Naivasha Attractions
Hell's Gate
Unique among Kenya's parks, Hell's Gate National Park allows you to walk or cycle, unguided, across its expanse. There's dramatic scenery, with looming cliffs, gorges and basalt columns. Lurking lions and leopards add to the excitement! Marking the eastern entrance to Hell’s Gate Gorge is Fischer’s Tower, one of the park’s many popular rock-climbing sites. Lake Naivasha makes a convenient base for exploring the park, so we recommend camping here, with Ol Dubai and Naiberta camp sites recommended as probably the best.
Crescent Island
Take a short boat ride from the mainland out into Lake Naivasha for access to the unique Crescent Island Wildlife Sanctuary. You can also access it by road, passing through the Horse Riding Complex. A wide variety of wildlife, birdlife and flora lives quite freely out there and since there are no predators to be found, quite happily as well. Spend some time wandering around at your own pace, enjoying the peace and quiet broken only by the sounds of the Island’s wild inhabitants.
Mount Longonot
Located south-east of Lake Naivasha in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Mount Longonot is a dormant stratovolcano thought to have last erupted in the 1860s. Its name is derived from the Masai word oloonong'ot, meaning "mountains of many spurs" or "steep ridges". A mountain climbing trail runs from the park entrance up to the crater rim, and continues in a loop encircling the crater. The whole tour is only about 8-9 km long but very steep, so that the round trip of park gate - Longonot Peak - park gate takes around 5 hours of hiking.
Lake Baringo
As a body of fresh water, Lake Baringo is home to hippos, crocodiles and an abundance of fish and birds, but it does not have flamingoes, as these feed on the algae specific to soda lakes. Despite this, it is most famous as an ornithologist's paradise, with 500 bird species, many of which are extremely rare or otherwise only seen in this area.
Lake Nakuru National Park
Take a short drive to Lake Nakuru and experience nature at its best. Lake Nakuru National Park offers a wide variety of wildlife including bats, colobus monkeys, spring hares, otters, rock hyraxes, hippopotamuses, buffalos, waterbucks, leopards, lions, hyenas and giraffes, but the most popular reason for visiting is the wonderful sight of hundreds of flamingoes on the Lake itself. At one time there were thought to be around two million flamingoes here – about a third of the world's entire population.
Thomson’s Falls
Travelling from the dust bowl of Nakuru, it will be a joy to see the ever-changing landscape and vegetation along the way:tea and coffee plantations merge into lush forests, colours of Africa fight for attention in your head, and around every corner, another view makes you want to stop and take it in. Thomson's Falls is a beautiful waterfall at the Ewaso Nyiro River in Central Kenya, 74 meters (243 feet) high. It has one of Kenya’s largest hippo pools, located upstream from the falls. It’s also possible to view the falls from above, and there is a trail down to the bottom of the ravine.