Kenya’s Lake Nakuru National Park: A Photo Story of Wild Riches

It is a place where you can see hundreds of thousands of flamingos in one view making it one of the most famous bird spectacles in the world. It is a stronghold for both of Africa’s endangered rhino species. It is one of Kenya’s top wildlife destinations that is also a bird lover’s paradise. It is an important pitstop on the African – Eurasian migratory flyway. It is home to the big five and other animal and bird species. And it is one of Kenya’s lakes system UNESCO world heritage sites. I am talking about Lake Nakuru national park, a Ramsar wetland that is nestled in the vast Rift valley. This national park is a wildlife enthusiast’s delight and a stay of a few nights here is enough to wow you with its wildlife riches and panoramic beauty. This photo story aims at showing you the diversity of this rich ecosystem though these varied wildlife and bird photos shot here during a Kenya wildlife safari holiday.

Above photo: Flamingos gather at Lake Nakuru by the millions. There is something about the Rift valley lakes that appeal to these birds and the sight of them feeding and flying together in millions is a sight for the ages.



Above photo: Apart from flamingos, other water birds like Great white pelicans, african spoonbills and others can be seen at Lake Nakuru in huge numbers. Most of these birds migrate to the lakes of the Rift valley from Europe every year.



Above photo: The grassland surrounding Lake Nakuru is fertile and is made up of highly adaptable alkaline grasses, which attract herbivores in hoards. This is an example of a common zebra chomping on these delicious grass.



Above photo: This is another instance of a herbivore enjoying the grasslands surrounding Lake Nakuru. All herbivores thrive in healthy numbers in this national park.



Above photo: This olive baboon family can be seen enjoying the morning sun on the jeep track inside Lake Nakuru national park. These olive baboon families are rowdy in nature and the males can fight any animal, however large when threatened.



Above photo: Lake Nakuru national park is home to 400 species of birds. And one of them is this vibrant yellow-billed stork that can seen feeding in the shallow waters of the lake.



Above photo: Egyptian Goose, another migratory visitor, fills up new colours in your camera viewfinder.



Above photo: Black faced velvet monkeys are playful in nature and are commonly seen at Lake Nakuru National Park. Other primates that can be easily spotted here are olive baboons and colobus monkeys.



Above photo: The star attractions of Lake Nakuru national park are the greater and lesser flamingos that congregate here in millions. It feels as if the whole horizon is dressed in different shades of pink.



Above photo: The shallow algae rich waters of Lake Nakuru attract more than 2 million flamingos. The biggest numbers can be seen during the dry season. When the lake is full, the flamingos are known to migrate to another Rift valley lake, Lake Bogoria or sometimes Lake Turkana.



Above photo: Wildlife, bird and nature photographers like Lake Nakuru for its amazing flamingo photography. And you don’t have to travel a lot inside Lake Nakuru unlike the other national parks of Kenya, which ensures that you get lots of animal and bird photos with minimal hassle.



Above photo: A fluffy pied crow perched on top of a dead tree branch at Lake Nakuru national park. A common citizen here, the pied crow looks exactly like a crow, but with the added white colour chest jacket.



Above photo: This is the baboon cliff view point inside Lake Nakuru national park. It is situated in the middle of the park and offers great vistas of the lake and the surrounding hills and forests.



Above photo: Lake Nakuru is one of the few places in East Africa where one can see Rothschild’s giraffe in the wild. The population of this giraffe at Nakuru is the second highest after Murchison Falls national park in Uganda and the largest in Kenya.



Above photo: The common zebra exists in healthy numbers in Lake Nakuru national park and seem to love the grasslands here.



Above photo: If hippos interest you, go near the mouth of the Makalia, Njoro or Enderit rivers as the hippos like the freshwater that the river brings. Do keep a safe distance from the hippos as they are known to get aggressive.



Above photo: A dozen white and about 20 black rhino were translocated to Lake Nakuru in the 1990s and have since bred to form populations or around 100s of each species. The white rhino in particular is common on the lake’s southern floodplain.



Above photo: The best place to see the cape buffalo (one of the big five of Kenya) is in the swamps next to the lake. In all probability, you will see the buffalo wallowing in the mud.

Other nearby tourist attractions:

1) Samburu Tribe: One of the colourful tribes of Kenya

2) Samburu National Reserve: An Oasis of Wildlife in Arid North Kenya

3) Thomson’s Falls: A stunning waterfall at Nyahururu

4) Nanyuki’s Equator Point: A great place to understand the Coriolis effect

5) Maasai Mara’s Great Migration: 8th Wonder of the world

6) Maasai Tribe: The tribal people of Maasai Mara Game Reserve

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The Colourful Samburu Tribe of Kenya: A Travel Photo Series

They are related to the famous Maasai tribe living in the Maasai Mara game reserve in Kenya. They are one of the more dominating tribes of north-central Kenya. They are semi-nomadic pastoralists who mainly herd cattle, but also keep sheep, goats and camels. I am talking about the colourful Samburu tribe who live north of the equator in Kenya and live in very diverse and beautiful landscapes that span high altitude forests, open plains, semi-arid grass and bush land to complete desert. One of their main settlements is on the fringes of Samburu National Park in North Kenya and this is where I met them. Experiencing the Samburu National reserve and the Samburu tribe becomes a beautiful one-two combo for a rich wildlife and culture experience.

This travel photo series aims to share with you the colourful personalities and traditional life of the beautiful Samburu tribal people. Hope you enjoy these vibrant visuals of these gorgeous tribal people of Kenya.

Above picture: The Samburu tribe is known for its colourful beadwork jewellery. Here you can see a Samburu woman wearing such colourful head and neck bead jewellery.



Above picture: Samburu men also adorn themselves with such colourful bead jewellery making them fantastic looking male models too.



Above picture: Here is another Samburu tribal woman sporting colourful beadwork necklace, ear rings and head gear. The concentric rings on the necklace makes her look similar to the long necked Karen tribal women of Myanmar, but thankfully their necks have not been lengthened.



Above picture: Seen in this photo is a game with seeds and compartments played only by the elderly men of the Samburu tribe. This game is very similar to Pallanguzhi, a traditional ancient mancala game played in South India, especially Tamil Nadu and Kerala.



Above picture: It is said that the more beads or necklaces are there on a woman, the more beautiful she is considered. Another point on the same line of thought is that, women wore more necklaces as they got richer. Therefore, the number of beads or necklaces indicate status in society, richness level and beauty.



Above picture: The Samburu people speak the Samburu language, which is a Nilo-Saharan language. Their language is more or less similar to Maa (the language that the Maasai speak). The Samburu tongue is also related to Turkana and Karamojong and more distantly to Pokot and the Kalenjin languages.



Above picture: Like all kids, the Samburu kids are also full of energy and innocent smiles. They can be seen wearing Western attire.



Above picture: The elders occupy a very important role in the Samburu society and all the power rests with them. They have a polygamous system where the elders decide who can marry and can have how many wives. This kind of control keeps trouble at rest or at least that is the belief.



Above picture: In the Samburu tribe, the men take care of security, cattle herding and playing mock fight games to improve their warrior skills.



Above picture: While the Samburu women take care of things like building houses, collecting firewood and food from the forest, cooking food, taking care of the young ones and in doing craftsmanship.



Above picture: The Samburu love to sing and dance, but traditionally use no instruments. They have dances for various occasions of life. The men dance jumping and high jumping from a standing position is a great sport. Most dances involve the men and the women dancing in their separate circles with particular moves for each sex, but coordinating the moves of the two groups. A lot of their dances involve elaborate movements of their chest.



Above picture: Girls get married pretty early. Sometimes before they turn 18. Both boys and girls go through an initiation into adulthood, which involves training in adult responsibilities and circumcision for boys and clitoridectomy for girls. Ouch!



Above picture: If you wish to marry a Samburu woman, all you have to do is give the chief of the village 2 cows. That is how weddings happen in the Samburu culture.



Above picture: The hard working Samburu woman. She works in the forest, inside the house and in the manyatta or settlement.



Above picture: A typical Samburu house is built by the wives of that house using sticks, mud, dung and plastic (for waterproofing).

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Lake Nakuru National Park: The place to see the most fabulous bird spectacle in the world

Small in size, but rich in bio diversity, Lake Nakuru is known for its birdlife, with more than 500 species listed. The avian highlights are the the millions of flamingo that gather along its shore and the pelican that cluster on the southern floodplain. Nakuru is a stronghold for both of Africa’s endangered rhino species, and there is probably no better place in East Africa to observe the white rhino. While flamingo and rhino top most visitors’ wish list, Nakuru offers excellent game viewing and bird watching, with all the Big Five present, alongside Giraffe, waterbuck, gazelle and baboon.


Following are some of the key specialties of Lake Nakuru National Park:

1) Flamingoes on Lake Nakuru
The shallow algae rich waters of Lake Nakuru attracts more than 2 million flamingoes. The biggest numbers can be seen during the dry season. When the lake is full, the flamingoes are known to migrate to another Rift valley lake, Lake Bogoria or sometimes Lake Turkana.


2) Rhino Sightings
A dozen white and 20 black rhino were translocated to Lake Nakuru in the 1990s and have since bred to form populations of around 50 of each species. The white rhino in particular is common on the lake’s southern floodplain.

3) Acacia Forest
The southern part of the park supports a cover of lush acacia woodland dominated by the fever tree. This is the best place to look for the black rhino, lion, leopard and woodland birds.


4) Baboon Cliff
This view point, situated in the middle of the park offers great vistas of the lake and the surrounding hills and forests.


5) Rothschild’s Giraffe
Lake Nakuru is one of those few places in East Africa where one can see the Rothschild’s giraffe in the wild. The population of this Giraffe at Nakuru is the second highest after Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda and the largest in Kenya.

6) Euphorbia Forest
The Rift Valley escarpment rising to the southeast of Lake Nakuru supports Kenya’s largest concentration of the cactus-like euphorbia, a striking tree-sized succulent whose thick sap is poisonous to most animals.


Since Lake Nakuru is a small park, one can easily cover all of its routes within a single day. But, personally, I would recommend that you stay here for at least a couple of days to soak in the pristine beauty of this rift valley lake. Either people visit this lake as a day or weekend trip from Nairobi or visit enroute to Maasai Mara Game Reserve or Samburu National Reserve.


As with most other parks of Kenya, no one is allowed to get down from their vehicles during the safari. But, a small exception is made at 3 spots in this national park. One is the place near the lake, where birders can park their tripods and photograph the flamingos and pelicans. The other is the area around Baboon’s cliff and the third is the ‘Out of Africa’ view point. Both Baboon’s cliff and Out of Africa are popular picnic spots for the locals.


In terms of accommodation, the park has two wildlife lodges, Lion Hill Lodge and Lake Nakuru lodge. Apart from these, one can also pitch in their own camps, though mosquitoes and baboons can cause a racket.


The safari timings remain sunrise to sunset, but unlike the other parks, most of the park stays dark due to the extremely tall tree cover. Hence it is my recommendation that you spend the sunrise and the sunset hours towards the southern side of the park where the golden hues will form a beautiful glow on the animals and the birds feeding in the floodplains.


If hippos interest you, go near the mouth of the Makalia, Njoro or Enderit rivers as the hippos like the freshwater that the river brings. The best place to see the cape buffalo is in the swamps next to the lake. In all probability, you will see the buffalo wallowing in the mud.


This is one place that you should not miss while planning a wildlife holiday in Kenya. Just the sheer number of flamingos are enough to keep you enthralled for a couple of days.

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Samburu National Reserve: An Oasis of Wildlife in Arid North Kenya

Remote, thinly inhabited and practically unknown to outsiders, Northern Kenya is one of Africa’s last great wilderness areas. While the Lake Turkana and the Chalbi desert are areas that even the locals have not visited, there lies a belt in Northern Kenya that is fiercely popular with locals and tourists alike.


That stretch is the Samburu National Reserve that is situated near Isiolo and offers exceptional wildlife viewing. Samburu is an unfenced reserve that protects semiarid savannah land flanking the Ewaso Nyiro river. It’s ecology is defined by the contrasting habitats of riverine forest along the Ewaso Nyiro and austere acacia scrub and rocky slopes extending from it.


This reserve along with the neighboring Buffalo Springs reserve (that is currently inaccessible due to a broken bridge) probably offers the best chance of sighting the leopard in Kenya, and lion, elephant and buffalo are also quite common. The main attraction, however, is a host of dry country specials absent or rare in most other East African parks.


This includes mammals such as Beisa Oryx, Grevy’s Zebra and Gerenuk, and a long list of birds of which the cobalt-chested vulturine guinea fowl is the most spectacular. The star attraction is however the Grevy’s zebra, which is larger than the more widespread plains zebra and with a narrower stripe pattern. This endangered species is more or less endemic to North Kenya. I tried hard to spot this beautiful mammal, but luck was not on my side on those game drives.


The Samburu landscape is dominated by the Ewaso Nyiro river, a place around which most of the wildlife action happens especially with the elephants and the crocodiles. This river rises in the Aberdare mountains and arcs through the Laikipia plateau before eventually emptying into the expansive Lorian Swamp in Kenya’s remote northeast.


Although it has been known to cease flowing in the dry years, the river is essentially perennial and its name, which means muddy water or brown water, refers to the rich red-brown top soil it carries down from Laikipia.


Within the reserve, the river supports a lush ribbon of palm studded riparian forest that contrasts pleasingly with the surrounding aridity. The jeep tracks that run parallel to both the north and south banks offer the best wildlife sighting opportunities during game drives.


Hippo and crocodile are resident and easily seen as are a host of water associated birds like fishing eagles, kingfishers and spoonbills. The riverine vegetation also attracts plenty of elephant and buffalo. The reticulated giraffe is also seen close by.


The other special area in Samburu National Reserve is the Ol Doinyo Koitogorr, a 4,100 feet high mountain that supports a tangled cover of dry thorn scrub dominated by stunted acacia trees. It is on these acacia trees that the buffalo weaver and the sparrow weavers build innumerable nests.


Wildlife concentrations are lower away from the river, but one can spot some unique species here. Like the rubber-necked gerenuk that can be seen in family parties foraging on acacia canopies. The dik diks and larger antelopes such as the eland, impala, lesser kudu and Grant’s gazelle are also very visible.


This northern scrubland is especially rewarding for birders who are on the lookout for dry country birds such as vulturine guineafowl, yellow throated spurfowl, blue legged Somali ostrich, Egyptian vulture, golden pipit, golden-breasted starling, black capped social weaver, white-headed mousebird, Somali bee-eater, bristle-crowned starling and more.


Personally, I loved the wildlife experience that Samburu offered to me during my 4 game drives here. In my mind, it is possibly the prettiest wildlife reserve in Kenya and the most interesting part of this forest is the rich abundance of birds in spite of most the terrain being semi arid.

Seeing a rich haul of hornbills here was the main highlight. This is one place that you should try and add to your Kenya Wildlife itinerary that I am sure includes Maasai Mara, Amboseli, Nakuru and Tsavo.


Distance from Nairobi: 400kms or 6-7 hours by road. Nanyuki can offer a short, yet entertaining pit stop.

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