The Rift Valley Lakes

Flamingo spectacle on the Kenyan soda lakes

Days in the field

$2,850

From, per person sharing

2 – 8 guests

Group size

Best June to October and January to March

When to travel

The trip

What this safari is

The Kenyan Rift is a chain of lakes with wildly different chemistry — soda, fresh, shallow, deep — sitting within a few hours of each other. That variety is why the region has one of the highest bird counts in Africa, and why an eight-day circuit here can pass 450 species without the pace ever becoming a route march.

Highlights

Lesser and Greater Flamingo in flocks on Bogoria and Nakuru
Lake Naivasha by boat, and a walk on Crescent Island
Hell's Gate gorge on foot, beneath breeding Rüppell's Vultures
Kakamega Forest, the last Kenyan fragment of Guineo-Congolian rainforest
Acacia woodland specials at Lake Baringo's cliffs

Day by day

The itinerary

Timings shift with weather and with what the birds are doing. Your guide will tell you the night before.

We meet you at Jomo Kenyatta and head straight out of the city, climbing to the Rift escarpment viewpoint where the whole valley opens beneath you. Down onto the valley floor and to Naivasha for the first afternoon on the water's edge.

Augur Buzzard Hildebrandt's Starling Grey-crowned Crane Yellow-billed Stork

A freshwater lake, so no flamingos here — instead a dense population of fish-eaters. We take a small boat out among the drowned fever trees, where African Fish Eagles perch at close range and Great White Pelicans fish cooperatively in rafts. Afternoon walking on Crescent Island among giraffe and waterbuck, one of the few places in Kenya you may walk unfenced.

African Fish Eagle Great White Pelican Goliath Heron Malachite Kingfisher Long-tailed Cormorant

A rare chance to bird a Kenyan park on foot or by bicycle, walking into a red gorge under nesting cliffs. Rüppell's Vulture and Verreaux's Eagle breed on these walls, and the open plains hold Kori Bustard and coursers.

Rüppell's Vulture Verreaux's Eagle Kori Bustard Schalow's Wheatear Nyanza Swift

The drive north follows the valley floor. Bogoria is a hot, hyper-alkaline lake ringed by geysers and steam vents, and its algae feed Lesser Flamingos in enormous concentrations — at peak, a shifting pink band along the shoreline several kilometres long. The noise of that many birds is the thing nobody warns you about.

Lesser Flamingo Greater Flamingo Cape Teal Little Grebe Grey-headed Gull

Freshwater again, and an abrupt change of cast. The cliffs behind Baringo are a reliable site for Hemprich's Hornbill and Bristle-crowned Starling, and a dawn walk with a local cliff guide is worth the early start. A boat trip on the lake in the afternoon for herons, kingfishers and roosting Goliath Herons.

Hemprich's Hornbill Bristle-crowned Starling Verreaux's Eagle-Owl White-faced Scops Owl Northern Masked Weaver

A full day in a park that is a bird sanctuary first and a game park second. Flamingo numbers here swing with water level and rainfall — we are honest with guests that this is variable — but the pelican colonies, the yellow-barked acacia woodland and the resident white rhino make it a strong day regardless.

Great White Pelican Lesser Flamingo Grey-crowned Crane African Spoonbill Long-tailed Widowbird

West to the last Kenyan remnant of the great Guineo-Congolian rainforest that once ran to the Atlantic. The species list here belongs to West Africa, not East, and birds you will not find anywhere else in Kenya move through the canopy in mixed parties.

Great Blue Turaco Black-and-white-casqued Hornbill Blue-headed Bee-eater Turner's Eremomela Grey Parrot

A long but scenic drive back across the Rift, with stops at productive wetlands on the way. We deliver you to Jomo Kenyatta for an evening departure, or to a city hotel if you are continuing.

Jackson's Widowbird Red-collared Widowbird Yellow Bishop

What is included