Nakuru National Park

How to tour one of Kenya’s most popular attractions on a budget, and why I was told to absolutely go to two nearby lakes instead.

 

 

After spending just one week in Homa Bay, Kenya, I’d gained enough street smarts to go exploring for the weekend. I’ve always been a huge birder so I naturally chose Lake Nakuru as my first safari destination. My imagination was filled with millions of rosy flamingos preening themselves along the glittering shores.

 

 

I took a matatu from small (small!) town Oyugis to Kisii, which took about an hour and costs 100kshs or $1, and then transferred. From Kisii, I took a direct shuttle to Nakuru town. Hotel Pandoria is steps away from the station, around the corner and to the right. A room cost me 600kshs and as far as I could tell, I was safe for the night.

Ask the hotel staff for info on Nakuru! I was frantically flipping through Lonely Planet and making calls to safari agencies. Everyone else was saying I had to rent a private vehicle and pay for driver services. Thankfully, a previous volunteer from the project I was involved with had done Nakuru at the cost of only the park entry fee. Basically, I was stupid and almost blew $65 but cancelled just in time.

Evidently, the Kenyan Wildlife Service provides a public repainted school bus—literally, it has the Madagascar movie characters painted on it—that runs daily and takes locals along the main path through the park. So what do you do now?

• Ask the staff to walk you over to the Nakuru Railway Station next to the police station (it’s kinda broken down now) around 10:30am

The bus is scheduled to come at 11 but you never know…this is Africa. Just don’t be dumb like me and wake up obscenely early and proceed to wait for 2 hours on the curb. It arrived at 10:45 that day and left for the park at 11:45. You can’t miss that big old green machine rolling up. Trust me.

• Enjoy the friendly guide and all the other 30 passengers totally noticing you’re not Kenyan

The married guide will probably ask you for your number and the others will take pictures with you.

• Once you reach the park, the guide will walk you over to a separate office for foreigners, where you still have to pay $80 for park admission

That’s just the standard price we have to suck up. East Africans seem to pay $6, and Kenyans pay $3. Listen to the other Westerners in your office say they can’t wait to get back to the pool at the fancy in-park lodge, and watch as they proceed to roll away in a private, shiny 4×4.

• Look out the window for 3.5 hours

The fun part! I learned that one male impala can service 200 females. Ostrich are apparently less polygamous, with black-feathered males sitting on the nest at night and gray-feathered females rotating shifts during the day. It broke my heart that there were no flamingos, but more on this later. You’ll get used to baboons, Thompson’s Gazelle, giraffes, and zebras. I spotted two of the big five: rhinos and buffalo. Lunch was at a gorgeous lookout where rock hyraces beg for food and you’ll get eyed by lizards of stunning oranges and blues.

• Return to town around 4pm and take a motorbike back to Pandoria

Tell them you live by Unaitas bank. The ride shouldn’t cost more than 50 shillings.

So no, the trip isn’t free, and it isn’t cheap. However, I think being with a larger group is worth the savings. I didn’t have the most exciting day, but I befriended a Kenyan family now living in Minnesota, and gained important experience points in totally fending for myself out there.

 

 

Here comes the unfortunate part. I learned valuable information when it was all too late, and if I could go back I’d beeline for Lake Bogoria and Lake Baringo. Flamingos are only at Nakuru on some days, and even less frequently in recent years. The nice thermal waters of Bogoria attract flocks almost every day because it’s a preferred breeding spot. On top of that, the admission is only $25 which rubs it in even harder. Oh, and you can bring raw eggs and boil them on the spot using the spring water, which is only the most badass way to make a meal ever. See Trip Adviser for proof. Over in Baringo, they say you can wrap giant snakes around you and pose for pictures. It’s a sore topic for me.