Walk on Crescent Island

Information on Crescent Island

Lake Naivasha is a fresh water lake, unlike Lakes Elementaita, Nakuru and Bogoria which are Soda. It lies at 6,200 feet above sea level, about 95 kms north of Nairobi in the Great Rift Valley. Crescent Island and the adjacent Lotus Island form the rim of an extinct volcano protruding out of this Lake in the shadow of Mount Longonot, also an extinct volcano, close to Hell’s Gate National Park. The name Naivasha derives from the local Maasai name Nai’posha meaning “rough water”. The circumference of the Lake is about 80 kms, the deepest part is within the Crescent at roughly 18 metres. It is known to have dried out twice since 1898 and is fed by two rivers, one being the Malewa whose source is in the Aberdares. It had one indigenous fish until 1929 when the Black Bass were introduced, followed by Tilapia in 1956 but Carp are now predominant. In the 1940s when air travel first came to Kenya en route from England to South Africa, the four engined Flying-Boats landed on Lake Naivasha and the foundations of the Terminal and Customs shed can still be seen today on Crescent Island. It was also pictured on Kenya postage stamps from 1949 to 1952. Naivasha has seen huge development since the 1980s, the climate ideal for horticulture. Many of the flowers and vegetables sold in the supermarkets in UK are grown here. Just forty kms south of the Equator with a nearly all year even temperature, the combination of dry heat during the day , the cool evenings of high altitude plus close proximity to Nairobi on good roads and easy access to wildlife have made it a hugely attractive place to live with many hotels and houses built around the Lake.