Blurs

In northern Tanzania, near the border with Kenya, lies a lake with an almost otherworldly reputation. Its waters can appear red, orange or pink, temperatures can become extreme, and its chemistry is hostile to most forms of life. Yet Lake Natron is not a dead lake. It is one of the most unusual ecosystems on Earth — and the apparent contradiction at its heart is what makes it so fascinating.  The same conditions that can preserve the remains of animals also create an environment where millions of flamingos can breed. Photographs of apparently petrified birds have helped create the legend that Lake Natron literally turns animals to stone. The reality is stranger, but considerably more scientific. A Lake in the Rift Valley Lake Natron sits in Tanzania's Gregory Rift, part of the enormous East African Rift system. It is a closed basin, meaning water enters the lake but does not flow out to the sea or into another major river system. Instead, water is lost primarily through evaporation...

For generations, Lough Neagh was simply part of the landscape of Northern Ireland: a vast freshwater lake supporting fishing, farming, wildlife, recreation and communities around its shores. Then, in the summer of 2023, something became impossible to ignore. Large areas of the lake turned green. Thick surface scums accumulated around marinas, jetties and lock gates. Images of vivid green water spread rapidly, and what might once have been regarded as an occasional natural phenomenon became a national environmental story. But the colour was only the visible part of a much larger problem. Beneath the surface was a lake receiving enormous quantities of nutrients, experiencing warmer conditions, containing an invasive species capable of altering its food web — and accumulating pollutants from a catchment covering thousands of square kilometres. The phenomenon did not end in 2023. A significant bloom returned in 2025. As of 2026, scientists and government agencies are still trying to determ...