Flamingos Galore & More in Kenya's Lake Nakuru National Park

Located on the floor of the Rift Valley in Kenya, surrounded by wooded and bushy grassland, the beautiful Lake Nakuru National Park is home to hundreds of thousands of flamingos. The lake's abundance of algae attracts this vast quantity of flamingos that famously line the shores of Lake Nakuru. They feed on the abundant algae here which thrives in the warm waters of the lake. However, unfortunately, recent reports indicate that the numbers have dropped considerably because of the rising levels of water in the lake, which affects the amount of algae on which flamingos feed. Lake Nakuru National Park is now one of Kenya’s two premium parks and is the only fully fenced park in the country - not to keep the animals in but to keep poachers out. Visitors can enjoy the surrounding escarpment and picturesque ridges. Lake Nakuru National Park is ideal for bird watching, hiking and above all, game drives. Within the park there are many hills with established viewpoints from which the lake, the woodlands, and quite often, herds of buffalo can be seen.

Game Viewing in the Park

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Lake Nakuru National Park has more than 25 eastern black rhinoceros - one of the largest concentrations in the country, plus around 70 endemic southern white rhinos. Besides these, you are sure to see African buffaloes, Rothschild giraffes, zebras, impalas, olive baboons, vervet monkeys, and waterbucks. Also common in the park are hyenas, jackals, hippopotamus, and pythons. A little less often sighted are lions, leopards, wild dogs, colobus monkeys, and cheetahs. There are also about 50 rare tree-climbing lions in the park.

And for Birders…

Yes, there are plenty of flamingos, but other birds that inhabit the lake are yellow-billed pelicans, marabou storks, African fish eagles, goliath herons, hamerkops, pied kingfishers, and Verreaux's eagles. In fact, there are over 400 different species of birds.

And Flora?

Don’t forget the plants! In Lake Nakuru National Park you can see a wide variety of beautiful landscapes, from grasslands to dense forest and the very rare tarconanthus bushlands and euphorbia forests. To be brief, there are over 500 different species of plants too numerous to list.

What About the View?

To get the best view that takes in much of the park, visitors should head up to the rocky Out of Africa Lookout. The incline is steep but it offers sweeping views out over the lake and will bring back fond memories for fans of the movie. Two other lookout points are Lion Hill and Baboon Cliff. Lake Nakuru National Park has very well established roads that make most parts of it accessible by 2-wheel-drive vehicles. Some less-travelled parts and most viewpoint hills require 4-wheel-drive vehicles.

Lodges Within the Park

There are 2 major lodges. One is the Lake Nakuru Lodge, which has exceptional panoramic views. The other is the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge, which is nestled along the Lion Hill overlooking Lake Nakuru. Its location allows for panoramic views of the lake and the park. Naturally game drives are organized by both lodges. So, if you want to wake up first thing in the morning greeted by all the wildlife waking up at the same time, followed by scenic safari game drives, then Lake Nakuru is for you.

By Robert Glazier