Fascinating Facts About Lake Elementaita

Lake Elementaita is a famous tourist destination in Kenya. It is the perfect embodiment of natural beauty. With over 450 bird species, this is the top destination for many bird watchers not forgetting hikers and campers.

It is 140 km from Nairobi and acts as a launching pad for tourists to discover more fascinating places around it or it being the attraction.

There are many places you can tour around Elementaita but first, here are some fascinating facts about Lake Elementaita you should know.

1. Elementaita is derived from the Maasai word Muteita which means ‘dust place’, a reference to the dryness and dustiness of the area, especially between January and March.

2. The nearest town to the Lake is Gilgil and is visible along the Naivasha-Nakuru highway

3. The lake is a protected area due to its birdlife fame and also it has been named as one of the heritage sites together with Lake Nakuru and Bogoria by UNESCO.

4. At the southern end of the lake are the ‘Kekopey’ hot springs, in which the Tilapia Graham breed. Very popular for bathing, the local Maasai claim that it can cure AIDS. The red beds nearby are fishing grounds for night herons and pelicans.

5. Lake Elementaita saw its first white settlement when Lord Delamare (1879-1931) established Soysambu, a 48,000-acre ranch on the western side of the lake. Delamare gifted the land on the other side of the Lake to his brother-in-law, the honourable Galbraith Lowry Egerton Cole (1881-1929), part of whose ‘Kekopey Ranch’, where he is buried, is preserved today as the Lake Elementaita Lodge.

6.  The Lakeshores are grazed by Zebras, gazelles, elands and families of warthogs.

7. Nearby attractions include the Kariandusi museum which is an important prehistoric site where stone hand axes and cleavers were discovered in 1929 by Louis Leakey

8. The Lake is normally very shallow (1m deep) and bordered by trona-encrusted mudflats during the dry seasons.