Lake · Kenya
Lake Naivasha
Lake in Kenya
- Area
- 128km²
- Max depth
- 6m
- Average depth
- 14m
- Elevation
- 1,881m a.s.l.
- Shoreline
- 62km
- Volume
- 1.7km³
Lake Naivasha is a lake in Kenya. It covers 128 km². On average it is 14 m deep, and 6 m at its deepest point. Its surface lies 1,881 m above sea level.
Plan your visit
Stay, sail and get there
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The water
How warm is Lake Naivasha?
The water is warmest in April, around 22 °C at the surface, and coldest in July, around 19 °C. The surface averages 20 °C or more from September to June: comfortable for most swimmers.
It does not normally freeze in winter.
On the shore, afternoons reach 26 °C on average in February and 20 °C in June. The driest month is February (45 mm of rain), the wettest April (196 mm).
Average surface temperature measured by the Landsat 8 satellite between 2013 and 2021 at the point furthest from the shore (118 readings). Shallow bays and beaches are often warmer.
From above
The whole lake from space
Month by month
The year at the lake, month by month
Not a forecast: these are averages over many years. Water is the 2013–2021 average; air, rain, sun and wind are the 1991–2020 average.
Water: 2013–2021 averageClimate: 1991–2020 average
| Month | Water°C | Water high°C | Air high°C | Air low°C | Rainmm | Rainy daysdays | Sunh/day | Windkm/h |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21 | 21 | 25 | 11 | 64 | 11 | 8.8 | 13 |
| February | 22 | 22 | 26 | 12 | 45 | 9 | 9.2 | 14 |
| March | 22 | 22 | 26 | 12 | 113 | 15 | 8.7 | 14 |
| April | 22 | 22 | 23 | 13 | 196 | 23 | 7.4 | 13 |
| May | 21 | 22 | 21 | 12 | 141 | 24 | 7.9 | 12 |
| June | 20 | 21 | 20 | 11 | 68 | 17 | 7.0 | 10 |
| July | 19 | 20 | 20 | 10 | 46 | 16 | 6.5 | 10 |
| August | 20 | 20 | 21 | 10 | 62 | 17 | 6.6 | 10 |
| September | 20 | 21 | 23 | 11 | 64 | 14 | 7.9 | 11 |
| October | 21 | 21 | 24 | 12 | 87 | 18 | 7.4 | 14 |
| November | 21 | 21 | 23 | 12 | 115 | 22 | 6.6 | 14 |
| December | 21 | 21 | 24 | 12 | 94 | 15 | 7.8 | 14 |
Water: LakeTEMP (Landsat 8, 2013–2021). Air, rain, sun and wind: NASA POWER, 1991–2020 averages. A rainy day has at least 1 mm of rain. Sunshine hours are derived from measured solar radiation.
Size & depth
How big, how deep
- On average, water stays in the lake for about 4.5 years before flowing out.
- Its catchment drains 3,253 km² of land.
- About 12 m³ of water flow out every second, on average.
Around the shore
What's around Lake Naivasha
Counted within 1.5 km of the shoreline in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit.
- 1beaches and swimming spots
Karagita Public Beach
- 12campsites
Crayfish Camp, Top Camp, Fisherman's Camp, NVA - Carnelly's Camp, Wedding Site Campsite and 7 more
- —boat hire and water-sport clubs
- 1marinas and slipways
- —ferry piers
- 2viewpoints
Zebra and giraffe free safari
- 36hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Lake Naivasha Country Club, Ajabu House, Lake Naivasha Simba Lodge, Yellow green hotel, Masada Hotel and 31 more
- —fishing spots
- 10restaurants and cafés
Towns on the shore
- Naivasha198,444 people
Nearest airport with scheduled flights: Nairobi Wilson Airport (WIL), 80 km in a straight line.
Car hire at NBO airport (Nairobi)Discover Cars · Affiliate linkOpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: when a number is low, it may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
Recent years
How each month compared
Afternoon high on the shore. The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years below show the difference from it: warmer in orange, cooler in blue.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–2020 average | 24.9 | 26.3 | 25.7 | 22.9 | 21.0 | 20.1 | 20.1 | 21.1 | 22.7 | 23.6 | 22.8 | 23.5 |
| 2020 | −3.0 | −3.1 | −2.8 | −1.7 | −0.5 | −1.1 | −1.5 | −0.6 | −1.2 | −1.2 | −0.7 | −0.4 |
| 2021 | −1.3 | −2.0 | ±0.0 | +0.6 | +0.2 | +0.8 | −0.5 | +0.6 | +0.6 | +1.2 | +2.2 | −0.5 |
| 2022 | +0.3 | −0.1 | +2.2 | +1.9 | +2.3 | +1.7 | +0.8 | −0.2 | −0.5 | +1.4 | −0.1 | +0.6 |
| 2023 | +0.8 | +2.1 | +0.3 | +0.6 | +2.0 | +1.9 | +2.2 | +2.1 | +2.0 | +2.1 | −0.7 | −0.2 |
| 2024 | −2.3 | −2.6 | −1.4 | −1.7 | −0.1 | −0.1 | −0.3 | −0.5 | ±0.0 | +0.7 | +0.4 | −0.1 |
| 2025 | −0.2 | +0.3 | −0.3 | −0.7 | +0.4 | +0.9 | +0.5 | −1.7 | −1.0 | −1.3 | +0.4 | +0.5 |
+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual
Tanzania
UgandaAbout these numbers
| Outline, area, depth, volume | HydroLAKES v1.0 (Messager et al. 2016) · CC BY 4.0 |
|---|---|
| Water temperature and ice | LakeTEMP v1 (Korver et al. 2024), Landsat 8 2013–2021 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Air, rain, sun, wind | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · public domain |
| Names and description | Wikidata (Q1365115) · CC0 |
| Around the shore | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
