Fresh water in the Rift Valley — hippos, flamingos, and Hell's Gate gorge 90 minutes from Nairobi
Lake Naivasha is a freshwater lake in the Great Rift Valley, 1,884m above sea level and 90 minutes from Nairobi — one of the most accessible natural escapes from the capital and a legitimate wildlife destination in its own right. Hippo pods are resident in the papyrus shallows; boat trips at dusk offer reliable close-up views alongside African fish eagles and pied kingfishers. Hell's Gate National Park, bordering the lake's southern shore, is one of Kenya's most unusual parks — visitors can cycle and walk unescorted among zebra, giraffe, warthog, and buffalo through a dramatic volcanic gorge…
Lake Naivasha sits in the southern section of the East African Rift Valley where the valley floor is broad and at relatively high elevation, resulting in a wetter microclimate than the surrounding plains. In the early 20th century the lake and its surroundings became a centre of the Happy Valley set — the notorious community of aristocratic British settlers whose parties, affairs, and occasional murders made colonial Kenya famous. The Djinn Palace and other surviving colonial estates around the lake date from this period. Commercial flower farming expanded massively from the 1980s, and by the…