There are two main places in Mexico where tourists go to see flamingos. Both are in the Yucatán Peninsula. One is at Celestún on the west coast about an hour and a half’s drive from Mérida. The other is at Río Lagartos on the north coast, about an hour and a half from Valladolid. You can also see flamingos on the island of Holbox.
When is the flamingo season in Mexico?
We were at Celestún in late February and there were thousands of birds. As many as 35,000 flamingos congregate in the Celestún Biosphere Reserve in the November to February mating season. Río Lagartos has flamingos year round, but the highest concentrations are in April to July and October to February. During the April to July brooding seasons there are restrictions on how close you can get to the birds.
At Celestún you need to take a boat tour to get out to where the flamingos congregate. We took a Parador Turístico Cultur tour – a state sponsored guide service. As you enter Celestún from the east you cross a bridge. Look for the Flamingo tours centre straight after the bridge – you can’t miss it. Once you have parked, head into the white building and you will find a window where you can purchase a tour.
You can also arrange with local fishermen to take tours straight off the beach in town but it is further out to where you will see the flamingos.
Check the cost for a tour before you go. Bring cash – no credit cards. You get a whole boat which seats eight people. If you want to reduce the cost just hang around for a while and see if anyone wants to share. We decided to splash out and have a whole boat to ourselves.
Neither the lady selling the tickets nor our boatman, Rodriguez, spoke more than a few words of English, but foreign tourists only come for one thing, to see the flamingos, so language isn’t an issue.
If you are interested in wildlife you will love this adventure. These are the pinkest flamingos in the world and there were thousands of them. I would do it again in a heartbeat – and again, and again and again!
The tour took about ninety minutes. Our first stop was at a small flock of about a hundred birds preening themselves and feeding in the shallow water. Next he brought us up close to what must have been more than a thousand birds. Again they were just standing around in the shallows preening, feeding and looking superior in that way that only flamingos can do. They were completely nonplussed by our presence, not seeming to care at all about us and happy for the boat to get within 25 metres or so. From time to time small group of birds took off in displays of precision flying. With their long elegant necks stretched out in front and their equally long elegant legs trailing behind they were a stunning sight.
Literally translated as Eye of Water, the Ojo de Agua is a natural rockpool fed by a freshwater spring bubbling up from under the ground. Set amidst mangroves not far from the flamingo feeding ground the spring was the last stop on our tour. The water is such a lovely aqua blue and so crystal clear it is well worth a quick look. You can take a dip while you are there. Even the mangroves were fun. Gliding through as silently as we could we spied a couple of small crocodiles lurking in the shadows waiting for unsuspecting prey.
Can you stay at Celestun? The short answer is yes. We saw lots of B&Bs and private hotels. However Celestún is a sleepy little village, don’t expect five stars.
A few flamingo facts:
- There are six different species of flamingos. The American Flamingo, found at Celestun, is the largest and pinkest.
- Flamingos are white, not pink, when they are born. They obtain their pink colour from the colour of their food.
- A mating pair of flamingos produce one egg which takes about a month to hatch. Both males and females help to sit on the egg.
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