Kenya Parks
By Anthony Ham
Anthony is a renowned Africa expert and author of many Lonely Planet guidebooks, including the guide to Kenya.
Most big safari animals are present in Lake Nakuru NP with the exception of elephants. The park is known for its populations of black and white rhino. White rhino is particularly common, and different groups can be encountered throughout the day. Hippo, waterbuck, Burchell's zebra and Thomson's gazelle are common on the floodplains. The park isn’t very good for predators, but leopard is occasionally spotted.
Wildlife Highlights
The park is an important stronghold for the rare Rothschild's giraffe. It was introduced to the park in the 1980s and has now become locally common. Aside from the widespread vervet monkey and olive baboon, the beautiful black-and-white colobus monkey can sometimes be found in the acacia forest. A highlight, if you’re lucky enough, are the tree-climbing lions – Lake Nakuru NP is the best place in Kenya to see them.
Best Time for Wildlife Viewing
Lake Nakuru can be visited throughout the year, but wildlife viewing might be more difficult in April and May, which are the wettest months. At this time, rain might interfere with your game drives and the grass tends to be very high making animal spotting more difficult.
Wildlife Rating Per Major Park
- Masai Mara NR 4.9/5 221 Wildlife Ratings
- Amboseli NP 4.6/5 115 Wildlife Ratings
- Tsavo East NP 4.3/5 55 Wildlife Ratings
- Lake Nakuru NP 4.3/5 135 Wildlife Ratings
- Samburu NR 4.5/5 71 Wildlife Ratings
- Buffalo Springs NR 4.3/5 16 Wildlife Ratings
- Tsavo West NP 4.1/5 42 Wildlife Ratings
