Reviews of Lake Bogoria (From 6 Acclaimed Safari Experts)

Expert

Lizzie Williams –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Lizzie is a reputed guidebook writer and author of the Footprint guides to South Africa, Namibia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Currently the best place to see the Rift Valley’s flamingos

Overall rating

3/5

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In a deep bowl surrounded by steep hills, Lake Bogoria is approached via the B4 road north of Nakuru town. Since 2012, seasonal rains have swelled Lake Nakuru and altered the salinity of its water, and as such, the massed flocks of the Rift Valley’s flamingos have been favouring the more algae-soaked and alkaline Bogoria. This is now the best place to see the lake edges fringed with pink as tens of thousands of lesser flamingos feed in the shallows. There’s little other wildlife around, though on occasion I’ve seen greater kudu near the lakeshore and vervet monkeys and baboons at the gate and campsites. The reserve however has the unusual feature of the Loburu hot springs, a series of bubbling and steaming water spouts, and an impressively stark, rocky landscape thanks to the Rift Valley’s Siracho Escarpment rising sharply up on the eastern shore. Lake Bogoria isn’t a standalone destination, and seeing the flamingos doesn’t take long, so I have always combined my visits with the more interesting Lake Baringo a little further north; a distinctively different freshwater lake known for its peaceful beauty, rich birdlife and many crocodiles.

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Alan Murphy –

AU

Visited: June

Alan is a travel writer and author of over 20 Lonely Planet guidebooks, including the guides to Southern Africa and Zambia & Malawi.

Flamingo heaven

Overall rating

3/5

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The hordes of flamingos that once inhabited the shallow waters of Lake Nakuru NP left sometime ago for another nearby lake – Lake Bogoria. I was stunned by the sheer numbers of these beautiful creatures wading delicately in the shallows of the picturesque lake, itself dwarfed by some humongous Rift Valley mountains. The flamingos form patterns of pink and white (greater and lesser flamingo are different colours) on the blue-green lake waters and it reminded me of ice skaters creating complex, rhythmic and graceful patterns on the ice. It was a remote spot but I am glad I made the effort to come – I will long remember these magnificent birds.

If you manage to drag your attention away from the flamingos covering the lake waters, you may also spot greater kudu, warthog, dik-dik, impala and grants gazelle lurking in the scrubby landscape. The drive in is rough, bouncy and dusty, but this really is a unique experience.

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Ariadne van Zandbergen –

ZA

Visited: Dry season

Ariadne is a renowned African wildlife photographer whose work is featured in many well-known guidebooks and magazines.

1 person found this review helpful.

The multi-coloured steaming hot springs of Lake Bogoria

Overall rating

2/5

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Bogoria, one of the Rift Valley lakes, is famous for its flocks of flamingos. When I visited the numbers weren’t very high, but this fluctuates depending on water levels and algae, the flamingo’s food source, present. There is only one road through the park, which follows the lakeshore and ends up at the impressive steaming and bubbling hot springs. Wildlife is scarce in the park. Although greater kudu is said to be abundant I didn’t see any. The birding is quite good, but aside from a good sized leopard tortoise and a couple of Kirk’s dik-dik, I didn’t see any other animals.

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Emma Gregg –

UK

Visited: December

Emma is an award-winning travel writer for Rough Guides, National Geographic Traveller, Travel Africa magazine and The Independent.

1 person found this review helpful.

Geysers, hot springs and clouds of flamingoes

Overall rating

4/5

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Lake Bogoria feels truly wild and otherworldly. When I visited, there was no one else in sight. It’s rapidly growing in popularity, though, as this is one of the best places in Kenya to see flamingoes. Estimates suggest that flocks of up to 1.7 million birds congregate here, especially during the European winter, when migrants gather, creating a shimmering canvas of pink. Few other species tolerate the lake’s inhospitable conditions, but ostriches and greater kudu with majestic corkscrew horns are sometimes seen on the shore. Fiercely alkaline, the lake is visually dramatic even when the flamingoes are out of range, edged as it is with dark, volcanic rock. Natural hot springs steam and bubble on the western side.

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Anthony Ham –

AU

Visited: October-November

Anthony is a photographer and writer for travel magazines and Lonely Planet, including the guides to Kenya and Botswana & Namibia.

3 people found this review helpful.

Lake Bogoria: The Flamingo’s New Home

Overall rating

2/5

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The massed flocks of greater and lesser flamingos – up to two million in a good year – for years made this one of the best lakes in the Rift Valley to see one of Kenya’s most memorable spectacles. Honking in the shallows and all but concealing the alkaline lake’s waters, the flamingos for the most part stuck close to the shoreline of this 34km-long lake. At the time of writing the flamingos have gone elsewhere but remember that these populations can shift from year to year. Other wildlife is scarce, although the endangered greater kudu (hunted to the brink of extinction in Kenya for its extravagant horns) is here and I was lucky enough to see a pair close to the shoreline before they crashed off into the bush. Other possible wildlife sightings around the lake’s southern shore are leopards and klipspringers. The western shore is also home to hot springs and the largest number of geysers of any lake in Africa.

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Expert

Philip Briggs –

ZA

Visited: Multiple times

Philip is an acclaimed travel writer and author of many guidebooks, including the Bradt guides to Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and South Africa.

3 people found this review helpful.

The Flamingos’ Holiday Home

Overall rating

3/5

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The worth of this small reserve depends almost entirely on one factor – the number of flamingoes gathered there. I have visited it twice when there were few flamingoes around, and it was pretty underwhelming, with livestock being more numerous than wildlife, though the lovely setting at the base of the Rift Escarpment provided some compensation, as did the trio of primeval geysers that erupt in a searing sulphuric haze to feed a network of multihued channels on the western shore. But when the million-strong flamingo flocks associated with Nakuru relocate here, it makes for a spectacular sight, whether viewed up close from the lake shore, or panoramically from the cliffs that rise to the immediate west.

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