Why this ride
It goes by way of Lake Nakuru, Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley and back through Lake Nakuru. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Lake Bogoria and Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 256 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 52
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Kenya Great Rift Valley Escarpment Road
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 26 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 39 km
- Named road
- Kenya Great Rift Valley Escarpment Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Lake Bogoria
Lake Bogoria lies at the bottom of the Rift Valley in central Kenya, a long, narrow, alkaline lake squeezed between a steep fault wall on the west and a flat, thorny plain on the east. Its water is so salty and caustic that fish cannot live in it, but blue-green algae thrive, and the algae feed one of the great wildlife spectacles of Africa: lesser flamingos in the hundreds of thousands, which line the shore and turn the margins pink. The numbers shift with the water level, and in some years they move to other lakes. Bogoria, Nakuru and Elmenteita make up the Kenya Lake System, listed by UNESCO in 2011.
Read the complete Lake Bogoria write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lake Bogoria is where the day begins. Next is Lake Nakuru.
2. Lake Nakuru
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.
Read the complete Lake Nakuru write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lake Nakuru comes up about 89 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley.
3. Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley
The Kenya Lake System sits in the floor of the Great Rift Valley, the vast crack in the earth that runs from the Red Sea to Mozambique, and it is made up of three shallow soda lakes: Bogoria, Nakuru and Elementaita. UNESCO listed them in 2011 because of the birds. The alkaline water breeds a bloom of tiny blue-green algae, and the algae feed millions of lesser flamingos, which turn the shallows pink and, when they take off in a mass, fill the air with a roar of wings. Over a hundred species of other birds, including pelicans and eagles, share the shores.
Read the complete Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 128 km into the recorded legs you reach Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley. Next is back through Lake Nakuru.
4. back through Lake Nakuru
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lake Nakuru write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Lake Nakuru, late in the day. Next is Lake Bogoria.
5. Lake Bogoria
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lake Bogoria write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Lake Bogoria. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Lake Bogoria to Lake Nakuru
Lake Bogoria → Lake Nakuru is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Lake Nakuru to Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley
Lake Nakuru → Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley to back through Lake Nakuru
Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley → back through Lake Nakuru is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lake Nakuru to Lake Bogoria
back through Lake Nakuru → Lake Bogoria is 89 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.