Nakuru Photo Blog

I have visited Lake Nakuru National Park three times since we moved to Kenya in 2008. As a whole it is one of my least favorite parks, perhaps because it is so small. I much prefer the wide open spaces of the Masaai Mara or Tsavo, however for a day visit it allows one to see a large number of animals and birds. I visited the park again on Tuesday 19th April with my family.

The park's focus is Lake Nakuru, one of the Rift valley soda lakes. There are 2 great vantage points to see the lake - one is Baboon Cliff look-out which is to the north of the lake (from the main gate travel to the right). The more spectacular of the two is Lion Hill Lookout. This is a bit "off the beaten track" but well worth the drive. The access road is just before the Lanet gate.

Lake Nakuru National Park's claim to fame has always been the hundreds of thousands (even millions on some occasions) of Flamingos that feed on algae on the shores. Unfortunately this is no longer the case, with the bulk of the Flamingos having moved to Lake Bogoria and Lake Simbi Nyaima. We did see small groups of Lesser Flamingo and even fewer Greater Flamingo as well as large numbers of Pelicans. We saw about 25 species of bird in total as well as Lion, White Rhino, Buffalo and assorted antelope.

Hope you enjoy the photos below (you can click on them to see larger versions on flickr):