Flamingos in Lake Nakuru.
The flamingos in Lake Nakuru National Park on a Kenya safari are a delight of Nakuru County, the most well-known feature in Nakuru. These birds make their living on Lake Nakuru in Lake Nakuru National Park. This soda lake within the Great Rift Valley has made its name over the years as a flamingo hub, harbouring thousands, in some seasons millions, of flamingos on the lake shores.
The flamingos that feed on the blue-green algae that is always on this soda lake hover around the lake shores, covering the lake pink; in fact, from afar, all you can see is the pink colour of the flamingos coupled with the deep blue lake waters. The huge availability of food on the lake keeps the flamingos hooked on the lake’s shores, with the lake hosting up to 1.5 million flamingos during the flamingo peak seasons.
Though climate change has affected the number of flamingos on the lake, you can still be sure to find over a thousand flamingos on the lake shores on any given day. The number of flamingos on the lake is further affected by the alkaline levels in the lake. Thus, when the alkaline levels in Lake Nakuru drop, the blue-green algae levels in the lake drop, causing the birds to migrate to other soda lakes like Lake Bogoria in search of food. The vice versa is true when the alkaline levels in Lake Nakuru are high; flamingos will crowd Lake Nakuru.
Flamingos are long-necked and long-legged pink-feathered birds divided into lesser and greater flamingo species. Lake Nakuru hosts both the lesser and the greater flamingos, with the lesser flamingos being more than the greater flamingos.
Thousands of people flock to Lake Nakuru National Park throughout the year to have a golden chance to catch a glimpse of the absolutely beautiful flamingos on Lake Nakuru shores.
Flamingos’ boom occurs immediately after the rainy season, sometimes even during the rainy season; immediately after the rainy season, the blue-green algae on the lake is in abundance, so the flamingo food is plentiful, meaning flocks of flamingos will flock to the lake for the food.
The seasons before the rains have the least number of flamingos on the lake (least here means like a few thousand of the flamingos); before the rains, the blue-green algae levels on the lake have significantly reduced, causing the flamingos to migrate to other lakes to look for food.
The dry seasons have a good number of flamingos on the lake because the blue algae levels in the lake are okay, not abundant and yet not low, so flamingos are getting enough food for their days.
Therefore, the best time to see flamingos on Lake Nakuru in Lake Nakuru National Park is during the months of July, August, September, December, January and February. That said, you can still see plenty of flamingos even in the rest of the months of the year. Travellers should also note that in the above-mentioned months, there are more people in the park also catching a glimpse of the flamingos, so your flamingo viewing may be a little interfered with by other people, but you still get to see the flamingos.
Although the breath-taking lesser and greater flamingos are the main attraction of Lake Nakuru, the lake also hosts several other bird species like the African fish eagle, pelicans, shining sunbird, Rufous-throated wryneck, montane white-eye, montane nightjar, northern anteater chat, reed cormorant, blacksmith plover and many others.
Lake Nakuru National Park, which is home to Lake Nakuru, is also a wildlife zone with over 50 mammal species living in the park that include buffalo, baboons, monkeys, lions, leopards, waterbucks, impalas and others.
The park is also a rhino sanctuary, protecting over 100 rhino individuals (black and white) together with the Rothschild’s giraffe.
Lake Nakuru National Park is also known for its spectacular viewpoints that are ideal for great bird and game viewing, picnics, photo shots and many other relaxing things. These viewpoints are Baboon Cliff, Out of Africa Lookout and Lion Hill.
So, as well as Lake Nakuru being famous for flamingos, bird lovers that are visiting Lake Nakuru National Park to experience the famous flamingos on Lake Nakuru also have a great opportunity to engage in the other activities Lake Nakuru National Park has to offer, which include game viewing, picnicking, camping, hiking to the Makalia Falls and many more things.
