NP Lake Naivasha
Fahrzeit vom Sports Centre: 45min
Lake Naivasha is one of Kenya’s most stunning Rift Valley freshwater lakes. It is surrounded by feathery papyrus, marshy lagoons and grassy shores. The lake itself is not technically a national park as most of the land around the lake is privately owned, but there are enough wildlife attractions to warrant a listing.
Strong afternoon winds cause the lake to get very rough quite suddenly. The local Maasai called the lake Nai’posha, meaning “rough water”, which the British later spelled incorrectly as Naivasha. The region was first settled in the 1930s by the notorious British ‘Happy Valley’ set who bought all the neighbouring farmland – much of which is still owned by white Kenyans.
Around this time Lake Naivasha was also Kenya’s international airport! Flying boats from Europe used to land on the water. Even today when the water is low you can see the wooden posts that mapped out the runway. It is still fertile agricultural land, particularly for vegetables, fruit and flowers. Thanks to Kenya’s new international airport at Eldoret, European florists are selling flowers 24 hours after they have been cut in plantations next to Lake Naivasha.
The lake is about 13km across, but its waters are shallow, with an average depth of five metres, and home to many hippos. At the beginning of the 20th century, Naivasha inexplicably completely dried up and the land was farmed, until heavy rains a few years later caused the lake to return.
Much of the lake is surrounded by forests of the yellow-barked Acacia tree, full of birds and black and white colobus monkeys. The Acacias were once called ‘yellow fever trees’ after explorers who camped under them caught malaria. You can take a boat on the lake to see the hippos, pelicans and fish eagles at close quarters and also to get to Crescent Island – a protected reserve where you can walk amongst zebra, antelope and giraffe that come to the water’s edge to drink. There are no predators, so this is one of the few places in Kenya offering the opportunity to walk amongst the animals.
