Where can I see animals in Naivasha?
Where can I see animals in Naivasha? Elsamere Conservation Centre. Naivasha, in Nakuru County, is home to a unique tourist attraction. Elsamere Conservation Centre was one of the first and is still going strong conservation organisations in Kenya. The Elsamere conservation is not just a well-liked tourist destination but also a source of information regarding wildlife conservation and environmental sustainability. Originally constructed as a holiday home for colonialists, the Elsamere Conservation Centre was utilised as a retreat for white settlers during that era. The Adamsons purchased the site after it remained unoccupied after the colonial era. As their retirement residence, they started working on animal conservation there, which led to the building’s conversion into a conservation centre.
The latter years of Joy and George Adamson were spent in Elsamere Conservation. Elsamere Conservation Centre was given to the Lake Naivasha community when they died away. Joy Adamson’s book “Born Free,” which described how she and her husband, George, saved a cub, nurtured it, and then released it back into the wild, helped the Elsamere Centre become well-known in the 1960s. The novel was also made into the same-titled movie, “Born Free.” Joy Adamson’s other novels, which featured Pippa and Penny as well, detailed her efforts to protect nature. Joy Adamson calls Elsamere the perfect place in her book Born Free.
Mount Longonot National Park
The Maasai word for mountains with numerous spurs or steep ridges is Oloonong’ot, which is where Mt. Longonot National Park got its name. Situated southeast of Lake Naivasha, the park spans 52 square kilometres in size. The mountain was formed by viscous, sticky, hard-to-flow lava. Lava then builds up around the vent, creating a volcano with steep slopes. The park is located 27.2 kilometres from the nearby town of Naivasha and 74.4 kilometres from Nairobi.
The Kenya Wildlife Service keeps a section of Mount Longonot National Park under protection. A 3.1-kilometer nature walk trail climbs to the crater’s rim from the park entrance and winds around the crater for 7.2 kilometres. There are some very steep and badly eroded parts of the trail. Although the gate is roughly 2150 meters from the top (2776 meters), climbing the craggy rim takes more energy than the 630 meters of vertical difference. A large 8 x 12 km caldera formed by trachytic lava eruptions 21,000 years ago could be located on the stratovolcano Mount Longonot. The modern peak cone formed inside the previous caldera. The cone itself is topped by a 1.8 km-diameter crater.
The mountain has multiple parasitic cones, and effusive lava eruptions occur inside the caldera and on its flanks. Periodic geodetic activity detected at Longonot between 2004 and 2006 proved the presence of active magmatic systems underneath this volcano.
Hells Gate National Park
Hells Gate National Park, one of Kenya’s most popular tourist sites, makes a major contribution to the nation’s tourism industry. The park is situated south of Lake Naivasha and northwest of Nairobi, Kenya. Hell’s Gate National Park receives its name from the small opening in the cliffs that was formerly a stream of an old lake that fed the early settlers in the Rift Valley. Established in 1984, the park is among Kenya’s more compact yet highly visited national parks. It is well known for both its wide variety of species and breathtaking beauty. This includes Hell’s Gate Gorge and the columns of Fischer’s Tower and Central Tower. With a total size of 68.25 square kilometres, Hells Gate National Park is one of Kenya’s smallest national parks. It was formally established in 1984.
The park is about 1,900 meters above sea level. It is one of Nakuru County’s most visited tourist attractions, along with Lake Nakuru National Park. About 90 road kilometres separate it from Nairobi and Lake Naivasha. The park lies 14 kilometres from the turnoff to the former Nairobi-Naivasha highway and enjoys a pleasant, dry climate. In addition to obsidian formations formed from cold molten lava, the park is home to two extinct volcanoes, Olkaria and Hobley’s.
Olkaria Geothermal Spa
The Olkaria Geothermal Spa is located inside Hell’s Gate National Park in the Kenyan county of Nakuru. About 100 miles separate Olkaria Geothermal Spa from Nakuru City by car. The Olkaria Geothermal Power Plant is also known as Olkaria V Geothermal Power Station. From Nairobi, it is 122 miles via car. Six geothermal power plants make up the Olkaria Geothermal Power Plant; some are operational now, while others are in the planning stages. After the facility’s construction was completed in 2019, commercial electricity generation got underway. The facility’s construction commenced in 2017. It is the best place to go for a day trip when travelling from Nairobi to the park. The owner is Kenya Electricity Generating Company, or KenGen.
The main pool, the hills, and the imposing steam towers that give Olkaria its unique aspect when blended with the distant clouds are all visible from the pools. There’s an enormous adult pool that’s practically like having your own little lake. To keep the little ones occupied, there’s also a baby pool and a toddler playground. The pools at Olkaria Geothermal Spa are made of steel trowel concrete since the local water contains natural minerals that could damage ceramic tiles. There are four steps surrounding the pool in the other regions, yet the deepest point of the pool is just 1.5 meters deep.
Boat rides in Lake Naivasha
It is almost a given that one will see one of the more than 1500 hippos in Lake Naivasha while travelling by boat. The boat tours can hold up to 20 people and are always guided by experienced local guides. There are also other midsize boats available, with six to twelve seats; these are easy to manoeuvre around the lake. To ensure the safety of other boat riders, life jackets are required for all boat journeys. While part of Lake Naivasha is protected by private conservancies, which charge admission, access to the rest of the lake is free. Although admission to Lake Naivasha is free (save for the privately owned Conservancies), boat cruises are moderately priced.
Groups of five to six people report that the cost of an hour’s boat ride in the lake ranges from USD25 to USD30. Depending on the boat operator, boat rides can be found in various locations along the lake’s shoreline. One such location is Lake Oloiden, where boat trips are offered by some lodges at docks at the lake’s beginning and end. Boat trips around the crescent island allow visitors to explore the varied wildlife and bird sanctuary on the eastern shore of Lake Naivasha. Because the island is enclosed by fences, animals are not allowed to move around it, making it one of the sites in Kenya with the highest concentration of wildlife per acre. Maasai giraffes, zebras, Dik-Diks, Steenboks, impalas, gazelles, warthogs, wildebeest, Waterbucks, Spring hares, Bushbucks, Elands, and buffaloes are among wildlife that call it home. The abundance of the lake allows for large views of hippos from the island. Naivasha is a birdwatcher’s paradise, with boat trips offering the chance to observe about 400 species.
