During colonial times the Lake Naivasha area hosted the infamous 'Happy Valley' social set, who lived and partied to excess in the huge mansions and ranch houses that grew up around the lake (). These are long gone, but the colonial ambiance remains to the benefit of visitors here. In particular, at Loldia House, its host is the immaculate Peter, described as 'probably the best butler in the world'.

Today, though, we were headed for another of Kenya's famous lakes - Lake Nakuru one of the Rift Valley soda lakes. As on the previous day, the road was very uneven, with 3-4 lanes of vehicles (sometimes all going the same way!) all overtaking each other on what was essentially a three lane road (). If something came the other way then everybody just squeezed in closer to the vehicle they were overtaking, just leaving enough room for the oncoming one to squeeze through. Lake Nakuru is now officially one of Kenya's National Parks ().

The lake's abundance of algae, due to its soda content, attracts the vast quantity of flamingos that famously line the shore (). Other birds also flourish in the area, as do warthogs, baboons and other large mammals. Black and white rhinos have also been introduced.

However it is the flamingos that are the major feature here, as the pictures (), (), below reflect, together with a large number of storks and other wading birds () opposite. Apparently, at any one time, there are about 1.5 million white (greater) and pink (lesser) flamingos here.

     

However, although it is the lake and its birdlife that forms the major attraction here, the area is abundant in other wildlife. Indeed, on arrival, we were greeted at the main gate by a number of baboons (), below, and vervet monkeys (), below, and in fact almost immediately inside the Park we, rather unexpectedly, came across a lioness stretched out on a high up tree branch (), looking totally unconcerned about her onlookers.

     

In addition to some zebra, enjoying splashing about in a stream they were in the process of crossing (), we also saw buffalo (), below (here accompanied by a number of cattle egrets), and white rhino (), below. However we didn't see any of the black rhino that have also been introduced into this Park. At our lunch venue (), opposite, we were joined by a number of small rock hyrax (dassies) (), opposite.

     

The verdict? Lake Nakuru is well worth a visit, and contains much more in the way of wildlife, large and small, than might have been expected.

Once back at Loldia, we went for a short evening game drive, and were rewarded by seeing two leopard, not very far from the lodge.

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