The highest and purest of the Great Rift Valley lakes, Lake Naivasha lies approximately 80 km west of Nairobi on the floor of the rift.

The lake shores are lined with fertile and flourishing horticultural farms and thousands of yellow barked acacias. Naivasha is home to more than 340 species of birds, has a resident population of Hippo and small herds of plains game are found all around the shores. Bird and game viewing is by boat or on foot. The lakeshore was, for many years, the home of the late authoress Joy Adamson and it was here that she first raised Elsa, the lioness. Mount Longonot, an extinct volcano, lies just east of the lake.

The popular Hell’s Gate National Park is to the south east of the lake, and is home to the rarest of Kenya’s vulture population, the Lammergeyer, which nests on the cliffs.