Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru National Park is one of Kenya's most diverse and rewarding parks — a compact 188 km² reserve in the Great Rift Valley, centred on a shallow alkaline lake that has historically hosted one of the greatest wildlife spectacles on earth: a shimmering pink horizon of up to two million lesser flamingos.

While flamingo numbers vary year to year depending on the lake's water level and algae content, the park's wildlife offering extends far beyond its famous birds. Nakuru is a designated rhino sanctuary and one of the best places in East Africa to see both black and white rhino. The park also supports large herds of buffalo and waterbuck, Rothschild's giraffe, lion, leopard, and over 450 bird species.

The park is enclosed by a predator-proof fence — unusual in Kenya — which makes it one of the safest walking safari destinations in the country and particularly appealing for families and first-time safari visitors. The high-escarpment viewpoints offer sweeping panoramas over the lake and rift valley floor.

Nakuru is easily combined with a Maasai Mara or Laikipia circuit, sitting on the main route between Nairobi and Kenya's northern safari destinations.