Introducing Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park is one of Kenya’s two
Premium Parks, and is a birdlover’s paradise. It surrounds Lake Nakuru, located
in the Central Rift Conservation Area in the Southern Rift Valley region of Kenya. Originally
protected as a bird sanctuary, this park hosts over 400 bird species, including
5 globally threatened species, and is an important stop on the African-Eurasian
Migratory Flyway. This park was also the first national Rhino sanctuary and
hosts one of the world’s highest concentrations of the Black Rhinoceros.
The park lies 140km north-west of Nairobi, in Nakuru district of the Rift Valley Province. The ecosystem comprises of the lake, surrounded by mainly wooded and bushy grasslands. The park supports a wide ecological diversity with Flamingos (Greater and Lesser) and other water birds being the major attractions of the area.
The 188 km², 73 mi² was created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink.
The park lies 140km north-west of Nairobi, in Nakuru district of the Rift Valley Province. The ecosystem comprises of the lake, surrounded by mainly wooded and bushy grasslands. The park supports a wide ecological diversity with Flamingos (Greater and Lesser) and other water birds being the major attractions of the area.
The 188 km², 73 mi² was created in 1961 around Lake Nakuru, near Nakuru Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of flamingos nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink.
History of Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park started as a bird viewing and sport shooting area of migratory birds in 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 translocated to the park from western Kenya for their protection
- 1984 - established as 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
Facts about Lake Nakuru
Lake Nakuru is one of the Rift Valley soda lakes at an elevation of 1754 m above sea level. It lies to the south of Nakuru, in the rift valley of Kenya and is protected by Lake Nakuru National Park.
The vegetation is mainly wooded and bushy grassland with a wide ecological diversity and characteristic habitats that range from the lake waters to the escarpment and ridges.
The normally water-covered surface of the lake occupies about a third of the park. The lake water supports a dense bloom of the blue-green Cyanophyte Spirulina platensis from which it derives its colour and which is the major food source for the flamingo.
The lake is fringed by alkaline swamps with areas of sedge, Cyprus laevigatus and typha marsh along the river inflows and springs. The surrounding areas support a dry transitional savanna with lake margin grasslands of Sporobolus spicatus salt grass moving into grasslands of Hyparrhenia hirta and rhodes grass Chloris gayana in the lower areas.
More elevated areas have dry forest with Acacia xanthophloea, olive Olea hochstetteri and Croton dichogamus; Euphorbia candelabrum forest; and bushland dominated by the composites, Mulelechwa Tarchonanthus camphoratus and Psiadia arabica.
The vegetation is mainly wooded and bushy grassland with a wide ecological diversity and characteristic habitats that range from the lake waters to the escarpment and ridges.
The normally water-covered surface of the lake occupies about a third of the park. The lake water supports a dense bloom of the blue-green Cyanophyte Spirulina platensis from which it derives its colour and which is the major food source for the flamingo.
The lake is fringed by alkaline swamps with areas of sedge, Cyprus laevigatus and typha marsh along the river inflows and springs. The surrounding areas support a dry transitional savanna with lake margin grasslands of Sporobolus spicatus salt grass moving into grasslands of Hyparrhenia hirta and rhodes grass Chloris gayana in the lower areas.
More elevated areas have dry forest with Acacia xanthophloea, olive Olea hochstetteri and Croton dichogamus; Euphorbia candelabrum forest; and bushland dominated by the composites, Mulelechwa Tarchonanthus camphoratus and Psiadia arabica.