A safari to Lake Nakuru was my first safari in Kenya but also the first one in my entire life.
I booked the safari when I was in Nairobi through a local agency. This is recommended if you want to save on costs, as a lot of safaris are offered on the internet with inflated prices.
While Lake Nakuru is definitely beautiful and a great place to visit if you’re short on time, you will not get the same chances during your game drive to spot predators as in the Masai Mara Reserve. Lake Nakuru area attracts different bird species and therefore it is a heaven for ornithologists. However, if you’re on safari for mammals, you might get disappointed at Lake Nakuru.
Lake Nakuru – Zebra’s spotted:
Lake Nakuru – African Buffalo:
One of the attractive parts of Lake Nakuru is the fact that flamingos gather at the lake. A ton of them. Well, used to attract them. The water level increased in 2013 causing local villages to be flooded and inhabited. It also disrupted the nutrients necessary for algal blooms in the lake. As algae are an important part of flamingo’s diet, they found a Lake Bogaria and decided that the grass is greener than in Lake Nakuru.
Fun fact: algae are high in beta-carotene, which is deposited in their feathers, giving the pink color to those birds. No algae means no pinkness.
Expectations (photo from the internet):
Reality: one flamingo who doesn’t know the big feast is in Lake Bogoria
Cape teals, a species of ducks enjoying the lake:
Grey crowned cranes looking for insects in the grass:
We spotted a few great knots, an endangered species that is usually spotted in Northern countries from Canada to Russia but probably ended up here in Africa after migrating for the winter:
We spotted this little rock hyrax and I was able to make a very close capture of it:
Two white rhinos are also present at the base of Lake Nakuru:
Just before we were about to leave we came across a female lion. But this is nothing compared to the predators you can find in the Masai Mara.
Just nearby the entrance/exit of the national park, we also spotted this baboon carrying its baby: