Lake Nakuru national park

Lake Nakuru national park

Lake Nakuru national park is branded as “A beautiful wildlife haven” that lies along the great Rift valley region. The park is surrounded by the busy wooded grasslands that are dotted with the Acacia trees. The park is famous with its large flocks of Flamingos that gets another nick name “the pink lake”. The park got its name from locals who named it from the word “Nakuru” which means the dusty place.

The park surrounds the pink lake which is an alkaline lake which contains much Algea that attracts the greatest number of Flamingos. The park was gazetted as a birding Sanctuary. It covers a total area of 188 square kilometers making it one of the small national parks in Kenya. The park was established in 1961with small size only surrounding lake Nakuru and the neighboring place. Later the park was enlarged to capture the Black Rhino sanctuary so as to up easily protect the remaining rare rhino species which was greatly affected by poachers.

The park was named after the key attraction at the park which is Lake Nakuru which is near the Nakuru town which was famous as the dustiest town in the region. The park started as covering the lake and nearby volcanic mountains and the open Savannah grassland.

By 2009 the park had over 25 black Rhino in the Sanctuary making it one of the largest sanctuary in Kenya with more Eastern Black Rhinos. The park homes over 70 Southern White Rhinos. Lake Nakuru national park is found in the greater Rift Valley region on the North-Western part of Nairobi. It can easily be accessed through the main road that connects Uganda and Nairobi Kenya. It takes 4 to 5 hours drive from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru national park. It is 170 kilometers by distance from the capital city Nairobi.

Lake Nakuru national park is famous as a birding paradise with a record of over 400 bird species. The park hosts both lesser and greater flamingos in large flocks, the park is an excellent destination of game viewing with 4 members of African big 5 all available those are Buffalo, Rhinos, Leopards and lions only missing are the Elephants. Lake Nakuru national park is managed by the Kenya Wildlife services.

Accessing Lake Nakuru national park.

The park can be accessed through any of the 3 gates those are Nderit gate, Main Gate, and Lanet gate. Nderit gate is the least popular and also less used gate among all the three gates that can be used to access the park. If your safari is organized by local tour operator, then you can have a wonderful scenic drive. You will have brief key stopping points like the Great Rift valley spot which is found at the highway of Narobi to Lake Nakuru national park.  When using this route you can easily access the park through the Lanet Gate. Depending on the season others driver guides may branch off from Nakuru town and enter the park through the main gate. The drive is usually not long taking 4 to 5 hours covering around 170 kilometers from the town Nairobi. If using public means, there are several shuttles that operate daily from Nairobi city which will drop you at the Nakuru town where you can get special hire to the park.

Another option is through the daily flights that operates from Wilson airport or Jomo Kenyatta international airport to Naishi airstrip which is found in the Southern part of the park.

Attractions found in Lake Nakuru national park

There are several attractions found in this majestic park however the size of the parks looks small. Its gifted by nature with a lot of attraction found inside and outside the park as summarized below:

Animals

Lake Nakuru national park has 4 of the 5 members of African big five only missing the giant African Elephants. However much the park is well known as birding sanctuary, it also homes a good number of animal species. Some of the animals found at the park include: Zebras, baboons, hippos, giraffes, hyenas, lions, monkey, warthogs, elands, leopards, impala, waterbuck, Gazelles, buffalo, Leopards, Topis mention but a few.

Birds

A home of over 400 bird species with both Lesser and greater flamingos. Other birds include ostriches, herons, great blue eared starlings, kingfishers, pelicans, Hottentot teal, cormorants, Abyssonian thrush, Sooty falcon, black-tailed godwit, arrow marked babbler among others. The different ecosystems found in the park gives an advantage for the park to host a good number of Bird species. The swamps along the lake, rocky volcanic rocks, open savannah grasslands as well as the thorn shrubs at the park.

Baboon cliff.

The Baboon cliff is the great viewing point where the guests go to have great aerial views of Lake Nakuru national park. The guests do walking safaris with the guide at the Baboon cliff, it’s a rich area of wildlife especially the primates like Olive baboons, Monkeys and others. It got its name from the dominating baboons at the cliff.

Makalia waterfall

Makalia waterfalls is found in the Southern part of Lake Nakuru national park. It provided scenic views accompanied with hiking. It’s a good spotting point for wildlife and sightseeing, the water catmint area attracts more wildlife which come here to quench their thirst.  Birders also prefer this point for it harbors good bird life with both water birds and onland birds like Wood pekkers, Francolin, mourning dove, Common bulbul, Lovebirds, Starlings and many more. Guests also do sightseeing at this point viewing the strength of the waterfalls from the bottom or hike and view the falls from the top.

Activities done in Lake Nakuru national park

Wondering what to do or see during your proposed safari to Lake Nakuru national park. Worry not again after reading all the necessary detailed information about the park on our blog posts or national parks. We provided all the necessary information for one to plan their trip at ease. There are a wide range of activities that guests can enjoy while on their Kenya safari to Lake Nakuru National park. Some include:

Hiking safaris

Hiking safaris in Lake nakuru are not hard but more classic and experiential. They give you great scenic views of the park while on high elevation.  You don’t need to have hiking experience in order to hike any of the hiking spots I Lake Nakuru national park. Some of the hiking spots include Baboon cliff, Lion hill view point, Makalia cliff. You will be under the lead of your game ranger as you hike.

Birding

Lake Nakuru national park is known as birding sanctuary. Before the park gained its park status it was first started as birding sanctuary. It hosts a lot of rare bird species hence making government to make it a conservation unit for birds.  Lake Nakuru homes over 400 species of birds that birders can easily see. The popularity of the park is based on the high population of Flamingos in East Africa. Besides Flamingoes, the park also hosts other bird species like: Marabou storks, Lesser Kestrel, Pelicans, Abyssinian thrush, Hammerkops, Maccoa duck, Hottentot teal, Bateleur, Greater blue-eared starling, Pallid harrier, European Roller, Sooty Falcon, Great snipe, Black-winged lapwing, Crab-plover, Speke’s weaver, vultures and many more. The birding safaris in Lake Nakuru national park are more rewarding especially during the rainy season when the birds are nestling.

Game viewing

African wildlife safaris mostly rely on game viewing making it one of the most popular activity done in most of the national park. Game viewing is adominat activity that can be done early in the morning, afternoon or evening. The driver guides are the leaders during this activity in that they take guests with safari cars that have open roof to spot the wildlife. Lake Nakuru is gifted with a wide range of big game like Leopards, Lions, Buffaloes, Cheetahs, Hyenas, Wildebeests, Giraffes, Oribi, Gazelles, warthogs, jackals and many more.  This makes the game drives more rewarding at this park. The game is permanent residents hence easily seen any time of the year.

Lake Nakuru national park is one of the nearest parks from Nairobi where guests can even do short day safari after business meeting. Wondering where to spend less but enjoy great wildlife experience in a short period of time then Lake Nakuru national park is the perfect destination.