Lake Nakuru, soaked in sunshine

After all that day’s heat, it was late afternoon and we were arriving in Nakuru Town in the rain. Only the purple flowers in the trees along the road seemed to smile back at us, as my travel partner and I were both excited, because that’s the feeling that new places seed in travellers.

Most of all, though, we were excited for the following morning, when we were set to get acquainted with the buzz around Lake Nakuru. After a lot of reading, Marcel and I gave in to the opinions of the former visitors – the park’s sunrises and mornings were not to be missed. That evening, in our decrepit hotel room, surrounded by lovely staff, however, we relaxed, did some washing, and chose not to go sightseeing especially because we were quite far away from all the attractions in the area and I couldn’t even get a taxi to come pick us up.

Our lost time would be avenged. As soon as we drove through the gates together with our guide, everything seemed special. There was a lot of green to take in. Of all Kenya’s mythical parks to safari, I didn’t know such scenery existed! Yes, we had been aware of the fact that the water level increased to dangerous highs, with the flora and the fauna affected, but it was still beautiful.

Our eyes were happy looking at the impalas hiding between the trees and at the monkeys playing with their cubs on the lianas, all soaked in the beautiful sunlight that would make their fur shine even brighter and give rise to curiously-alluring silhouettes.

The road to the body of water was as romantic as it was saddening, with many trees simply drying out… the pelicans, though, were sunbathing, along with their friends – the cormorants! Just as joyful as I had recalled them from all of my kayaking trips in the Danube Delta, designed to see them. ‘We meet again’ I whispered to myself, as the vehicle stopped and we were allowed some minutes to make memories.

We convinced our guide to linger some more, although the day’s schedule seemed hectic, and managed to get to the left side of the park. Zebras were running around with that backdrop of high Nakuru buildings, to remind us once more of the thin line between the wild and humans taking over. Finally, the typical view of the reserve had been constructed: sturdy yet fascinating white rhinos, seen for the first time by us, grazing against a background of pink.

Yes, my beloved flamingos were there! Not in numbers as high as in the past, we were told, but they were there! We were even allowed to step out of the car, walk and take pictures, as we got closer to the lakeshore and kept a watchful eye on the buffalos that were also grazing in the distance.

I simply preferred gazing. Charging my batteries. Thankful for being there to see so much greatness in the way nature had settled things. Honestly, I didn’t want to leave and neither did Marcel.

Watching two ornithologists snapping shots of the ardent pink colour, proof of the vast amount of shrimp out there, I had a thought. ‘Next time around, we must get to Lake Bogoria, too’. No one talks about it, but many of the flamingos once calling Lake Nakuru their home had migrated there because of the rising waters. Still, when you think of all the places in the world considered iconic, some may look worse than they do in pictures, some may look exactly as in pictures. Lake Nakuru looked (and felt) even better!