Attractions in Lake Nakuru National Park

Safari attractions in lake nakuru park, What to See in Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya? kenya wildlife lake nakuru park birding safari adventures kenya, safari activities in lake nakuru. Lake Nakuru National Park is famous for its wide range of attractions which include warthogs, baboons, eastern black and white southern rhinos, plain zebras, cape buffaloes.

Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya is world-famous as the location of the greatest bird spectacle on earth – myriads of fuchsia pink flamingos whose numbers is legion, often more than a million or even two million feed on the abundant algae which thrives in the salty warm waters. Scientists reckon that the flamingo population at Nakuru consumes about 250,000kg of algae per hectare of surface area per year. Have you even seen how these charming Flamingos of Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya stand on one leg while the other is tucked beneath their body? Actually, every behavior you will observe on these flamingoes impact their living.

Young flamingos have greyish-reddish feathers while the adults range from light pink to bright red, because of aqueous bacteria and beta-carotene which they obtain from food supply. Most of the flamingoes here are healthy and more vibrantly colored and desirable because of plenty of algae on lake Nakuru in Kenya, unlike white or pale flamingoes which seem to be unhealthy and malnourished. Come-see how flamingos in Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya use their beaks upside down to separate their food from mud and silt! They also form pair bonds and these pairs establish and defend their nesting territories which they build on mudflat and as a saying “ladies first”, the female flamingoes usually chose the nesting territories and in the building process, the couple of flamingos usually copulate to plan for their family. After hatching, the flamingo parents stay around the nest and both take care of their children.

Flamingoes are in two types, the lesser flamingo which can be distinguished by its deep red carmine bill and pink feathers and the greater flamingoes which have beak with a black tip. However, flamingos are not the only avian attraction in Lake Nakuru National Park in Kenya, also present are two large fish-eating birds, pelicans and cormorants. There are over 400 resident bird species on the lake and in the surrounding park, including thousands of both little grebes and white winged black terns are frequently seen as are stilts, avocets, ducks, and in the European winter the migrant waders.

Safari Attractions in Lake Nakuru Park Kenya

Lake Nakuru National Park is famous for its wide range of attractions which include warthogs, baboons, eastern black and white southern rhinos, plain zebras, cape buffaloes

Whit southern rhino.

The white southern rhino is one of the biggest land mammals on earth only falling behind the 3 extant elephant species in body mass. A white rhino can be distinctively identified basing on its large set of nostrils, it has the largest nostrils of any living animal on earth, a pair of 2 horn like structures above its muzzle like head with the front horn being way bigger with an average height of 60cm or 24in than the 2^nd horn which is smaller in size. The white rhino has a yellowish brown to slaty grey body color. This rhino has a great sense of smell due to its oversized olfactory passage which are larger than its entire brain with a sole duty of giving this rhino an acute sense of smell, it also a fair sense of earing as it has the ability to move its ears independently of each other to pick up if the slightest of sound coming from any direction. The white rhino has a stumpy foot which has 3 distinctive toes. This rhino species also has a hump on its back. The white rhino displays sexual dirmophism with males being larger than their female counterparts, males have an average body length of 3.7-4.5m or 12.1-14.8ft while females have 3.4—3.65cm or 11.2-12.0ft in body length, males can weigh up to a staggering 2300kg on average with a superb height of 170-186cm or 5.58-6,1ft while females only weigh an average of 1700kg or 3750ib with a shoulder height of 160-177cm or 5.25-5.81ft. the rhinos are pure grazers and have a broad and straight mouth purposely for grazing. These animals live in crashes or herds of up to 14 individuals which are mostly females with their calf. These animals are highly territorial and they will mark their territories with dung mound and spraying and this is done by dominant bulls. Female white rhinos reach sexual maturity aged 6-7 years while males will attain sexual maturity aged 10-12 years. During copulation, both female and male white rhinos stay together for about 5-20 days copulating after which they go their separate ways. After a gestation period of about 16 months, a single calf is born and will be looked after by its mother who is very protective of her calf for 12 months. The rhinos naturally have no predators due to their sheer size and aggression though humans have taken on the predatorily role for rhinos.

Warthog

Common warthogs belong to the pig family. These have sparse hairs which are usually black or brown. The warthogs have a large head with a mane that runs from the spine to the middle of the back. The warthogs have 2 pairs of protruding tusks that come of their mouths, one pair comes from the upper jaw, this pair is very tall growing to a height of 25.5cm or 10in. the tusk from the lower jaw is quite short. These pigs have a body length of 0.9-1.5m or 3-4.9ft with a shoulder height of 63.5-85cm or 25-35.5in. females have an average body weight of 45-75kg or 99-165ib while males weigh between 60-150kg or 130-330ib. The warthogs have an omnivores diet composed of grasses, fungi, insects, carrots and eggs. The warthogs exhibit a unique character while feeding as they have to bend their front limbs and move on their wrists to feed. As a defensive technique, warthogs will enter unoccupied barrows in a reverse direction so as it can easily burst out in case it gets scared. Warthogs are not usually territorial animals but they do live in groups called sounders. the sounders are usually composed of females and their young one and also other females. Adult males will only live in solitary but will join the sounders during the mating season. During these mating seasons the male warthogs use 2 different tactics, one of them is the staying tactic in which the adult male warthog will stay with the females and fight off any other males from mating with his females, it can also hoard resources that are very crucial to these females such as water ponds. The other tactic is the roaming tactic in which the adult male warthog looks for chases after sows that are in oestrus and tries to mate with them. After copulation, the sow goes through a gestation period of about 6 months after which it gives birth to 2-4 piglets. The warthogs have a life span of about 7-11 years.

Zebras

Zebras are black and white striped pattern animals that belong to the equine tribe which they share with their close cousins the horses and donkeys. Each of these zebras has a unique pattern of stripes that is used to identify it alone just like finger prints do in humans. Originally, it was believed that zebras were white animals that had developed black stripes due to presence of white underbellies but this was disproved by further research on the animals as it was revealed that these animals were rather black originally and the white stripes came in later on. Various theories have been forwarded to explain the occurrence of stripes in these animals and the most common theories state that the stripes are a defensive mechanism that zebras use to elude their predators like lions but this theory has been highly contested as it’s known that the lions eye sight is poor especially during day from long distances hence they highly rely on their hearing and smell senses during daytime zebra hunting missions. The other theory believes that zebras use these stripes to protect itself from horseflies and tsetse flies by creating a blurred vision. Zebras have a shoulder length of 1.2-1.3m or 47-51in and the body length of zebras ranges between 2-2.6m or 6.6-8.5ft. Their average weight is 350kg or 770Ib and they have sexual dimorphism as males are usually larger than females. Zebras have a gestation period of about 13 months with a 20-30year lifespan.

Birds species in Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya include

Lake Nakuru National Park has close to 400 bird species and these include Abyssinian thrush, crab plover, brimstone canary, arrow marked babbler, grey crowned crane, black winged lapwing, bateleur, Kenya rufous sparrow, hildebrandt’s starling, eastern imperial eagle, sooty falcon, schalow’s wheatear, shining sunbird, ruppell’s vulture, montane white eye, speke’s weaver, great spotted.

Abyssinian thrush: This is a passerine bird that has its upper body parts in dark brownish grey that becomes richer brown over the forehead crown, lores and ear coverts. This bird has its under parts in a yellowish on the side and white below. The tail feathers are black while beaks are of a bright red color and their legs are yellow. This bird has a body length of 20-24cm and weighs 49-87g for the nominate race while the other 52-60g. these birds feed on insects, like beetles, months, caterpillars, grasshoppers, mantis.

Arrow marked babbler: This bird has brownish grey on the upper body parts but the underside is lighter with white tips on the throat, neck and head feathers. It has a bright red iris and a bright yellow or orange inner ring. This bird has black bill and legs. The arrow marked babbler has a body length of 22-25cm and weighs between 56-85g. This bird mainly feeds on termites, ants, bush crickets and grasshoppers.

Shining sun-bird: This bird has a brilliant metallic green upperpart, and throat, the wings and the tail are of a dep blue black color while thee chest is marked by a bright red band with a narrow metallic blue line. It has a body length of 13cm with the male weighing 9.5-11.5g and females 7-11g. they a voice call with a warbling sequence of a fast ch ch ch ch that comes after a series of attenuated chee chee chhee voice calls.

Speke’s weaver: The male speke’s weaver has its head, under belly are yellow. Its cheeks and throat are black as well as its bill and legs. The flight feathers are black and with yellow panels. The female on the other hand are of a dull olive grey with dusky brown streaks while the under parts are of a pale yellow, white on the belly and greyer on the flanks. It has a body length of 24-26cm.

Black winged lapwing: This bird has a grey head, throat, neck and upper breast area, its under belly is white while the wings are and rump are brown. The tail of this bird is black, it has a red eye ring, its iris is yellow, it has pink legs while its beak is black. This bird has a 26-27cm of body length and weighs 163-214g.

Montane white eye: The montane white eye is also referred to as the heuglin’s white eye. This bird has a distinct big white patch around its eyes. This bird has a yellow forehead and forecrown that extends between the eyes. The rest of the body plumage is mainly of an olive grey color. This bird has small black bill with black legs. It has a body length of 11-11.3cm and a body weight of 9-14g. the montane white eye makes a voice call of described as “zhree zhree zhri zhree zhri zhree” and it feeds o small berries pieces of figs pawpaw and olive trees.

Activities in lake Nakuru National Park Kenya

Nakuru national park Kenya has numerous activities and these include birding, nature walks and game drives.

Game drives

Game drives in Nakuru national park are a thrilling encounter as you will be in a prime position to see some of the finest African mammals which include warthogs, baboons, eastern black and white southern rhinos, plain zebras, cape buffaloes

Birding

Birding in Nakuru national park is a birder’s frenzy given its array of bird species that habituate in this national park. A birders trip to Nakuru national park should culminate into a sight of bird species like Abyssinian thrush, crab plover, brimstone canary, arrow marked babbler, grey crowned crane, black winged lapwing, bateleur, Kenya rufous sparrow, hildebrandt’s starling, eastern imperial eagle, sooty falcon, schalow’s wheatear, shining sunbird, ruppell’s vulture, montane white eye, speke’s weaver, great spotted.

Nature walks

Nature walks in Nakuru national park will puts you in a prime spot to sight many of the numerous bird species and mammals that call this destination home such as Abyssinian thrush, crab plover, brimstone canary, arrow marked babbler, grey crowned crane, black winged lapwing, bateleur, Kenya rufous sparrow, hildebrandt’s starling, eastern imperial eagle.

Accessing Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya

Lake Nakuru National Park can be accessed by both road and air transport means

Road transport: Lake Nakuru National Park is located about 155km or 96miles and about 5km or 3 miles from Nakuru town. The trip to lake Nakuru national park is fairly a comfortable one as it is done over good tarmacked roads for a large part of the journey.

Air transport: Air transport to Lake Nakuru National Park can be accessed by air via Nakuru airstrip. Flights can easily be arranged from either jomo Kenyatta international airport just outside Nairobi or Moi international airport in Mombasa.