Lake Nakuru and Lake Naivasha, Kenya

Lake Nakuru is a three-hour drive from Nairobi in Kenya and is famous for its flamingos. You have to be there at the right time of year to see huge flocks of the flamingos, however. By the time I was there in early October, many of them had already migrated away from the lake. There were still some there, though, along with chicks and dozens of other water birds. Unfortunately, the numbers of flamingos at any time of year have been reduced at the lake because the fish they eat have been over-fished by humans.

The lake itself is not the only thing to see at Lake Nakuru. It’s actually a national park that contains numerous large animals. I saw lots of antelopes and zebras there, including some animals that I missed at Maasai Mara. For example, Lake Nakuru’s park has wild Rothschild’s giraffes, while I only saw Maasai giraffes in Maasai Mara.

I saw few baboons in Maasai Mara, but I got to see several of them, including babies, wrestling with each other at Lake Nakuru’s park. I also missed vervet monkeys at Maasai Mara, but saw plenty of them at Lake Nakuru, as well as Grant’s gazelles, which were new to me.

I hired a private guide for the day who picked me up at my hotel in Nairobi and took me on a game drive through the park, after which we went to another nearby location – Lake Naivasha. I took a boat ride there for about an hour and saw numerous bird species. The guide manning my boat took a fish with him, whistled to a fish eagle in a nearby tree, and threw the fish in the water. The eagle then flew down and grabbed the fish with its talons – so fast that there was no way to get a photograph or even a video. But it was fun to see!

There were also hippos in Lake Naivasha, but of course, we couldn’t approach them closely because it’s dangerous. The boat ride was very peaceful, and it was a beautiful day.

Afterwards, another guide took me on a safari walk around the lake area, where I saw waterbok antelopes – a species I hadn’t seen elsewhere. Since there are no predators in this area, It was also possible to get quite close to the zebras, antelopes, and a wildebeest who has been at Lake Naivasha since he was in the film, Out of Africa, in the 1980s. He hasn’t had to deal with predators since that time, so he has been living a life of leisure.

The place also currently has an orphaned zebra colt that I was able to feed and pet. She is being raised with horses, and I’m not sure if she will be able to return to the wild.

This day trip from Nairobi was very long, however, and it involved a lot of sitting in the vehicle. On the way back to Nairobi, we got caught in terrible rush hour traffic with lots of trucks on the road. So you might want to ask your guide to go back earlier, or simply brace yourself for a potential 14-hour day that starts at 6:00 a.m. Nevertheless, it was worth it to visit these locations. There are also fascinating and beautiful views along the way. You will pass through numerous villages, as well as by mountains and farms.