Accessing Lake Nakuru National Park

Accessing Lake Nakuru National Park: Lake Nakuru National Park is one the most visited National parks in Kenya, receiving tens of thousands of guests yearly. The Great Rift Valley Park located in central Kenya is a bird paradise, animal hub and scenery haven; and all these things keep the park busy with guest that would want to experience all these attractions and more.

Accessing Lake Nakuru National Park is one of the frequently asked questions guests have as they plan their safari in Lake Nakuru National Park. Well guests accessing Lake Nakuru National Park can access it through its three gates and various routes that connect to the park.

Lake Nakuru is located 166 kms northwest of Nairobi city, so for guests coming from Nairobi they will use the most used route of access from Nairobi which is the Nairobi- Nakuru High way. This route is about 3 to 4 hour drive on the highway to Lake Nakuru National park.

The Nairobi- Nakuru highway takes you on a route with beautiful sights of vegetation and communities along the highway through Nakuru town and then to Lake Nakuru National park. Nakuru Town is 4 kms from Lake Nakuru National Park’s main gate. This means from Nakuru town you access Lake Nakuru National park through the main gate.

From the Nairobi-Nakuru high way you can also access Lake Nakuru National park through the Lanet gate, you branch off the highway to this which means you forsake going through Nakuru town. The time of arrival to the park is only a few minutes difference.

If you are coming from the south of Lake Nakuru National park especially if you are having joining safaris with Maasai Mara or Elementaita, you can access the Lake Nakuru National park through a couple of joining routes that lead you to the Nderit Gate of the park. This gate is commonly used by persons getting to the park from Masai Mara and Elementaita because of the strategic location with the routes from those sites.

If you are using air to access the Lake Nakuru National park, you will fly form Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the park’s airstrip, Naishi airstrip. This airstrip is already inside the park so you don’t need to go through any gate to access the park, you just continue on with your itinerary in the park.

Lake Nakuru National Park is a bird paradise with over 400 bird species living the park premises however the park is most famous for the pink flamingos that float on the shores of Lake Nakuru. The flamingos that have been residents of the park for many years and are the first thing you will see or even hear about Lake Nakuru National Park.

Lake Nakuru, where the flamingos and other birds make their life is a soda lake with deep blue alkaline waters that have an abundance of blue-green algae which is food for the famous flamingos; some of the other birds you will find on the lake are:- Pelicans, Schalow’s wheatear, African fish eagles, Northern puff back, Rüppell’s robin-chat, Red-capped lark, Rufous-throated wryneck, Rüppell’s vulture, Shining Sunbird and many more.

Lake Nakuru National Park on top of being a bird paradise is also a Rhino sanctuary, hosting apparently the largest number of black rhinos in Kenya. The Rhino sanctuary that was started in the 1960s is home to both the white and black rhinos that are conserved on the park grounds together with the Rothschild’s giraffe. The park is fenced to protect the Rhinos from encroachers and to prevent the rhinos from leaving the park grounds.

Lake Nakuru National park is also a habitat to over 50 mammal species that live and breed in the park’s savannah grasslands, these mammals include Buffaloes, Baboons, lions, leopards, waterbucks, impalas and many more.

The park is also endowed with beautiful landscape features that comprise of scenic raised ridges with unmatchable views that complement the park’s beauty greatly.

Guests to Lake Nakuru National park are able to enjoy a lot of things and several activities that include but not limited to:- bird watching, game viewing, picnicking on one of the viewpoints, camping, experiencing the Malakia falls and many other things.