After taking a trip down to the lake to view one of the flocks of Flamingos, we hiked up along the river in a narrow canyon to a picturesque waterfall. It was necessary to ford the river several times and even walk upstream in it in a couple of narrow rocky canyons but the reward was a nice view in a quiet peaceful place where we could float in a pool beneath the waterfall and relax after the trek.
Oldonyo L’Engai, The Mountain of God:
Masai Village:
Masai village at the mouth of the Ngare Sero river canyon:
The waterfall on Ngare Sero river:
Wildflowers in the canyon:
Flamingos in Lake Natron:
An extinct crater:
Dry hills on the route to Lake Natron:
Extinct crater:
Mountain of God with Acacias in the foreground:
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