From $460 per person sharing
Two days and one night at Kenya’s fenced rhino sanctuary. A Lake Nakuru safari is three hours from Nairobi on tarmac the whole way, and the most reliable rhino sighting in the country.
A Lake Nakuru safari is the most reliable rhino viewing in Kenya. Three hours from Nairobi on tarmac the whole way, one night in a fenced park of 188 square kilometres, and a fair chance of seeing both black and white rhino in a single afternoon.
A Lake Nakuru safari exists because of one decision: the park was fenced in the 1980s to protect rhino, and it worked. Today it holds one of the densest rhino populations in East Africa, along with the Rothschild's giraffe translocated here in 1977 to save the subspecies.
Day one. Nairobi to Nakuru in about three hours, arriving for lunch. An afternoon game drive along the lake shore and up to Baboon Cliff for the view over the whole basin.
Day two. An early drive while the rhino are still out in the open, breakfast at the lodge, and back to Nairobi by mid-afternoon. Menengai Crater or Lake Elementaita can be added on the way home.
Full board inside the park, Lake Nakuru Sopa Lodge or similar, on the escarpment with a view over the lake. Staying inside the gate means you are on a game drive within minutes of waking, which is the whole advantage.
All year. January and February are dry and clear; July to September is cool and good for game. The park is small and the roads are good, so the rains are less disruptive here than in the Mara. See our best time to visit Kenya guide for the full picture. Current park fees are published by the Kenya Wildlife Service.
From $460 per person sharing, or KES 42,000 for Kenyan residents and citizens, park fees included. Every price on this page includes park entry fees, transport in a pop-top 4x4 with a guaranteed window seat, and a professional driver-guide who stays with you for the whole trip. Our guides are the same people year after year, which is why they know where the cats were yesterday.
Lake Nakuru pairs naturally with the Mara: rhino here, cats and the migration there. Our five-day circuit does exactly that with Ol Pejeta and Naivasha.
Send a booking request with your dates and we will come back with availability, a firm price and an honest view of the month you have picked. Nothing is charged on this website.
Nothing in the wild is certain, but this is the most reliable rhino park in Kenya: the population is dense, the park is fenced and the ground is open. Most guests see several in a single drive.
Sometimes, in numbers that depend on the water level and the algae. Treat them as a bonus rather than the reason for the trip.
About three hours, on tarmac the whole way through the Rift Valley.
You can, but it makes for a long day with only a short drive in the park. One night inside the gate gives you the early morning, which is when the rhino are easiest to find.
2 days · 1 night · lunch, dinner, breakfast included
Download this itinerary as a PDF Day 1 · Lake Nakuru National Park
Departure from Nairobi at 8am, down the escarpment past the Rift Valley viewpoint and on to Nakuru through Naivasha. We enter the park in the early afternoon and drive until dusk. The fenced sanctuary holds both black and white rhino, and Baboon Cliff at the western edge gives you the whole lake in one view.
Day 2 · Nairobi
A morning game drive along the lakeshore, working the acacia woodland where leopard are occasionally seen and the Rothschild’s giraffe feed. Breakfast at the lodge, then out of the park by late morning and back to Nairobi for early afternoon.
Tell us when you want to travel and who is coming. The price below is for your party, not a headline figure, and nothing is confirmed until we have spoken.
Written out in full so there is nothing waiting at the park gate.
Tell us roughly when. We will come back with dates, a firm price and an honest view on whether the month you picked is the right one.
