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Kenya's great lakes

Lake Naivasha

Lake Naivasha is a beautiful freshwater lake, fringed by thick papyrus. The lake is almost 13kms across, but its waters are shallow with an average depth of five metres. Lake area varies greatly according to rainfall, with an average range between 114 and 991 sq kms. At the beginning of the 20th Century, Naivasha completely dried up and effectively disappeared. The resulting open land was farmed, until heavy rains a few years later caused the lake to return to existence, swallowing up the newly established estates.Afternoon wind and storms can cause the Lake to become suddenly rough and produce high waves. For this reason, the local Maasai christened the lake Nai'posha meaning ''rough water'', which the British later misspelt as Naivasha..

The lake and its surrounds are rich in natural bounty, and the fertile soils and water supply have made this one of Kenya's prime agricultural regions.Much of the lake is surrounded by forests of the yellow barked Acacia Xanthophlea, known as the yellow fever tree. These forests abound with bird life, and Naivasha is known as a world class birding destination.

The waters of the lake draw a great range of game to these shores. Giraffes wander among the acacia, Buffalo wallow in the swamps and Colobus monkeys call from the treetops while the Lakes large hippo population sleep the day out in the shallows.The region surrounding the Lake is well worth exploring. There are two more smaller lakes nearby, Oloidien, and Sonachi, a bright green cater lake.

Hell's Gate National Park lies beside the lake. This Park was named for its pair of massive red tinged cliffs framing a geothermically active interior of steam vents and bubbling springs. The park is home to a profusion of plains game and birdlife. Walking is permitted, making it ideal for hiking, biking, and rock climbing. Boat trips on the lake are widely available, and is a great way to spend an afternoon or morning. Sunsets are always stunning, with the haunting call of a Fish Eagle high over the Lake bringing the day to a perfect end....

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Getting Around

Main road access to Naivasha is directly from Nairobi by bus/Matatu or private transport. The main highway continues from Naivasha to Nakuru. Naivasha is just over an hour from Nairobi. There is an airstrip in Naivasha, with charter flights available. Some lodges and guesthouses here have private airstrips. Many hotels and lodges here can organize transfers from Nairobi to Naivasha. See the Accommodation section for details.   Most of the places in interest in Naivasha are around the Lakeshore, out of town. There are taxis available in Naivasha town. A private car is a good way to explore this region. Many hotels and Lodges organize local excursions

Lake Elmenteita

Elmenteita is a small (18 sq km) soda lake, nestled in the eastern sweep of the Great Rift Valley.The Lake is surrounded by spectacular country that played an important role in the early colonial history of Kenya. This was the estate and stronghold of Lord Delamere, the builder of the Kenya colony. Today Elmenteita is a peaceful and low-key place, lying in the shadow of an impressively peaked hill known locally known as the ‘Sleeping Maasai'.The lake attracts many visiting flamingo, and it shores are grazed by zebra, gazelle, eland and families of warthog. The lake and its surrounding forests are perfect for long walks and birding...

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Getting There

Getting Around

Main road access to Elmenteita is directly from Nairobi by bus/Matatu or private transport. The main highway continues to Nakuru. The nearest town is GilGil. Elmenteita is a one and a half hour drive from Nairobi. There is an airstrip in Naivasha, with charter flights available. Lodges and camps here can organize transfers from Nairobi to Naivasha.   This is a good area to explore on foot. Lodges and Camps here can organize local excursions.

Lake Nakuru

Nakuru provides the visitor with one of Kenya's best known images. Thousands of flamingo, joined into a massive flock, fringe the shores of this soda lake. A pulsing pink swathe of life that carpets the water, the flamingo are a breathtaking sight. The lake has become world famous for these birds, who visit the lake to feed on algae that forms on the lake bed. They move back and forth, feeding and occasionally and spectacularly taking to flight, filling the sky over the lake with colour. The lake is extremely variable in size- changing from 5 up to 30 sq kms in area.

Nakuru has more than just flamingos. This is a major National Park and an important sanctuary for Rhino. Both Black and White Rhino are found here, and are often seen resting under acacias by the Lake shore. The park abounds with game. There are huge herds of waterbuck, zebra, buffalo, the endangered Rothschild Giraffe and more. This is one of your best chances of seeing Leopard in Kenya, and there are several large prides of Lion. Exploring beyond the lake is always rewarding and there are forests, cliffs, waterfalls and more to be found here. Nearby Nakuru town is a busy and thriving local centre with a bustling market. The town is a hub for local transport and travel.

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Getting There

Getting Around

Main road access to Nakuru is directly from Nairobi by bus/matatu or private transport. The main highway passes by Naivasha and GilGil/Elmenteita on the way. Nakuru is a 2 hour drive from Nairobi. There is an airstrip in Nakuru which charter flights can use. Many of the hotel and lodges here can arrange transfers to Nairobi.         Getting to the lake itself is difficult without private transport. The lodge and camp here both organize local excursions.

Lake Bogoria

At the beginning of Kenya's great Northern Wilderness lies Lake Bogoria.

 

The lake is the heart of an arid landscape, in the shadow of the dramatic walls of the Siracho Range. The soda waters of the lake attract massive flocks of Flamingo, and the lake is often carpeted with pink. The 32 sq km lake is still volcanically active, and the Western shore is lined with spouting geysers, spurting steam and bubbling geothermal pools. Fresh water springs at the lake edge attract an abundance of birds and wildlife.

There are many Fish Eagles, which often prey on the local flamingos. The shores are always lined with Gazelle, Zebra, Baboons and this is one of the best places to see Greater Kudu...

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Getting There

Getting Around

Access to Bogoria is a diversion from the Nakuru- Baringo road, via Marigat. Private transport is needed. There is a very basic airstrip which charter flights can use. Getting to the lake itself is very difficult without private transport. Come as part of an organized safari, or with a hire car.

Lake Baringo

Lake Baringo is at the threshold of Northern Kenya, and its freshwaters are an oasis in the arid plains. This is the traditional home of the Njemps tribe, a unique people who are the only pastoral, cattle herding, tribe who also fish. Among other pastoral tribes such as the Maasai, eating fish is a taboo. The 129 sq km lake is well stocked with fish, and attracts many Pelicans, Cormorants and Fish Eagles. The Lake is also well populated with Crocodile. The lake itself is truly beautiful, surrounded by volcanic ranges that stretch as far as the eye can see. At the lakes heart is Ol Kokwe Island, a stark rocky island that is home to Njemps villages and a well appointed camp. This is an excellent base for exploring the lake, with boat trips ideal for bird and hippo spotting. Baringo is an ideal stopover on a safari to Northern Kenya.

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Getting There

Getting Around

Main road access to Baringo is directly from Nakuru by bus or private transport. The nearest town to the lake is Kampi ya Samaki. Some of the hotel and lodges here can arrange transfers to Nakuru/Nairobi. The lodges and caps here both organize local excursions. Boats can also be hired. See the Accommodation section for details.

Lake Turkana

At Kenya's far Northern frontier lies one of the natural wonders of the world. Lake Turkana is a massive inland sea, the largest desert lake in the world (6,405 sq km). This single body of water is over 250 kilometres long- longer than the entire Kenyan coast. It is widely known as the Jade Sea, because of the remarkable, almost incandescent, colour of its waters. After a long journey through the sweltering deserts and lava flows of Northern Kenya, the sight of this vast body of bright turquoise water comes as an unearthly, ethereal vision.The Lake is a source of life for some of Kenya's most remote tribes. The Turkana, with ancestral ties to Uganda, live a semi-nomadic existence around the Lake. The country's smallest tribe, the El Molo, live a hunter-gatherer existence on the shores, in villages of distinctive rounded reed huts.Turkana has one of the longest living histories on earth, and recent fossil evidence unearthed at Koobi Fora has led to the Lake being referred to as ‘The Cradle of Mankind'.The site lies at the heart of the Sibiloi National Park, a place of stark beauty and prehistoric petrified forests.The Lake itself is a natural treasure, with the world's single largest crocodile population. In Turkana these reptiles grow to record size, with some of the largest specimens found on remote windswept Central Island.Lake Turkana is Kenya's most remote destination, but one that repays the intrepid traveller with rich rewards...

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Getting There

Getting Around

The East and West Shores of Turkana are accessed completely separately, and are physically separated by the vast uncrossable Suguta Valley south of the Lake. The east shore is reached via Maralal and Marsabit with the central point of access being the small oasis town of Loiyangalani. The west shore is accessed via Kitale and the central point of access is Lodwar. There are airstrips on both shores for chartered aircraft. This area is used as a launch site for safaris into the remote Omo region of Soutern Ethiopia. Turkana should be visited as part of a professionally organized safari. There are very few defined roads around the Lake. The lakeshore can be explored on foot, but plenty of water and a good sense of direction are both vital. Boats are available for hire in villages along the shore, and this is the best way to explore the lake. a local guide is advisable.

                Lake Magadi

Deep in the heart of Southern Kenya's Maasai land is the unearthly Lake Magadi. This 104 sq km soda lake is completely surrounded by vast natural salt flats. These sweltering hot plains prevent any animals reaching the alkaline lake at its centre. For this reason, thousands of flamingo descend on the lake each year to nest on elevated mud mounds at the lake's edge safe from any potential predators. Freshwater springs at the Lake's shore attract a host of other birds.

A journey to Magadi is to enter another world. The baking salt plains stretch into horizons of shimmering heat haze, while the shallow lake heaves with the pink waves of nesting flamingo. The otherworldly atmosphere is compounded by the intense heat and the isolation. Magadi is often the final destination for treks from the Nguruman escarpment or the Loita hills. Proximity to Nairobi means that trekkers can leave the heat of Magadi behind and ascend 1000 metres to the highland cool of the capital.

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Getting There

Main road access to Magadi is directly from Nairobi by bus, matatu or private transport, via Kiserian. Many trekkers hike to Magadi from the Nguruman Escarpment and the Loita Hills. Private vehicles are the best way to access Lake Magadi and Olorogasalie.

Lake Victoria

At Kenya's Western frontier lies the great expanse of Lake Victoria.

This massive (67,493 sq kms) lake, commonly known as Nyanza, is twice the size of Wales, and forms a natural boundary between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The lake is the heart of the African continent, the source of its mightiest river, the Nile. In the 19th century the riddle of the Nile was one of the great enigmas of African exploration. After many expeditions failed, John Hanning Speke finally reached these shores in 1858.The Nile flows northwards, carrying the waters of Nyanza to Egypt and beyond into the Mediterranean. This mighty body of water is rich in fish life, with shimmering shoals of colourful cichlids and large Nile Perch. Nyanza province is the heartland of the Luo, a tribe known as formidable fisherman. Fishing brings many visitors to this lake, mainly in search of the Nile Perch, considered a world class game fish. There are three separate fishing lodges on islands within Victoria. Kisumu is a quiet port town on the Lakeshore, with wide streets and fine colonial architecture. To the south fishing villages line the lake towards the broad waters of Homa Bay. This area is home to Ruma National Park, a small but attractive park with many unique species.

 

The best way to appreciate the beauty of this region is on the lake itself. The sun shines brightly, and gentle breezes rise from the water. In trees along the shore, Fish Eagles call to each other with long haunting cries. Sunsets turn the water to gold, as the local fisherman in their canoes pull in their nets and slowly turn for home..

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Getting There

Getting Around

Main road access to Lake Victoria is via Kisumu, directly from Nairobi by bus/matatu or private transport. Kisumu is also accessible by rail from Nairobi. There is an airport in Kisumu with scheduled flights. Charters can also use the airport. There is a private airstrip on Mfangano Island. Nearby Malaba is the main border crossing with Uganda. A traditional way of accessing the border is by a cycle taxi called the Boda Boda (Border-Border).From Kisumu there is some road access to the Lake south to Homa Bay. Ferries and Private Boats are used to access the islands.

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