The Great Rift Valley runs the length of Kenya, and its floor holds a string of lakes formed where the crust is pulling apart. Some have no outlet and have become intensely alkaline; others are fed by rivers and stay fresh. The difference determines what lives in each.
Lake Nakuru
A soda lake inside a fenced national park, once famous for flamingo flocks numbering over a million. Rising water levels since 2010 have diluted the alkalinity, killed much of the algae the flamingos feed on, and flooded the shoreline, so the birds have largely moved elsewhere. What Nakuru now offers instead is a rhino sanctuary: around 100 white and black rhino, the highest concentration in Kenya, plus Rothschild giraffe and a good chance of leopard.
Lake Bogoria
Two hours further north, Bogoria is where the flamingos went. Hot springs and geysers erupt along the shore and the alkaline water supports the algae the lesser flamingo needs. Flocks here regularly exceed a million birds. It is a national reserve rather than a park, far less visited, and the geothermal activity is dramatic in itself.
Lake Naivasha
Freshwater, at 1884 m the highest of the Rift lakes, and the one where people actually stay. Boat trips run out to see hippos, fish eagles and pelicans. Crescent Island is a private sanctuary with no predators, so you can walk among zebra, giraffe and waterbuck on foot — one of the few places in Kenya where that is possible. The lake supports Kenya cut flower industry, which employs tens of thousands and has been a persistent source of environmental dispute.
Hell Gate
A small national park on the southern shore of Naivasha where walking and cycling are permitted among zebra and giraffe, through a gorge of red cliffs and past geothermal steam vents. It supplied the landscape reference for animated films and is genuinely spectacular at ground level. The Olkaria geothermal plant next door supplies a substantial share of Kenya electricity.
Elementaita and Baringo
Elementaita is a small soda lake with pelican breeding colonies, and Baringo, further north, is fresh, muddy and one of the best birding sites in East Africa with over 470 recorded species.
Practicalities
Naivasha is 90 minutes from Nairobi and Nakuru about three hours, which makes the lakes an easy first or last stop on a longer route. The escarpment viewpoint on the old Naivasha road gives the classic view down into the valley.