Is Lake Nakuru worth a night on the way to the Mara?

If you are driving, yes. It breaks a long day into two manageable ones and adds rhino and a completely different landscape for one extra night. If you are flying to the Mara, skip it.

Will I see flamingos?

Some, probably. The vast pink flocks of the older photographs are not what the lake currently holds. We would rather you knew that before you booked.

Lake Nakuru Safari Guide: Rhino and Flamingos

Why go

Nakuru is small, fenced and easy, and it sits on the road between Nairobi and the Masai Mara, which makes it the most natural overnight stop in Kenya. The park runs from an alkaline lake up through yellow-barked fever tree forest to cliffs with a long view over the Rift.

Its real value now is rhino. Because it is fenced it functions as a sanctuary, and both black and white rhino are here in numbers that make a sighting likely rather than lucky. Rothschild’s giraffe, translocated here decades ago, are another species you will not see in the Mara.

About the flamingos

Lake Nakuru was famous for flamingos in numbers that turned the shoreline pink. Water levels in the Rift Valley lakes rose substantially from around 2013 onward, which diluted the alkalinity and reduced the algae the flamingos feed on. Many of the birds moved to other lakes in the chain.

Flamingos are still present and numbers fluctuate, but anyone showing you a wall of pink and implying it is what you will find is showing you an old photograph. Go for the rhino, the forest and the birdlife generally, and treat flamingos as a variable.

Where the flamingos went

If flamingos are specifically what you want, Lake Bogoria further north has generally been the more reliable bet in recent years. Say so on the enquiry form and we will route you accordingly rather than leaving you disappointed at Nakuru.

One night or two

One night is enough to cover the park properly on an afternoon and a morning drive. Two makes sense if you are also visiting Lake Naivasha nearby, walking in Hell’s Gate, or breaking a long drive to the Mara into humane pieces.

The Rift Valley route

Nairobi, down the escarpment to Naivasha, on to Nakuru, then south-west to the Mara is one of the most satisfying self-contained routes in Kenya, and it is all doable by road. It gives a trip a sense of geography that flying between airstrips never quite does.

What you will see

White rhino — often in open grassland near the lake shore
Black rhino — present in good numbers, more often in thicker cover
Rothschild’s giraffe, introduced and now well established
Lion, leopard, buffalo, waterbuck and large troops of baboon
Over 400 recorded bird species, including pelicans and, variably, flamingos

Where to stay

Thatched lodge bandas lit from within beneath a sky full of stars — Lodge bandas after dark. Nakuru is a one- or two-night stop, so the lodge matters less here than almost anywhere else in Kenya.

Lodges inside the park, on the escarpment with a view down over the lake.
Hotels in Nakuru town, cheaper and fine for a single night if the budget is tight.
Lake Naivasha, an hour away, which many itineraries use as the base for both lakes.

We do not publish camp names as recommendations

Which camp is right depends on your dates, your budget and how you feel about other vehicles — and availability changes weekly. Tell us those three things and our Kenya specialist names specific camps in your quote, with the reasons.

Getting there

Drive: two and a half to three hours from Nairobi on good tarmac.
It is almost always a road stop rather than a flight; the airstrip is rarely used by visitors.

Plan my Lake Nakuru safari

Lake Nakuru National Park