Lake Naivasha is a large freshwater lake just off the town of Naivasha in Kenya and is easily accessible from Nairobi . Once described as the Jewel of East Africa, it has been subjected to devastating effects of fishing and a flourishing floriculture industry thriving along its borders with increasing human habitation in it’s environs.
We started our trip to Naivasha from Amboseli and after passing by Nairobi, we were crossing the Great Rift Valley. To understand lake Naivasha and it’s environs, some understanding of the Rift valley is essential.
Great Rift Valley
Africa’s Great Rift Valley covers many African countries including Kenya and Tanzania. It extends over 3,700 miles from Jordan in the Middle East and ends in Mozambique in Africa. This valley and the adjacent volcanic activity has resulted from fractures in the Earth’s crust due to the continuous pulling apart of the African and Arabian tectonic plates .
Eventually, the plates are expected to pull far enough to split East Africa off from the rest of the continent.
A map explaining the Rift Valley.
Rift Valley as we crossed it
Passing the rift valley, we reached Naivasha and checked in to Lake Naivasha Simba Lodge. This is a beautiful resort on the banks of Lake Naivasha with a large garden and lawn leading to the banks of the lake itself. The views from the resort were awesome.
Some pictures from the resort…
The rooms overlooking the lawn and lake with Waterbucks grazing in the lawn
A beautiful morning on the banks of Lake Naivasha
Lake Naivasha
Beautiful Lake Naivasha
There are several lakes in this area and more than 10000 years ago, Lakes Naivasha, Elementeita and Nakuru were a single lake that eventually dried up splitting them into three distinct lakes. Lake Naivasha is the highest at an elevation of 1884 mts .
The name is derived from the Masai word “Nai posha” meaning “rough water” due to the sudden storms known to occur here.
Lake Naivasha is ringed by dormant and extinct volcanoes and surrounded by swamps and Acacia woodlands . These swamps and woodlands are home to a variety of water birds and hippos .
The swamps and acacia woodlands that surround Lake Naivasha
The surface area of the lake is approximately 139 sq kms but it can change with the seasons due to flooding. Many of the trees in the surrounding areas were submerged during flooding leaving stumps of these trees sticking out of the water surface.
Tree stumps on Lake Naivasha
The lake is home to a variety of wild life including over 400 different species of birds and a sizeable hippo population estimated to be over 1500 in numbers. A boat safari on the lake sees one encountering eagles, egrets , kingfishers, cormorants and pelicans . Giraffes, impalas, zebras and waterbucks can be sighted around the lake and the adjoining Crescent Island.
We were in for a boat safari on the lake and for this, we took our safari vehicles to another beautiful resort on the banks of the lake called Lake Naivasha Resort. The boat safari started from this resort.
Some pictures of Lake Naivasha Resort….
Lake Naivasha Resort from where the boat safari started
Soon we were at the boat jetty and were witness to a herd of hippos having their afternoon siesta…
Hippos near the lake
Awaiting our turn on the banks of the lake
Soon we were on our way….
And here are some pictures from this boat safari….
An African fish eagle perched on a tree stump looking out for it’s prey
A Grey Heron waits patiently for it’s prey
A Pied Kingfisher sits pretty with its prey safe in his beak
And a pelican swims along
As we were sailing towards Crescent island, we passed by our resort too…
Views of our resort as we sailed by…
As we were nearing the crescent island, we did see a group of hippos basking in the water…
Hippo Encounters on Lake Naivasha
Approaching Crescent Island
After about 30 mins of the ride, we were close to the crescent island where we alighted to go on a “Walk with Wildlife experience”.
That was totally an enlightening experience with the local guides giving us lot of valuable insights on the plant and animal life there. That will be the topic of the next episode.
Hope you enjoyed this safari on Lake Naivasha. Till I see you next week do give your comments and feedback
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I love the hippos and wow, that map of the plates and volcanoes is interesting. I hadn’t known there was a plate there, or even volcanoes on the Arabian peninsula or eastern Africa.
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Happy to note that this was informative
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