Two Days in Lake Nakuru National Park and Lake Naivasha - Trip from Nairobi
Short Overview
A great escape from the bustling, vibrant Nairobi to the serenity of the Great Rift Valley floor is what this trip is offering.
Lake Nakuru National park covers around 188 square kilometres on the floor of the Great Rift Valley. There lie the shimmering waters of soda lake Nakuru (its size varying from 5 to 30 square kilometres), packing with pink flamingoes. But although they are strikingly noticeable, they are far from the only ones - this national park is an ornithological paradise with over 450 bird species! There is also the first rhino sanctuary in Kenya, established right after the rhinos became an endangered species. The park hosts a large population of them. Another 56 recorded species of mammals, many amphibians, reptiles, countless insect species add to the biodiversity of the park and make it an excellent place to visit.
Lake Naivasha is a vast freshwater lake at the highest elevation of the Kenyan Rift valley at 1884 metres. With its 139 square kilometres of fresh water and surrounding 64 square kilometres of a swamp, it is home to many animal species; a sizable population of hippos resides there, birds, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and fish. Many terrestrial animals feed and drink on it, and the backdrop scenery consists mainly of plantations of blooming flowers, the most important agricultural crop in the vicinity of the lake.
Your Journey Mapped Out
Ready to set out? Your adventure awaits!
- DAY 1 - NAIROBI - LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK - LAKE NAIVASHA
- DAY 2 - LAKE NAIVASHA - NAIROBI
DAY 1 - NAIROBI - LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK - LAKE NAIVASHA
Our driver will pick you up at your hotel in Nairobi in the morning. After some 150 kilometres, you will reach Lake Nakuru National Park. The lake itself is home to sometimes over a million and a half, even two million fuchsia pink flamingoes, the greater and the lesser. A view of the pink mass from afar is truly unparalleled - there’s nothing alike on the globe.
Wildlife such as the rock hyrax, colobus monkey, hippo, buffalo, waterbuck, striped hyena, the golden cat, Thomson’s and grant gazelle, Rothschild’s giraffe live here. You are very likely to see a leopard, and lions are easy to come across.
Wooden and bushy grasslands surround the lake, a splendour of a grey-green forest of Euphorbia Candelabrum, and offer sanctuary to some of the world's most endangered creatures, like the white and the black rhino.
All of this and a delicious picnic lunch somewhere in-between - a fantastic day in the park! As it comes to an end, we’ll drive to Lake Naivasha for dinner and overnight.
DAY 2 - LAKE NAIVASHA - NAIROBI
After a great breakfast in your lodge, you’ll embark on a boat for a ride to observe hippos and birds on your way to the Crescent Island Conservatory to see zebras, giraffes, buffaloes, and monkeys in their natural environment. A lake view is quite unparallel - besides all the inhabitants, among them strikingly magnificent hippos, you will see shores of blooming flowers and the peaks of the Great rift. High above there is the Njorowa Gorge, which was once the lake's outlet - an ever-standing reminder of nature’s changes - especially those, caused by humans. The blooming backdrop has a downside - uncontrolled irrigation causes devastating changes to the lake’s ecosystem. Recent efforts to regulate farming are showing some results, so the lake starts regaining its primal beauty.
After the boat ride and lunch, we’ll bring you back to your hotel in Nairobi.
