Next Stop: Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya Safari

Onwards from Lake Naivasha onto Lake Nakuru in the Great Rift Valley – we were on a lake roll!

Lake Nakuru: Great Expectations?

For some reason I had quite low expectations, or perhaps no particular expectations from Lake Nakuru National Park other than a pretty lake, lots of birds and more of the typical animals we seemed to see at every national park (cough, zebra), but I was pleasantly surprised.

The Main Highlight

Lake Nakuru is famous for its fabulous pink flamingo population, its the first thing you probably read about when doing your prior research. Funny thing is – we didn’t see any flamingos.

Well I don’t remember seeing any and our driver said something about how things have changed leading to a decline in flamingos in the park, they’re flying off elsewhere…something to do with flooding leading to changes in the landscape and a lack of salt water.

We did see lions though!!

This lion pride looked like they’d just had dinner – zebra carcass leftovers above….which the male lion seemed to be guarding carefully, despite looking very uncomfortable, breathing heavily like he was out of breath, constantly trying to get comfortable, tummy bulging, and at the mercy of millions of annoying flies.

Lions binge eat, they stuff themselves silly to the point of exhaustion – not surprising, I guess they never know how long it might be before another good meal and they can’t exactly keep the leftovers fresh for another day!!

Buffalo above: my game driver said, “they just eat and enjoy life” …living the dream then!!

Apparently, you’re more likely to spot rhino at Lake Nakuru National Park, but I don’t remember seeing any, I saw them at both Masai Mara and Nairobi National Parks.

Accommodation: Sopa Lodge Lake Nakuru

It was an absolute treat staying at this lodge with sprawling views over Lake Nakuru from all the rooms.

Three things really surprised me about this resort:

1. The sparkling lights of Nakuru city glow colorfully in the distance at night beyond the lake….you wouldn’t think there was a built up city in the distance; when you look out during the day it all just seems like endless national park
2. How steep the walk up and down to the rooms was – it reminded me of a big/wide ‘helter skelter’ slide. You can request a golf-style buggy to give you a lift if it’s too much for anyone, especially with your luggage
3. The size of the bathroom in my room lol, it was enormous compared to any of the other accommodation I stayed in

We’d be out on another game drive early again the next day 🥱 before heading onwards to our next stop Masai Mara.