Lake Magadi

Magadi lies at around 600 metres on the floor of the southern Rift, and the heat there is formidable: daytime temperatures routinely pass forty degrees and there is no shade. The lake is almost solid, a bed of trona salts crusted over brine, worked commercially since the early twentieth century for soda ash, and the crust takes colours from white through orange to a strong pink where algae and bacteria grow in the brine. Hot springs feed the southern end, where pools hold tilapia adapted to water near the limits of what fish tolerate, and flamingos work the shallows. The drive down from Nairobi drops through Maasai country with escarpment views, and the road is good tarmac most of the way. Photographers come for the colours and the abstraction of the salt flats, especially from the air.

History

The lake was not always so salty: in the African humid period, from the late Pleistocene to the mid-Holocene, the basin held a freshwater lake with many kinds of fish, whose remains survive in the High Magadi Beds around the present shore (Wikipedia, Lake Magadi).

What's there

• Pink and white salt flats - the trona crust in its various colours.
• Hot springs - pools at the southern end with heat-adapted fish.
• Flamingos - birds feeding in the shallow brine.
• The soda works - the commercial extraction operation on the lake.

When to go

June to October for slightly less brutal heat; visit in the early morning and leave by midday, since afternoons are dangerous for the unprepared. The colours are strongest under high sun, which conflicts with comfort. Carry far more water than seems necessary.

What to expect

The heat is the defining factor and it is genuinely hazardous; there is no shade anywhere on the flats. The crust is thin in places and walking on it is risky. Much of the lake is an industrial concession with restricted access. Facilities are minimal in the town.

Nearby

The Ngong Hills and Nairobi lie northeast; Amboseli is far east.

Key facts