LAKE NAKURU NATIONAL PARK

Nakuru is the provincial capital of Kenya's Rift Valley province; it lies in the volcano strewn Rift Valley and hosts about 500,000 inhabitants, at an altitude about 1850 m above sea level 

Nakuru which means a dust bowl in the Masai language is the home to Lake Nakuru. This is the one eight lakes which stretch the length of Kenya from Tanzania to Ethiopia. Lake Nakuru forms part of the 188sqkm of Lake Nakuru National park. This is a bird watchers paradise. It is an alkaline/salty water lake housing over a million flamingoes thus giving Nakuru a pinkish colour wash. 

The park is also a rhino sanctuary, it has a both the black (hook lipped) and white (wide-mouth) Rhinos. Apart from elephants which are absent here, one can spot the big four among other different species. 

There are other sites of interest outside the park which are worth a visit. These includes Menengai Crater which is a dominant volcano is it 2242 meters above sea level. It’s the second largest surviving volcano crater in the world plunging 483m down from the rim and the summit is accessible by foot or vehicle 8km from the main road. 

The Hyrax Hill Prehistoric site, discovered by the Leakey’s in 1926 is a major Iron Age a site. One can visit to see various excursion findings 

How to get there: 

The park has a tarmac road connection with Nairobi, a distance of 156 km North West of Nairobi on the main A104 road. The most commonly used route into the park is via the main gate, 4 km from Nakuru Town Centre. It is also possible to enter the park from the main Nairobi Nakuru road at Lanet Gate. The Nderit Gate is used by people accessing the park from Masai Mara or Elementaita.

 Accommodation in Lake Nakuru