Lake Nakuru NP: White Rhinos and Pink Flamingos
Thursday, July 8th, 2010It turned out, whether we were ready for it or not, that barely 36 hours after we’d returned from the Masai Mara, we were being picked up at 6:30am from our hotel in Nakuru for a half-day safari into Lake Nakuru National Park. We had to-ed and fro-ed a bit the afternoon before about whether to go or not because the $60 per person entry fee combined with the price for a guide/driver and jeep made it nearly a $200 morning. But in the end we had another fabulous safari day and so were happy with the decision that we made, making us 2/2 so far. Besides, this is our last big trip, so we might as well make the most of it.
The main reason to go into the park was to see the only one of the Big Five that eluded us in Masai Mara – the rhino, and this alone was worth the fees. We saw one black rhino very far away (perhaps 75m) early in the morning, but the real highlight came later: seeing 10 white rhinos in four different groups, seven of them within about 25m, within less than an hour. We’d seen Asian rhinos before in Nepal but these white rhinos were much larger and had far more impressive horns. At one point, a mother and baby came to within about 7m of our jeep and then calmly crossed the road behind us. And since Nakuru is not as popular as Masai Mara, we were the only vehicle around the rhinos for all four viewings, which made it so much better.
Aside from rhinos, other animals we saw at Nakuru that we hadn’t seen in Masai Mara were the dik-dik (the smallest type of antelope), a couple of troupes of vervet monkeys, and thousands of flamingos (as well as some storks and pelicans) in the lake that gives the national park its name. We’ve seen plenty of flamingos before in Mexico and Chile (and even in the Botanical Gardens in Geneva!) but never this many at once. Additionally, we had better viewings of some animals we had seen in Masai Mara, notably the waterbuck and the olive baboon. Throw in the ever-present zebras, gazelles, impalas and buffalos and the plain next to the lake was teeming with animals at a concentration equal to or greater than Masai Mara.
After an Ethiopian lunch back in Nakuru town, we crossed the equator into the Northern Hemisphere and headed past tea plantations (which were unexpected, and felt unusual in Africa) into Kenya’s Central Highlands to the small town of Nyahururu at 2360m above sea level. The main attraction here is Thomson’s Falls, which we hiked to this morning. At 72m high and surrounded by jungley cliffs, it was quite an impressive waterfall – one of the better ones we’ve seen on our travels and certainly the best in Africa (though of course we’ve not been to Victoria Falls).
This afternoon we head back south into the Rift Valley to spend a few days on the shores of Lake Navaisha and in Hell’s Gate NP, where we can test out our new camping gear and further enjoy the nature of East Africa.
Nick