From Saint Louis, we take a day trip to nearby Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary, possibly one of the most remote and unassuming UNESCO World Heritage sites I have ever visited.
The thing to do here is to take a boat ride on the lake, which is the first major stopping point for birds who have just flown over the Sahara during their winter migration south.
Our goal is to see one of the world's greatest migrations and concentrations of flamingos. But instead, what we see is one of the world's greatest migrations and concentrations of pelicans. No complaints; we'll take it.
It's not just pelicans. There are also ibises, herons, cormorants, and even a couple eagles (and way, way off in the distance, some of the flamingos we had hoped to see; it turns out, however, they are very skittish about being around people).
So mostly what we get pictures of are pelicans -- the largest species in the world.
They seem almost like albatrosses, they're so huge, and of course they seem that much more impressive because we're in the middle of a flock of thousands.
But this park is not just for the birds. We also see a few warthogs, called "phacochère" (pronounced fa-ko-SHARE) in French. Though it's not a word I've ever heard before, once I see the warthogs, and hear people repeatedly saying "phacochère", I cotton to the meaning pretty quickly. These are baby phacochères, and we are able to get right in their faces. I know it's a close encounter with a wild animal, but somehow they just don't seem that threatening.
The thing to do here is to take a boat ride on the lake, which is the first major stopping point for birds who have just flown over the Sahara during their winter migration south.
Our goal is to see one of the world's greatest migrations and concentrations of flamingos. But instead, what we see is one of the world's greatest migrations and concentrations of pelicans. No complaints; we'll take it.
It's not just pelicans. There are also ibises, herons, cormorants, and even a couple eagles (and way, way off in the distance, some of the flamingos we had hoped to see; it turns out, however, they are very skittish about being around people).
So mostly what we get pictures of are pelicans -- the largest species in the world.
They seem almost like albatrosses, they're so huge, and of course they seem that much more impressive because we're in the middle of a flock of thousands.
But this park is not just for the birds. We also see a few warthogs, called "phacochère" (pronounced fa-ko-SHARE) in French. Though it's not a word I've ever heard before, once I see the warthogs, and hear people repeatedly saying "phacochère", I cotton to the meaning pretty quickly. These are baby phacochères, and we are able to get right in their faces. I know it's a close encounter with a wild animal, but somehow they just don't seem that threatening.
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