Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate
A freshwater Rift lake with hippos and fish eagles, next to the only Kenyan park you can walk and cycle.
Overview
Lake Naivasha is the highest of the Rift Valley lakes and, unusually, fresh rather than alkaline, which gives it papyrus fringes, fig forest and a very different feel from the soda lakes north of it. Hippos are everywhere - several hundred of them - along with African fish eagles, pelicans and over 400 other bird species. Boat trips are the classic activity, and Crescent Island, a private sanctuary on a peninsula, lets you walk unguided among giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and waterbuck because there are no large predators. The lake is also Kenya's cut-flower centre, which is both an economic story and an environmental one worth knowing about. Twenty minutes south, Hell's Gate National Park is a gorge and volcanic landscape of red cliffs, obsidian and steam vents where you can cycle and hike without a vehicle - the towers of Fischer's Column and the narrow Ol Njorowa gorge are the highlights, and the scenery fed directly into the look of The Lion King.
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