Lake Nakuru Safari

Lake Nakuru National Park surrounds a soda lake in the Great Rift Valley, about 160 km northwest of Nairobi (a 3-hour drive). At 188 km² it is one of Kenya's smaller national parks, but its concentration of high-value wildlife in a compact area makes it the standard pairing for short Maasai Mara safaris — most 4-day Mara packages stop at Nakuru on the way back to Nairobi.

Lake Nakuru is famous for two things. The first is flamingos: at peak times the lake is rimmed with hundreds of thousands of lesser and greater flamingos feeding on the alkaline lake's algae. (Numbers fluctuate dramatically with water level — flamingo crowds have been smaller since the lake's dramatic rise in the 2010s, but the spectacle still occurs in shoulder months.) The second is rhinos: the park is fenced and intensively patrolled, holding more than 100 white rhinos and a smaller black rhino population.

Lake Nakuru also offers the rare Rothschild's giraffe — a giraffe subspecies with white "stockings" on its lower legs, easy to distinguish from the more common Maasai giraffe. Lions, leopards, hippos, buffalos and over 450 bird species round out the picture. Game viewing is concentrated and the small park size means short drives — ideal for one-night or two-night stops.

• Flamingos — hundreds of thousands of lesser and greater flamingos at peak times.
• White and black rhinos — Lake Nakuru is one of Kenya's most reliable rhino-viewing parks.
• Rothschild's giraffes — a rare giraffe subspecies with distinctive white "stockings".
• Tree-climbing lions — Nakuru's lions occasionally rest in the park's acacia trees.