Naivasha.
Fresh water, fever trees and the one place in Kenya where you can walk among plains game with no armed guide at all.
Two nights, as the gentle day in the middle of a hard-driving journey. No predators and no big game — a boat, a walk among giraffe with no guide, and a colonial garden.
- Give it
- 2 nights
- Best months
- Jan–Mar, Sep–Oct
- From
- $480 pp/night
- Come for
- Boating, walking, a rest
The gentle day in the middle of a hard-driving journey
Naivasha is a freshwater lake — unusual in the Rift, where most are alkaline — at 1,890 metres, fringed with yellow fever trees and papyrus. It holds a large hippo population, over 400 bird species including African fish eagle in remarkable density, and no predators of consequence, which is precisely what makes it useful.
Crescent Island, a peninsula on the eastern shore, is a private sanctuary stocked with giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck and impala and containing no lion, leopard or hyena. You can therefore walk among all of it unaccompanied, which is available almost nowhere else in East Africa and is startling the first time.
We use Naivasha as a change of pace rather than a wildlife destination: the day when nobody has to get up at five, in the middle of a journey that otherwise demands it. Guests who arrive expecting big game are disappointed; guests who arrive expecting a boat, a walk and a garden are not.
139
km² of freshwater lake
1,890 m
Altitude
400+
Recorded bird species
0
Large predators on Crescent Island
Colonial houses with gardens, mostly
Naivasha’s accommodation is largely houses and small lodges built between the 1920s and 1950s by farming families, several still owned by them. Gardens run down to the water, colobus move through the fever trees, and the food tends to come out of a kitchen garden.
This is the region where we most often use a full house on exclusive use, because the properties are the right size for it and the prices are modest by Kenyan safari standards. Six to ten guests in a lake-shore house with a cook and a boat is one of the best-value things we sell.
A handful of larger hotels exist on the northern shore and we would not use them. Ask your specialist for the three houses we actually rate; the list has not changed much in nine years.
Month by month
| Months | Weather | Conditions | Crowds | Our view |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan – Mar | Warm days, cold nights, clear | Excellent; calm water for boating | Moderate | The best months |
| Apr – May | Long rains; lake levels rise | Good — everything here works wet | Low | A genuinely sensible May destination |
| Jun – Aug | Cool, sometimes overcast and windy | Good; choppier boating | High in August | Fine, and busy at weekends |
| Sep – Oct | Warm, dry, still | Excellent | Moderate | Quiet and lovely |
| Nov | Short rains, brief | Good; green and dramatic | Low | Underrated |
| Dec | Clearing, warm | Excellent | Very high over New Year | Book early or come in January |
Access
Ninety minutes from Nairobi on good tarmac — the shortest transfer to anywhere worthwhile in Kenya — or twenty minutes by air to the Loldia strip. An hour from Lake Nakuru and two and a half from the Mara by road, which is why Naivasha so often sits between them.
What you pay to enter
There is no national park fee for the lake itself. Crescent Island charges USD 35 per person, Hell’s Gate National Park USD 30, and boat hire runs USD 60–110 per hour depending on the boat. All are included in every AETHER journey and itemised on your invoice.
Before you go
At 1,890m the nights are cold and a fleece is essential; days are mild rather than hot. Low malaria risk, though prophylaxis is advised. Hippo come ashore to graze at night at most properties — the askari escort to your room after dinner is not theatre, and should be taken.
Four places we use, and why
A 1930s farmhouse on the shore
Exclusive use · from $640 pp/night
Eight rooms, a garden running to the water, colobus in the fever trees, and a cook who has been there since the 1990s. Boats at the jetty.
A small lodge on the southern shore
Twelve rooms · from $480 pp/night
Well run and quiet, with a pool, its own boats and walking on the property. Our choice for families with younger children.
A private island house
Six guests · from $920 pp/night
A house on its own small island, reached by boat, with staff, a chef and nothing else on it. Extraordinary value for a party of six.
A ranch house at Kongoni
Riding · from $720 pp/night
Above the lake on a working ranch, with horses, walking and the whole Rift from the terrace. For guests who want to ride.
A boat, a walk, and a gorge
The boat is the point. Two hours among hippo pods and papyrus with a fish eagle diving on cue for the boatman — an old trick, and worth seeing once — plus pelican, jacana and forty other species within a morning. Go at seven or at five; the middle of the day is windy.
Crescent Island is walked on foot, unaccompanied, among giraffe, zebra and wildebeest. There are no large predators, so there is no armed guide, and the sensation of standing on grass twenty metres from a giraffe with nothing between you is one guests remember above much grander things.
Hell’s Gate, twenty minutes away, is a volcanic gorge walked or cycled between red cliffs, with geothermal steam vents and Fischer’s Tower for anyone who climbs. A morning, and excellent for teenagers who have run out of patience with vehicles.
And Mount Longonot, a two-hour climb to a crater rim with the entire Rift laid out below. Start at six; it is a genuine hill.
Two nights, as we would build it
Nairobi to Naivasha
Ninety minutes by road, arriving for lunch in a garden. An afternoon boat among the hippo, and dinner in a house rather than a lodge.
Crescent Island and Hell’s Gate
On foot among the game on Crescent Island at seven, unaccompanied. Hell’s Gate gorge by bicycle in the afternoon, or Longonot at dawn for the ambitious.
Onward
A slow morning in the garden, then two and a half hours by road to the Mara, or twenty minutes by air to almost anywhere.
What pairs with Naivasha
Select a region
Masai Mara
Amboseli
Samburu
Laikipia
Ol Pejeta
Lewa
Aberdare
Nakuru
Nairobi
Meru
Loita
Tsavo
Watamu
Diani
Lamu
The Masai Mara, 2½ hours by road. This is Naivasha’s real function: the civilised stop on the drive, which turns a long transfer into two short ones.
Lake Nakuru, one hour. Rhino and flamingo an hour up the road, and the standard Rift pairing.
Nairobi, 90 minutes. Close enough to be a first or last night instead of a city hotel, which most guests prefer once they know it is an option.
Mount Longonot and Hell’s Gate, both on the doorstep, for guests who want to walk rather than drive.
On Lake Naivasha
Is Naivasha a safari destination?
Not really, and we would rather say so. There are no lion, no elephant and no rhino outside a couple of small sanctuaries. It is a lake with hippo, birds, a walkable island and beautiful houses, and it is the gentle day in the middle of a demanding journey.
Can you really walk with no guide on Crescent Island?
Yes. It is a private sanctuary with no lion, leopard or hyena, and you walk among giraffe, zebra and wildebeest freely — a ranger is available but not required. Keep a respectful distance from buffalo and from the waterbuck in rut, and it is entirely safe.
Is it worth flying in?
Rarely — the road from Nairobi is ninety minutes on good tarmac and one of the more scenic drives in Kenya. We fly guests out of Naivasha to the Mara occasionally, but almost never in.
What about the flower farms?
They are a real presence on the lake and a real subject of debate — major employers, significant water abstraction, and improving environmental standards. Several run tours, and a good guide will give you the argument from both sides rather than a slogan.
Is it good for children?
One of the best places in Kenya for them: a boat, a walk among giraffe with no vehicle, a gorge to cycle, gardens to run in, and a ninety-minute drive from the airport rather than a flight.