Lake Nakuru National Park
Conservation

Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya: Wildlife, Biodiversity

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Lake Nakuru National Park is one of Kenya’s 23 National Parks and one in every of two within the Premium class, together with Amboseli National Park. It could be present in Central Kenya, about 90 miles (140km) northwest of Nairobi, within the Nakuru district of the Rift Valley Province.

The ecosystem is comprised of a lake, surrounded by wooded and bushy grasslands. The park helps a large ecological range together with Flamingos (Greater and Lesser) and different water birds, and the Black and White Rhinoceros which are the most important points of interest in the area.

Lake Nakuru National Park Description

Lake Nakuru National Park (188 km2, 73 mi2), was created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, close to Nakuru Town. It is greatest recognized for its hundreds, typically tens of millions of flamingos nesting alongside the shores.

The floor of the shallow lake is commonly hardly recognizable because of the regularly shifting mass of pink. The variety of flamingos on the lake varies with water and meal situations and one of the best vantage levels is from Baboon Cliff.

Also of curiosity is an area of 188 km (116 mi) around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to guard giraffes in addition to each black and white rhino.
Lake Nakuru National Park
The park has not too long ago been enlarged partly to offer sanctuary for the black rhinos. This enterprise has necessitated a fence – to maintain out poachers reasonably than to limit the motion of wildlife.

The park marches for 12.1 km on the south-eastern boundary with the Soysambu Conservancy which represents a possible future enlargement of habitat for the rhinos and the one remaining wildlife hall to Lake Naivasha.

The park now (2009) has more than 25 eastern black rhinoceros, one of the many largest concentrations within the nation, plus around 70 southern white rhinos.

There are additionally various Rothschild’s giraffes, once more relocated for security from western Kenya starting in 1977. Waterbucks are very common and each Kenyan subspecies are discovered right here.

Among the predators are lions, cheetahs, and leopards, the latter being seen a lot more often on the latest occasions. The park additionally has large-sized pythons that inhabit the dense woodlands, and might usually be seen crossing the roads or dangling from bushes.
Lake Nakuru National Park Kenya
As properly as flamingos, there are myriad different bird species that inhabit the lake and the area surrounding it, akin to African fish eagle, Goliath heron, hamerkop, pied kingfisher, and Verreaux’s eagle amongst others of their variety.

Lake Nakuru National Park History

Lake Nakuru National Park started as a bird viewing and sport shooting area for migratory birds in the 1950s but has since been expanded and fenced to protect populations of endangered giraffes and rhinoceros.

1957 – declared a conservation area
1961 – Southern two-thirds designated a bird sanctuary
1964 – the bird sanctuary was extended covering the whole lake and a small strip of land around it
1968 – gazetted as National Park
1977- a number of Rothschild Giraffes were translocated to the park from western Kenya for their protection
1984 – established as the first government-managed rhino sanctuary
1986 – an electric fence was erected around the park to replace the earlier chainlink
1987 – the park was declared a rhino sanctuary.
1990 – the lake was designated as a Ramsar site
2009 – designated as IBA (450 identified bird species)
2011 – Designated by UNESCO as one of the Kenya Lakes System (Lakes Elementaita, Nakuru, and Bogoria) World Heritage Sites

Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru National Park Access

The park opens at 7 am. If you might be touring from Nairobi, then take the Naironi-Nakuru freeway. On the way in which to Nakuru you’ll have a great view of the Rift Valley, so drive sluggish and benefit from the surroundings!

From Nairobi, it’s a few 30-minute drives to a scenic overlook at 7200 feet (2200 meters) above sea level, and from right here you may get a spectacular view of the volcanoes Suswa and Longonot.

There is additionally a gaggle of great little curio retailers at this cease the place you should buy souvenirs. Seeing the whole park may take you a full day, so plan to reach around 9 am except you have got more than a day within the area. It may take you a jiffy to get your ticket and the car checked.

The park has very well-established roads that make most elements of the park accessible by 2-wheel-drive autos. Some less-traveled elements and most viewpoint hills would require a 4-wheel drive. The park has three gates: the Main Gate and Lanet Gate which link the park with the Nairobi-Nakuru freeway and the less-used Nderit Gate.

If you select to fly: It’s a few 25-minute flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi to the Naishi airstrip contained in the park. Fees here

Landscape

Depending on the season, Lake Nakuru can cover as much as about 25 miles2 (40 km2), and the whole park covers about 116 miles2 (188 km2). The lake is very saline, so it’s surrounded by a grassland of extremely adaptable alkaline grasses.

This park additionally has many hills with established viewpoints from which the lake, the woodlands, and infrequently occasions the herds of buffalo could be seen.

Lake Nakuru National Park Flora and Fauna

In addition to its 400 species of birds, Lake Nakuru National Park is home to 50+ mammal species and over 500 species of flora. This park is legendary for the flocks of Greater and Lesser Flamingos that collect around the lake, typically with as many as 2 million!

You can discover this great pink mass around the lake for a great part of the year, as these iconic birds keep largely inside the Rift Valley, migrating from lake to lake. Because Lake Nakuru National Park was fenced to guard endangered Rhinos and Giraffes, it can’t assist African Elephants, so you won’t discover any right here!

You are assured to see: White Rhinos, African Buffalos, Rothschild Giraffes, Zebras, Impalas, Olive Baboons, Vervet Monkeys, Waterbucks, a wide range of water birds (Yellow-billed Pelicans, Marabou Storks, Hammerkops, Fish Eagles, and so on.)

Common within the park: Hyenas, Jackals, Lesser Flamingos, Hippopotamus, Pythons

If you might be fortunate you may even see: Lions, Leopards, Black Rhinos, Wild Dogs, Colobus Monkeys, Cheetahs

Don’t overlook the vegetation! In Lake Nakuru National Park you may see all kinds of lovely landscapes: from grasslands to dense forests, and the very uncommon tarconanthus bushlands and euphorbia forests.

Lake Nakuru National Park

Lake Nakuru National Park Climate

Lake Nakuru National Park is formally categorized as dry sub-humid to semi-arid, which mainly means it’s not too moist and never too dry, or too sizzling or chilly. The local weather in this area is de facto lovely, you won’t fry within the sun right here such as you would in Amboseli or Tsavo.

You are probably, nevertheless, to get rained on. Late afternoon is probably the most common time for rain showers. If you need one of the best probabilities of avoiding these rains, take into account coming someday between July to December or January to March.

However, avoiding the rain just isn’t assured, even throughout these dryer months. Also, these months are within the peak tourism season, so the park will probably be very crowded with vacationer autos.

If you don’t thoughts a little bit of rain and also need to keep away from the group, are available in December or April to June (you’d additionally get monetary savings coming right now!).

Another great factor about this park- it’s fenced, so even throughout the moist months, you will notice wildlife as a result they can not migrate away from the park.

Take Away

Lake Nakuru National Park is one of Kenya’s two Premium Parks and is a bird lover’s paradise. It surrounds Lake Nakuru, situated within the Central Rift Conservation Area within the Southern Rift Valley area of Kenya.

Originally protected as a bird sanctuary, this park hosts over 400 bird species, together with 5 globally threatened species, and is a crucial stop on the African-Eurasian Migratory Flyway. This park was additionally the first national Rhino sanctuary and hosts one of many world’s highest concentrations of the Black Rhinoceros.

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