Lake Nakuru National Park

Description

The Park is motor-able and pleasurable to drive around due to its easy to maneuver topography. Being an ornithological paradise, the park hosts about 450 species of birds including water, fish-eating, terrestrial and migratory birds to include the pelican, fish eagle, secretary bird, heron, egret, hammerkop and grebe. Catch the best views of the lake from the park’s vantage points that include Baboon Cliff, Lion Hill and Out of Africa Hill.

If you love to relax, chill and breathe, discover some great picnic spaces at the Baboon Cliff, Out of Africa Hill and Makalia waterfalls. Established as Kenya’s first rhino sanctuary, the Park hosts one of the largest black rhino concentrations in the country while substantial numbers of white rhino have also been introduced.

The acacia woodlands shelter herds of graceful impalas, shaggy waterbucks and the shy bushbuck. The rocky outcrops provide a perfect habitat for the rock hyrax. Present carnivores include lions and leopards. Other wildlife species include the spotted and stripped hyena, serval cats as well as the silver-backed and side-stripped jackal, civet, genet and mongoose. Giraffes, zebras, buffalos are also present. The most visible primates are the somber olive baboons and the mysterious black-faced vervet monkey, while dignified troops of colobus monkey often prance among the trees.

Conspicuous hills that are ready land marks include Enasoit hill, honeymoon hill and the lion hill ridge. About 550 different plant species dot the picturesque landscape and yellow acacia woodlands. Euphorbia tree species are being assimilated after a past destruction by fire in the Park. Lake flooding in 2011 expanded the lake considerably and upset the chemical balance that is behind its ecosystem. Due to the huge amounts of water, the alkaline levels supporting the algae that flamingoes feed on were diluted and thus the decline in their numbers.