Lake Nakuru

Lake Nakuru Safari Trips & Tours

Watch white rhino wander among the fever trees and keep your binos ready for the phenomenal birdlife.

Emerging from the shadows of the Great Rift Valley and flanked by craggy escarpments, emerald forests and a waterfall or two, it's Lake Nakuru. Flamingo might spring to mind and quite rightly so - countless nature documentaries have shown the fluorescent clouds of a million pink birds soaring high above the soda lake. Sadly, due to rising water levels, the flamingo population isn’t as high as it once was, but all is not lost. With buffalo, leopard, elephant, black and white rhino and lion all calling the park home, pods of harrumphing hippo in the northern section of the lake, and tens of thousands of glorious water birds in residence, there’s not a moment to get bored.

What to do in Lake Nakuru

One of Kenya’s most popular national parks thanks to its easy location and dreamy scenery, Lake Nakuru is varied and diverse and home to a good cast of the animal kingdom. As ever, game drives are the name of the game and you’ll traverse terrain ranging from the mist-shrouded lakeshore to pretty acacia woodlands. White rhino are plenty, especially by the lake, and giraffe, hippo and buffalo are also easy to spot. The big cats are present but elusive, and interestingly, there are no elephants. The park is fenced so if you’re visiting slightly off-season, game viewing should still be good – but it does get busy. The birding at Nakuru is glorious. Whilst the famous pink flamingo (Greater and Lesser species) are not quite as numerous as they once were, they still make a pretty sight - and 500 recorded species of other birds should make up for it. Raptors include Verreaux’s and the long-crested eagle, and the long-tailed widowbird is another excellent tick on your bird list.