Lake Nakuru Through My Lens: A Photo Essay

All good things must come to an end and sadly, we were coming to the end of our safari. Our last stop was Lake Nakuru for one night, before heading to Nairobi.

Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes and is found almost halfway between the Maasai Mara and Nairobi, making it a very convenient stop.

It turned out to be the perfect last stop on our safari because we finally managed to see rhinos! I can’t even tell you how excited we were when we finally spotted them, after not being so lucky in any of the other national parks. It was the perfect ending!

Why visit Lake Nakuru?

The wildlife

Lake Nakuru is home to four of the “Big 5”, lions, buffalos, rhinos, and leopards. Unlike all the other parks we visited, rhinos were not elusive and were quite easy to spot. In fact, we spotted a big crash of white rhinos not long after we entered the park.

We were told that black rhinos also lived in the park, and I was keen to see them, having never seen one before in Africa. Well, as the best present we could have asked for, we saw two of them on our last morning game drive, before heading out of the park. It was such a fantastic sighting, and we were so happy. We had seen absolutely everything we wanted to see, and that was thanks to Lake Nakuru.

The only one of the Big 5 that is not found in Lake Nakuru is the elephant. However, this did not bother us too much; we had seen plenty of them in Tarangire National Park and in the Serengeti.

When it comes to giraffes, Lake Nakuru is home to a different species of giraffes, the Rothschild’s giraffe. The Rothschild’s giraffes are rare and endangered and were introduced to the National Park in 1977.

This giraffe species was brought to Lake Nakuru from western Kenya for its conservation and protection, due to their numbers declining way too fast. You can recognise them by their white socks and the different patterns on their coats. Sadly, there are less than 700 Rothschild’s giraffes left in the world.

Lake Nakuru is a very special national park to visit because it is one of few national parks where a large variety of big mammals can be found in a small area. The National Park is only 45 kilometres square. It makes it a great park to visit for any safari first timers.

The birdlife

Lake Nakuru National Park is famous for the colonies of flamingos that live on the shores of the Lake, it’s also a bird lover’s hub because of the numerous other birds that call this park home. There are over 400 bird species that live around Lake Nakuru.

The number of flamingos on the lake varies with the water and food conditions. In the past, there have been times when millions of flamingos lived on the lake. Our guide said that in the last few years there were not so many of them but luckily, there were quite a few there when we visited.

Where to stay?

Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge

We stayed at the Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge, and we absolutely loved it there. The resort is in the heart of the national park and sits atop a mountain overlooking the entire valley, with spectacular views of the lake. All the rooms, infinity pool, bar and restaurant had amazing views. The food at the restaurant was also the best we had during our entire safari.