Lake Naivasha by boat

Close to Nairobi and easy to fit into a day trip, Lake Naivasha, which happens to be one of the large lakes of Kenya and more to the point, home to a variety of wildlife including an estimated 2000 hippos, is a little piece of heaven on earth!

With the sun hiding behind a layer of clouds, we set out to explore the lake in a small outboard engine powered boat. Properly equipped with bright orange vests and our trusty camera we were in as excited a mood as one can be after a few hours riding a bike (which we’d just done at Hell’s Gate).

Pro tip: Explore the lake after a Hell’s Gate bike ride and before a Masai Mara Safari, if you have that planned, as the latter will most definitely numb you the the beauty of the lake, so do take that into account.

And there they were, just outside the exit the exit gate for the boats:hippos!

OK, I gotta be honest on this one, the hippos were somewhat underwhelming. I mean, yes, you do see their heads above water and you may be fortunate enough to see them interact with each other a little bit but you can never get too close to them (after the mosquito, they are the animal that most humans kills yearly in Africa) and you never fully appreciate their size as they are almost completely submerged.

Great though it was, I feared this would be a bit of a let down. But it wasn’t.

We were lucky to have a very competent boat guide and proceeded to explore the wildlife of the lake. Herons, Ibis, Cormorants and pelicans, all were flying around us in close formation close to the water and even though I am not a bird guy, it was a pleasure to observe all of this. Indeed seeing the pelicans either struggling to take off from the lake or splash landing into the waters was one of the things that made me smile the most. Oh how I love the magic of flight!

Also on the Lake there is Crescent Island, what I believe is the most magical part of the experience.

During the production of the movie Out of Africa on this little island, the crew brought wildebeest, giraffes, gazelles, hyenas and a number of other animals to live there. Now, years later, with a minimal amount of predators, large communities of these animals roam freely through the island and are easily spotted by the tourists passing by on the small motor boats.

It is a delight for wild animal lovers to leisurely boat by all of these magnificent animals roaming free and without a care in the world! You almost feel like jumping out of the boat to approach them!

Don’t do that though, the island is private property and can only be accessed with a prearranged visit. Also, there are supposedly large snakes in the water which definitely discouraged me.

Before coming back we spotted a pair of African Eagles. Duly prepared for the occasion, the boat guide flung a fish in the direction of the Eagle in the hopes that it would fly over and catch it. But it didn’t…

Well, it didn’t the first time anyway because at the second attempt both eagles flew for it and one plucked it out of the lake! It was one of the most majestic things I have ever seen and I was cheering their flight like a teenage boy band fan. Oh how I love the magic of flight!

We then slowly moved back to the shore and towards the end of our tour. With a familiar sting on my right arm due to the sun which had decided to come out, it was at this point I knew I f’d up.

Yes my friends, this is sunny Africa and wearing a short sleeve shirt for hours when you’re as white as paper is a sure sign of retardation. Wear sunscreen and thank me later!

The ride back from the island is done at a slow steady pace through the lake waters and it gives you enough time to contemplate on the experience. The cherry on top of a beautiful day.