Lake Nakuru is a shallow strongly alkaline lake set in a picturesque landscape of surrounding woodland and grassland. The landscape includes areas of marsh and grasslands alternating with rocky cliffs and outcrops, stretches of acacia woodland and rocky hillsides covered with a Euphorbia forest.
The lake Nakuru's catchment is bounded by Menengai crater to the north, the Bahati hills to the north east, the lion hill ranges to the east, eburu crater to the south and the mau escarpment to the west. Three rivers, the Njoro, Makalia and Enderit drain into the lake. Lake Nakuru was first gazetted as a bird sanctuary in 1960 and upgraded to Lake Nakuru National Park status in 1968.
A northern extension was added to the lake nakuru park in 1974 and lake nakuru was designated as a Ramsar site in 1990. The foundation of the lake nakuru park's food chains is the cyanophyte spirulina platensis which can support huge numbers of lesser flamingo. During peak season over one million flamingos congregate on the lake nakuru plus half a million pelicans.
The Lake Nakuru park also contains Kenya's largest population of rhinos.The surface of the lake occupies about a third of the lake park. The lake supports a dense bloom of the blue-green Cyanophyte Spirulina platensis from which it derives its colour. It is a food source for flamingos. The lake nakuru is fringed by alkaline swamps with areas of sedge, cyprus laevigatus and typha marsh along the river inflows and springs. The surrounding areas support a dry transitional savanna with lake margin grasslands. |
