Lake Nakuru in Kenya is just a three-hour drive from Nairobi in the Great Rift Valley. It boasts an abundance of wildlife and spectacular landscapes. Think black and white rhinos, lions, leopards, cheetahs and hippos occupying euphorbia forests, acacia woodlands, savannah grasslands and rocky escarpments around a shallow, alkaline lake.
Up until 2014, Lake Nakuru was renowned for its vast flamingo population (sometimes more than 1.5 million of them at one time), which covered the lake in a blanket of pink plumes. However, rising water levels from heavy flooding have drastically reduced this phenomenon, shrinking their breeding and feeding grounds. Flamingos may not be as abundant as they once were, but a safari at Lake Nakuru still delivers some of the best wildlife viewings in Kenya.