Pelicans
3 places to see and hear pelicans in the wild, in 2 countries from Mauritania to Senegal: when each one peaks, where to go on your own, what it costs and what you will hear. Wild animals only, no zoos.
Best time, place by place
| Spectacle | Country | Peak | On your own? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diawling floodplain — pelicans, flamingos and Palearctic ducks | Mauritania | 15 Nov – 15 Feb | Partly on your own |
| Somone lagoon — pelicans, flamingos and the sandbank roost on the Petite Côte | Senegal | 15 Nov – 28 Feb | You can go on your own |
| Great white pelican colony at Djoudj | Senegal | 15 Dec – 15 Mar | Guide, ranger or boat needed |
Where to go, north to south
Diawling floodplain — pelicans, flamingos and Palearctic ducksPelican flotillas grunting, garganey and pintail flocks whirring off the flooded basins, flamingo chorus, and the low background of the Diama dam and the Senegal river.
Somone lagoon — pelicans, flamingos and the sandbank roost on the Petite CôtePelican wings and bill-clapping as the flock lands, tern and gull roost clamour, flamingo honks, spoonbills and herons in the mangrove, osprey whistles — small-scale next to the Saloum but the closest proper lagoon roost to the Saly resorts, and quiet at dawn before the jet-skis.
Great white pelican colony at DjoudjA wall of pelican grunts and chick begging from a few thousand pairs packed onto low islets a boat-length away, wings slapping water as flotillas fish in formation, and darters and cormorants in the tamarisks.