Hungry Hippos: One Night on Lake Naivasha Kenya, in The Great Rift Valley

Lake Naivasha gives your game driver a rest, and gets you on your feet walking around in the fresh air and hopping onto a boat. We left Amboseli far behind, further south and headed a few hours up in a more northerly direction (along some supremely bumpy roads) – into the Great Rift Valley region of Kenya.

Hungry Hippos

Naivasha’s biggest claim to fame is it’s resident hippo population. There’s a good number of hippos living happily on the edge Lake Naivasha and they grace us with their presence when they come up on land at night to graze – right in front of the windows of your accommodation if you’re stay at Sopa Lodge!!

After dinner, some of the staff were asking me if I was going to go down and look out for the hippos….I realised then – that this was a big attraction on the resort…not to be missed!!

During my night there, the hippos did come up onto the grass to graze, but not near enough to the windows to get a good clear view. We had to go outside and stand nearer the boundary to get a better look at them, and even then they didn’t get very close that night.

Night time photography is clearly not my forte – I should really explore all those fancy camera settings for future use.

Early to Rise!

The ‘crack of dawn’ boat ride was worth the shivers and yawns just to experience the peaceful beauty of all the blue hues around the lake and the lovely sunrise. We saw an impressive gathering of hippos, the most I’ve ever seen all huddled together, and an array of birds, including an eagle. Just to stress, we saw a lot of birds – if you have a special interest in birds you won’t be disappointed, especially on the lake.

Tip: it was freezing on the boat ride so wrap up warm, take gloves and a warm hat, thick scarf (in June at least) thick fleecy clothes – you won’t regret it on that lake in the early morning, trust me. Think ‘frosty winter morning’ – even though by midday it’s hot again. It’s funny weather around the equator and being on a high altitude.

Wild and Free

Another highlight on the Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge was that all the animals roam freely on the resort grounds day and night (though there is a barrier of sorts and a gate where the hippos come up at night). You won’t bump into elephants here though, or any big cats…well you shouldn’t. I think most resorts had some sort of electric fence.

Giraffe, zebra and a few other animals casually mull around with no restriction though, so just mind you don’t bump into any when you’re going to and from your room across to reception or the restaurant area.

Optional – you can request a staff member to give you a bit of a tour around the grounds and point out some of the animals.

There was a zebra right outside my front door on the way to dinner and then two of them on my way back….you can’t help but say hello to them, seemed rude not to lol.

That night – that giraffe!

Giraffes look scary at night, I can confirm.

A staff member stopped a few of us one night returning to our rooms wanting to show us a giraffe nearby. Hmmm, he pointed it out in the tall trees but I couldn’t see it in the dark of night. Eventually my eyes adjusted and there it was, a towering dark silhouette against the night sky with those protruding horns, only a couple of metres away!!! I’m happy to see them during the day, more than happy – really I am, but I won’t be going looking for them at night lol, I don’t need any giraffe nightmares thanks.

I read that giraffes can survive on 30-40 mins of sleep per day. PER DAY!!!! Sometimes that’s standing up as well, and not all in one go either, a few mins of sleep at a time, so they’re practically awake all the time!! Incredible, but sad that they have to be on such high alert to predators that they can’t enjoy a decent night’s sleep or maybe they just don’t need sleep like other mammals do.

More on giraffes later when I post about the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi…one of the most popular tourist attractions in Kenya’s capital.

Accommodation: Lake Naivasha Sopa Lodge

The rooms were very spacious – with a huge private hallway before even getting into the room, seems like they don’t scrimp with room sizes in these lodges….on the grouund floor at least. Others in on the floor above me said their rooms were a bit smaller and only had one double bed, not two! All the lodges had buffet style breakfast/lunch/dinner spreads…lots of variety.

Views from the room span out onto the green area where hippos graze a night.

Lake Naivasha was a welcome contrast to Amboseli National Park, it was great to get off the road and stretch for a while….before hitting the road again!!

Next, onwards to Lake Nakuru – also in the Great Rift Valley region…..

The Great Rift Valley

Just in case you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about when I keep referencing the Great Rift Valley – it’s one of the most iconic Kenyan stopping points for beautiful vast landscape views, infinite on the eye.

“The Great Rift Valley covers 8,700 Kms. (5,400 miles) running from Jordan Valley in the Middle East and taking in the whole of the Red Sea before cutting through Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and finally reaching the Indian Ocean at Beira near the Zambezi River. It is much more defined in Kenya than anywhere else. “ Source

I’m not sure how many different stopping points there are but where we stopped, and passed by again was in the thick of a heavily congested busy road, frequented by lots of huge lorries –  all competing for limited space on this narrow road – trying to overtake on a two lane system!!! I’ll talk more about that in a later post lol….these roads are not for the weak.

I noticed a few toilets like the one on the right….I didn’t venture into any of these but most of our toilet stops had more ‘comfortable’ toilets than this little shack  – bless!! At least it’s something; where you are when you get off to enjoy the views isn’t really somewhere you’d expect to find a loo, so it’s a plus I guess! 🤗