The Great Rift Valley’s lake circuit runs a couple of hours from Nairobi and covers two very different lakes back to back. Lake Naivasha is freshwater, hippo-dense, and framed by acacia woodland good for an easy boat cruise and a walking safari on Crescent Island, one of the few places in Kenya you can walk freely among plains game with no predators present. Lake Nakuru, roughly 90 minutes further, is alkaline and historically one of East Africa’s great flamingo gatherings (numbers shift year to year with water levels), inside a fenced sanctuary that also holds both black and white rhino. This is a shorter, gentler circuit than the bigger southern safaris, camping both nights, and works well as an easy opener or closer to a longer Kenya trip.