blogsThis is the Pink Horizon of Lake Nakuru….
As soon as the sun gets above the Mau Escarpment, it flashes gold over the water, in the curve under a million of necks and in the sweep of countless wings. The greater and lesser flamingo intermix in turbulent patterns as the individuals paint strokes of birds over the lake.
Others dip their heads to sort algae through their curved bills. The others skim up into the air in spurts, the black-tipped wings showing against the soft pastel sky. A flock low in sound and monotonously murmuring fills the air with the flurry of flapping wings and its own subdued murmur.
Cradled in the Great Rift valley, Lake Nakuru is by no means a mere water body but an ecosystem developed and formed over thousands of years. It is alkaline waters with plenty of cyanobacteria and planktons which happen to be the food that attracts the flamingos here in such great number.
According to scientists, two million flamingos can be accommodated in the lake up to their peak seasons. And to the birds this is a feast, and to travelers a spectacle so unreal that photographs seem powerless against it.
Nature rhythms are however not stationary. The population of flamingos increased and decreased over the years in response to rainfall, lakes levels and climate changes. At times the shores are lit up pink over miles; at other times the birds move to other Rift valley lakes in pursuit of food.
To see the Pink Horizon is to participate in this cycle of livingness- to see something that can never be exactly the same, perhaps, ever again. It reminds that beauty s in the wild is so valuable since it is transient.
Flamingos take the show, but Lake Nakuru National Park has much more than pink feathers. White rhinos are feeding at the coast and their huge bodies reach long shadows during the morning sun. The acacia forest is infiltrated by waterbuck, Rothschild giraffes and troops of baboons.
To the bird lovers, the park is heaven! It has more than 400 species recorded including the large fish eagles and the malachite kingfisher that are very small. And as the flamingos take off in such harmony with one another, the resulting design of their rise leaves patterns across the sky, which appears to be almost choreographed by nature itself.
Flamingo sightings can best be viewed in the dry season (July- October) and the rainy season (January- March), when the water conditions and the algae content in the water are favorable to their migration. However, even without the huge flocks, the sceneries and inhabited animals present in Lake Nakuru present the main attraction of this place among the destinations in Kenya.
Would You like to Take a Tour in Lake Nakuru National Park?
