"Ever See 2 Million Flamingos?" Lake Nakuru National Park by Waxbag

In Lake Nakuru and the whole Great Rift Valley, the earth is pulling itself apart. In another million years or so East Africa may very well be an island like Madagascar. As the tectonic plates diverge the valley gets lower creating large shallow lakes. These soda lakes attract ridiculous numbers of birds like flamingos, pelicans, cormorants, storks, and herons to name a few. There are so many birds that lake seems to disappear and you could walk on the backs of the birds across the lake without getting wet. There are loads of buffalo, gazelle, rhino, baboons, and waterbuck to see as well as the occasional hyena or black backed jackal. There are lion, cheetah, and leopard here too but they remained to be seen by us.

Baboon takes a yawn

Our first afternoon we decided to take a nap in our tent. We awoke to the sound of vervet monkeys on our car and outside of our tent eating our chex mix! Two days ago we hiked through a gorge in Hell’s Gate National Park. Hot springs warmed the stream as the water cascaded down the side of the gorge. It was quite fascinating. Last night we splurged on a guesthouse room and we slept under mosquito nets. Today we stopped to look out over the lake and a troop of baboons surrounded us and overtook the car. We had to wait to clear baboons off the windshield before we could leave.

Pelicans in Nakuru

Flamingos aren't the only animals here. It's also loaded with about 200,000 pelicans, tons of bufallo, one of the highest populations of Baboons in Africa, and plenty of Hyenas. You will also find giraffes and rhinos quite easily. Leopards are here but very difficult to see. No lions.

See the video at Lake Nakuru

• Pros:Beautiful Park with Astounding Number of Birds and Rhinos are very common
• Cons:Big Cats Are Hard To See