Central Island Crater Lakes

Central Island is a five square kilometre volcanic island sitting in the middle of Lake Turkana, gazetted as a national park in its own right in 1983 and lying in Turkana County. Three craters on it hold their own lakes, each separate from the lake surrounding them, and the island is the breeding ground for what the Kenya Wildlife Service describes as the world’s largest concentration of Nile crocodiles.

Whether a visitor gets there on a given day is decided by the wind, not by the plan. That is the single most useful thing to know about this sight.

Three Craters, Three Lakes

The island was formed by three volcanoes, and the Kenya Wildlife Service describes several craters merging over time to produce three crater lakes. Each has a name taken from what lives in it.

These are not bays of Lake Turkana. They sit inside the craters, separate from the surrounding water, and they differ from one another in chemistry and in what lives in them. Walking up to a rim and looking down into a lake held inside a volcano, with the jade of Turkana behind it, is the experience the island exists for. The island is small enough to climb in about an hour, and the Kenya Wildlife Service describes the three volcanoes that built it as active and as belching sulphurous smoke and steam, which is part of why the landscape looks as raw as it does.

The Crocodiles

The island’s local name is Chooro, crocodile island, and the Kenya Wildlife Service calls it the breeding ground for the world’s largest concentration of Nile crocodiles. The animals use the shores and the crater basins, and nesting is what the island is known for rather than casual sightings.

On numbers, the most-cited population estimate comes from a survey by Alistair Graham published in 1968, and nothing more recent circulates with comparable authority. A crocodile count for this island quoted without that date attached is being passed along rather than sourced.

This is a working crocodile breeding ground, not a viewing platform. Keep well back from the water, follow the ranger’s direction on where to walk, and do not approach nests or basking animals for a photograph.

Birds

The Kenya Wildlife Service identifies Central Island as an Important Bird Area and a seasonal stopover for migratory birds arriving from Europe between March and May. That window is the one serious birders aim for, and it falls in the shoulder of the rains rather than in the comfortable driving months, which is a real trade-off on a trip this long. The wildlife service puts the island’s migrant list at more than 23 species. Sport fishing is permitted at a fee, and the fish themselves carry an oddity worth knowing: alongside Nile perch and tilapia the lake holds puffer fish, a family otherwise of the sea, which the wildlife service cites as evidence of Turkana’s prehistoric connection to the Red Sea. See birdwatching in Kenya.

Getting There, and Why the Wind Decides

Access is by boat from Kalokol on the western shore, the centre of the Turkana fishing industry. The Kenya Wildlife Service describes the approach as a two-day drive from Nairobi to Kalokol by way of Kitale and Lodwar, with all-weather airstrips at Lodwar and Kalokol.

The wind funnels down the rift and gets up through the day, and by the afternoon the open water between Kalokol and the island can be genuinely dangerous in a small boat. The consequences are practical:

• Cross early. Morning departures are the norm because the water is calmer, not because of the light.
• Build in a spare day. Crossings are cancelled. A single-day window means a real chance of not going at all.
• Getting stuck is a normal outcome. Parties have been held on the island overnight when the wind turned, which is one reason the campsite matters.
• Boat hire is arranged locally and is not a wildlife service charge. Agree the price, the timing and who is responsible for the return before leaving the beach. Boats entering the park are asked to dock at officially designated sites.

Fees and Staying Overnight

Central Island National Park sits in the Kenya Wildlife Service special interest band, the cheapest national park tier in the country. Entry is per person per day.

African citizens from outside East Africa pay USD 20 for an adult and USD 10 for a child. Helicopter landing at Central Island and South Island carries a flat charge of USD 300, and fixed-wing landing charges are banded by weight from USD 10. These figures come from the Kenya Wildlife Service conservation fee schedule and were checked on 21 September 2026.

Chooro public campsite is the only accommodation in the park. It has water, a toilet and bathroom and a kitchen area, it needs no prior reservation, and camping is charged at KSh 200 per night for an East African citizen adult and USD 20 for a non-resident adult on the same schedule. See camping safaris in Kenya. Gates open at 06:00 and close at 18:00 unless the party is staying overnight, single-use plastic is prohibited, and vehicles are left at the wildlife service camp in Kalokol. Central Island is one of the three components of the Lake Turkana National Parks World Heritage property, covered on the Lake Turkana page.

Questions Travellers Ask About Central Island