The first thing you notice about Lake Nakuru is the smell, and the second is the pink. The lake sits in the floor of the Great Rift Valley about 1,760 metres above sea level with no outlet, so the water is soda-rich, alkaline and rank, and in a good year it is thick with blue-green algae that lesser flamingos feed on in the hundreds of thousands. From the ridge above the shoreline they look like a pink smudge across the grey water. In other years, when the water level changes, the birds move to Lake Bogoria or Elmenteita, which is why the trio of Rift Valley soda lakes is listed together as a World Heritage site.
The national park around the lake is small but well stocked: white rhino, black rhino, Rothschild's giraffe, buffalo, waterbuck and the occasional leopard in the yellow-barked acacia woodland, with euphorbia trees spread like candelabras on the hillsides. Baboon Cliff, a rocky outcrop above the water, gives the best overview. Over the last decade the lake rose dramatically and swallowed shoreline roads and some park buildings, which is a useful reminder that the Rift's lakes breathe in and out with the rains.
For a motorcyclist the park itself is the awkward part. Kenyan national parks generally do not welcome bikes inside, because of the animals, so check the rules at the gate and expect to leave the bike outside or join a vehicle tour. The ride to get here is the reward. The A104 from Nairobi climbs through highland farms and tea country, then drops off the escarpment with a huge view of the Rift Valley opening out, before running along the valley floor past Lake Naivasha. Expect trucks, matatu minibuses driving like they are in a hurry, speed bumps in every village and police checkpoints; the tarmac is generally decent but can break up at edges.
Nakuru town, a city of a quarter of a million about six kilometres from the lake, has fuel, food and every kind of repair shop. Nights are cool at this altitude and mornings can be cold. The best time is the dry season, from January to February or June to September, when the roads are clear and animals gather near water.
Take a jacket for dawn, sunscreen for noon, and binoculars always.