This world is full of beauty and wonders. While there are unbelievably gorgeous attractions that millions of people throng to every year like white sandy beaches, breathtaking woodlands, lush and expansive savannahs, there are also some very strange and weird places that hold their own brand of charm. Many of these places not only have a baffling story or myth behind how they came to be what they are today but in some, the locals believe that there is more than what meets the eyes going on there.
True, many of these places won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but if you have a taste for the strange and the bizarre, then you definitely want to put all of these locations on your list of places to visit. With that being said, here are five of the strangest tourist attractions across Africa.
Strange yet fascinating tourist attractions in Africa
1. The mummifying Lake Natron, Tanzania
In Tanzania, there is a lake called Natron. While Lake Natron is a typical lake, except for the little fact that it has striking red waters (thanks to its high alkaline content) and it’s one of the most mineral-rich soda lakes in the region. Thousands of lesser flamingoes flock its shores to breed and just a short distance, there are a series of waterfalls and the majestic Ol Doinyo Lengai mountain. For all intents and purposes, this is a lake you would want to visit simply because it has such inherent beauty.
What’s strange about Lake Natron is that animals that die in it stay in a mummified form as they are turned into statues. Thanks to the extremely high volumes of sodium bicarbonate, these dead animal bodies are calcified and turned into mummies. Lake Natron is also commonly known as the “Petrifying Lake“. When was the last time you saw a red lake with mummies floating around in it?
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2. The marshes of Deadvlei, Namibia
A huge chunk of Namibia is desert with majestic sand dunes and all kinds of wildlife. While touring the red dunes of Namib Rand is a good enough reason to head out to this southern Africa country, there is one spot in particular that tends to attract most tourists: The Deadvlei.
Deadvlei means “dead marshes” from the English word “dead” and an Afrikaans word “vlei” meaning marshes. The hauntingly spectacular Deadvlei was once a beautiful marshland that dried up for whatever reason. This barren pit is now surrounded by some of the world’s highest sand dunes that have slowly rusted over the years and now have a fiery complexion that comes in sharp contrast with the dead marsh beneath.
The story behind Deadvlei is that it’s a clay pan that formed a few thousand years back as the Tsauchab river flooded thanks to heavy rains. This flood formed shallow pools within the marshes where camel thorn trees grew.
However, after about 200 years, the climate changed, sand dunes encroached and cut off the river thus denying the marsh its life source. So harsh was the heat that the camel thorn trees that were once lush and green, dried out instead of dying and decomposing.
The intense desert sun scorched them into nothing but blackened bones; skeletons of what they used to be. Now all that remains are these blackened skeletons of 900-year-old trees trapped within a white clay marsh doomed to forever haunt the valley beneath the high rusty sand dunes. A forest that is, for all intents and purposes, frozen in time.
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3. The Pink Lake Retba, Senegal
If red is to Lake Natron in Tanzania, then pink is to Lake Retba in Senegal. This breathtakingly unusual lake can be found some 30 kilometres northeast of the capital, Dakar. The reason behind this lake’s fabulous colour is the presence of Dunaliella salina algae in the water.
The planktons and minerals here give this lake an unusual hue that has turned it into a major tourist attraction in the region. This lake is so salty that its alkaline content goes up to 40 percent in some areas. Swimming is allowed and the water is very safe. Fancy having a swim in a pink lake?
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4. The acidic pools of the Danakil Depression, Ethiopia
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the lowest, the hottest and the driest places on Earth. Located near the border with Eritrea in the Afar region, north-east of Ethiopia, the Danakil Depression is believed to be an accurate depiction of what “hell on Earth” would look like. Forget about the scorching heat and the fact that it receives almost no rain all year round, the Danakil Depression has something even more bizarre in store: acidic pools.
Yes, what might look like pools of water are actually acidic pools. The Danakil Depression is caused by the movement of tectonic plates of the Afar Triple Junction (where three tectonic plates meet). The depression is forever sinking, as a result, has mini-volcanoes that actually have bubbling lava lakes, several multi-coloured hydrothermal fields and vast salt pans that will dazzle your eyes.
Do not be deceived, this beauty is only to be observed from afar (no pun intended) because even what looks like land within the acidic pools are crusts of sulfur and salt!
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5. The gorgeous underwater waterfalls of Mauritius
Some 2,000 kilometres away from mainland Africa lies a beautiful remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean called Mauritius. You just know that it’s spoilt rich with unbelievable white sandy beaches, heavenly weather and unique flora and fauna as far as the eyes can see. While all these things are nice, there is one particularly strange yet unmissable attraction to the southwestern shore of the island: an underwater waterfall!
“How can that be”, you ask? Well, turns out, it’s an optical illusion created by sand and silt. This is because in tectonic plate movement terms, Mauritius is still a very new island and as such, it’s formation is still underway. This continuous formation is what causes these underwater slopes that make it look like there are waterfalls underneath the sea.
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These are some of the most bizarre yet strikingly alluring attractions in Africa. Have you been to any of these places or know of others that should be on this list? Share the information with us in the comment section below.