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Lake Nakuru Lodge Review – Kenya, Africa: Honest Review!

My sister and I stayed at the Lake Nakuru Lodge for one night while on safari, when we visited Lake Nakuru National Park to see the famous flocks of pink flamingos. Here’s my honest review of the Lake Nakuru Lodge in Kenya in case you’re thinking about staying here while on safari in East Africa. Here is my Lake Nakuru Lodge review:

Pool area and outdoor patio on the grounds of Lake Nakuru Lodge, a safari hotel near the national park

Table of Contents

Lake Nakuru Lodge Location:

This lodge is located extremely close to the Lake Nakuru National Park — it’s right after you enter through the gate and perched on a hillside — you can see Lake Nakuru from the hotel at a distance. In fact, there are not that many lodges to chose from in the area, so if you’re doing an overnight at Lake Nakuru, there’s a good chance your safari tour operator might be booking you a room here.

Cost – Lake Nakuru Lodge:

I don’t know! As with most safari lodges, your tour operator will be booking you accommodations. It’s just easier that way — plus they have special deals with various accommodations in the safari game parks. So in other words, you typically don’t get to chose where you stay; your safari tour operator works with your budget in mind and then books a place within that budget. For us, we had a mid-range accommodations, and this was where we ended up.

Food at the Lake Nakuru Lodge

Not the best, but not the worst either. We ate breakfast and dinner here, which were both served buffet style. It was edible, but not memorable.

Dining / Buffet area at the Lake Nakuru Lodge Kenya

Rooms at the Lake Nakuru Lodge

All the rooms here are bungalow style. Our room was huge – we had a room with three beds. The rooms have huge picture windows that look out over Lake Nakuru in the distance — it’s too far to see any flamingos or pelicans, but it’s there.

Outside our room at Lake Nakuru Lodge

Additionally, animals do roam right outside the electric fencing, and you will likely see some wildlife right from your balcony. Room was clean, but it was really hot in the room. There is no A/C but we asked for a fan and were provided with one, and that cooled the room down nicely. Toiletries and a hair dryer were provided but we bring our own (I bring a European hair dryer that I purchased overseas and use it every time I travel internationally — it’s clutch and I never have to worry about blowing a fuse or not having a hair dryer available!)

Electricity is kept on 24/7, which is nice. The only complaint I had was the mattress — it was hard as a rock, so it was difficult to get to sleep. I also didn’t care for the bathroom – it was fine but the shower was just a curtain you pull around that’s right next to the toilet. The area was just kind of small. But it worked.

Our room at the Lake Nakuru Lodge + balcony
Another view of our room at the Lake Nakuru Lodge
Bathroom was kind of cramped

Pool / Amenities

The grounds at Lake Nakuru Lodge are really nice. This is a fenced property, which means you can wander around after sunset without an escort, as any nearby animal will not be able to breach the electric fence. Right outside the electric fence is a watering hole and we saw lots of animals come up for a drink.

Cape buffalo coming up for a drink at the lodge’s watering hole

There’s lots of pretty landscaping around the property and little critters seem to like playing around in the flowers. We saw some weird rodents and I still don’t know what they are — running all around. Maybe you can ID them?

These guys were running around everywhere and playing!

The pool looked clean and inviting, but the water was really cold, and we simply didn’t feel like using the pool. We didn’t see any other guests using the pool either. But it looked nice!

Pool area and outdoor patio on the grounds of Lake Nakuru Lodge, a safari hotel near the national park
Patio seating on the grounds of Lake Nakuru Lodge, a safari hotel near the national park
Changing rooms near the pool area

There is a small business center which we needed to use, as my sister forgot to bring her printed copy of her visa with, which we would need to re-enter Kenya at the end of this safari. The business center was located on the second floor, in a meeting room that looked straight out of the 80s, which I loved.

Loved this 80s style conference room. The chairs!

You’ll also find a small gift shop here. Wifi is found in the restaurant and dining commons area, which was a common theme for all of the safari lodges we stayed at.

Our Experience at the Lake Nakuru Lodge

We arrived at Lake Nakuru National Park after visiting Amboseli National Park. This was our second stop on our 13-day safari adventure, and the second lodge we stayed in. Previous, we were at the Kibo Safari Camp in Amboseli National Park – I wrote a review of that lodge here. This was about a 4 hour drive from Amboseli to Lake Nakuru. Before we checked into the lodge, we did a game drive in Lake Nakuru National Park — you can read more about this here.

Don’t whizz on the electric fence!

After our game drive (where we saw the giant flocks of pink flamingos!), we checked into the lodge. We had a few hours to kill before dinner but my sister forgot her copy of her Kenya visa in Nairobi and we would need this to re-enter Kenya after our safari was over. Luckily, we were able to get it printed with some help from the very pleasant staff — the staff here was one of the best we encountered on our safari adventure. No one harassed us for tips.

Food wasn’t that great, as mentioned above, but it was buffet style vs. table service, which we preferred as we would at least find something edible. As usual, all drinks except coffee and tea are extra, so we ordered a few Coke Zeros to enjoy with our meal — the prices are usually really reasonable so don’t worry about tossin’ a few sodas back.

We visited in early March and while this lodge wasn’t as crowded and hoppin’ as it was at the Kibo Safari Camp where we had just stayed, there were still a decent amount of people here.

RELATED: In Tanzania, we were often the only guests at the lodges we stayed in. Like at this lodge in the Serengeti

They had entertainment at night — it was some sort of fire show, but we were too tired to stay up for it, so we just went to bed. We were able to get a wifi signal from our room — it was pretty week, but it was just enough juice so we could check email/Facebook/messenger.

Flock of pink flamingos at Lake Nakuru in Kenya, Africa

Final Thoughts – Lake Nakuru Lodge

Overall, this wasn’t bad. This was one of the better places we stayed on safari, though we didn’t realize it at the time. Would I stay here again? Sure, why not? There isn’t too many places to stay around the national park, so your choices are limited, but this was perfectly fine for one night. The beds could’ve been more comfortable, but overall, everything was pretty decent and you can’t beat the views from here! If you’re still interested in staying here, visit the Lake Nakuru Lodge’s official site.

Lake Nakuru Kenya - Places to stay - Safari Lodge
Lake Nakuru Kenya - Places to stay - Safari Lodge
Lake Nakuru Kenya - Places to stay - Safari Lodge

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