Lakes Nakuru, Bogoria & Baringo

Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru is a shallow soda lake and an ornithologist’s paradise boasting over 400 recorded bird species, the most famous one being the pink flamingo. Such a great number of them flock to the lake that, from a distance, it looks like it is encircled with a thick, pink border. Lake Nakuru has a low concentration of salt and can support fish, which in turn attract a number of other water birds. It is a good place to look for avocet, storks, ibises, ducks, cormorants, herons and terns.

However, the lake is not the National Park’s only feature. Besides the lake, habitats here include grassland, bush, euphorbia and acacia forests and rocky cliffs that overlook the lake – all supporting a wide variety of species. Waterbuck, buffalo, warthog, Thomson’s gazelle, reedbuck and leopard are all inhabitants of this interesting park. The cliffs harbour many baboons and are also a shelter for great numbers of rock hyraxes (rotund, guinea pig-like creatures who are, unbelievably, closely related to the elephant). Birds of prey can often be spotted circling above the precipitous rock faces beyond the lake.

Lake Bogoria National Park

North of Nakuru is another of the Rift Valley’s soda lakes, Lake Bogoria. It too supports a great number of flamingos, many of which came here when Lake Nakuru was recovering from previous droughts. The park is home to leopards, klipspringers and caracals as well as the wonderful greater kudu – in fact, it’s one of the best places in Kenya to see this mighty animal with its splendid horns. The animal favours the isolated and wooded southern reaches of the park, where a wealth of other species can be found too.
Lake Bogoria National Park’s hot springs and geysers are a further attraction although not a tempting proposition for bathing as the springs are hot enough to boil an egg! Just north of the park is Kesubo Swamp, an important wetland to the Lake ecosystem and a fascinating area for birdwatchers to visit as it has over 200 recorded species of bird.

Lake Baringo

Just to the north of Lake Bogoria and the most northerly of all the Rift Valley lakes is Lake Baringo, a freshwater lake dotted with picturesque islands. The waters support a multitude of hippos and crocodiles and over 450 recorded species of bird out of Kenya’s 1,200 native species. This amazing environment draws birdwatchers from all over the world, eager to catch a glimpse of a special rarity. A few years ago a record was set when an ornithologist saw over 300 species in 24 hours. Species include the following:

• pale and dark phase Gabar goshawks
• paradise flycatchers
• African fish eagles
• Marabou storks
• shikra
• white-faced Scops owl
• Hemprich’s hornbill
• African darter
• African skimmer