Lake Nakuru
Lake Nakuru National Park
Lake Nakuru National Park
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[thumb\|right\|National Park entrance](/wiki/File:Lake-Nakuru-National-Park-Entrance.JPG "Lake-Nakuru-National-Park-Entrance.JPG")
[thumb\|right\|[Flamingos](/wiki/Flamingos "Flamingos") feeding at Lake Nakuru](/wiki/File:Flamingos_at_lake_Nakuru.jpg "Flamingos at lake Nakuru.jpg")
**Lake Nakuru National Park** (188 km2, 73 mi2), was created in 1961 around **Lake Nakuru**, near [Nakuru](/wiki/Nakuru "Nakuru") Town. It is best known for its thousands, sometimes millions of [flamingos](/wiki/Flamingo "Flamingo")  nesting along the shores. The surface of the shallow lake is often hardly recognizable due to the continually shifting mass of pink. The number of flamingos on the lake varies with water and food conditions  and the best vantage point is from *Baboon Cliff*. Also, of interest is an area of around the lake fenced off as a sanctuary to protect [giraffes](/wiki/Giraffe "Giraffe") as well as both [black](/wiki/Black_rhinoceros "Black rhinoceros") and [white rhinos](/wiki/White_rhinoceros "White rhinoceros").

The park has recently been enlarged partly to provide a sanctuary for black rhinos. This endeavour has necessitated a fence \- to keep out poachers rather than to restrict the movement of wildlife. The park stretches for  on the south eastern boundary with the [Soysambu conservancy](/wiki/Soysambu_conservancy "Soysambu conservancy") , which represents a possible future expansion of habitat for the rhinos and the only remaining [wildlife corridor](/wiki/Wildlife_corridor "Wildlife corridor") to [Lake Naivasha](/wiki/Lake_Naivasha "Lake Naivasha").

The park now (2009\) has more than 25 [eastern black rhinoceros](/wiki/Eastern_black_rhinoceros "Eastern black rhinoceros"), one of the largest concentrations in the country, plus around 70 [southern white rhinos](/wiki/Southern_white_rhino "Southern white rhino"). There are also a number of [Rothschild's giraffe](/wiki/Rothschild%27s_giraffe "Rothschild's giraffe"), again relocated for safety from western [Kenya](/wiki/Kenya "Kenya") beginning in 1977\. [Waterbuck](/wiki/Waterbuck "Waterbuck") are very common and both the [Kenyan](/wiki/Kenya "Kenya") subspecies are found here. Among the predators are [lions](/wiki/Panthera_leo_melanochaita "Panthera leo melanochaita"), [cheetahs](/wiki/Southern_cheetah "Southern cheetah") and [leopards](/wiki/African_leopard "African leopard"), the latter being seen much more frequently in recent times. The park also has large sized [pythons](/wiki/Pythonidae "Pythonidae") that inhabit the dense woodlands, and can often be seen crossing the roads or dangling from trees.

As well as flamingos, there are a myriad of other bird species that inhabit the lake and the area surrounding it, such as [African fish eagle](/wiki/African_fish_eagle "African fish eagle"), [Goliath heron](/wiki/Goliath_heron "Goliath heron"), [hamerkop](/wiki/Hamerkop "Hamerkop"), [pied kingfisher](/wiki/Pied_kingfisher "Pied kingfisher") and [Verreaux's eagle](/wiki/Verreaux%27s_eagle "Verreaux's eagle") among others of their kind. 


What are the long-term effects of protecting rhinos and other animals in the park?