Searching for Flamingoes in Kazakhstan

Oh, the hopes, dreams, and fears we have when we come to Kazakhstan.

Some foreigners dream of riches, adventures, finding love…or flamingoes. Not the pink plastic ones we associate with trailer park decoration or 1950’s salt and pepper shakers but the real bird. A real brine shrimp and algae eating bird with legs ready for success in any long legs contest.

Yes, it appears that all flamingoes are pink. Recent evidence says they have a relationship with grebes. Could that be? A relationship with grebes, those small, dull grayish-black creatures floating around in numerous locations around the world, likely to eat their own feathers? Now there’s a handy, sustainable food source. The connection with flamingoes…only science can explain.

I cannot say that my dreams included any of the above but when I learned that flamingoes, the birds most Americans connect with Florida, vacationed in Kazakhstan, I wanted to see them.

Kazakhstan is not considered among all birders as a “must go” place on their bucket list. They may be surprised to learn that near Korgalzhyn village, a couple of hours southwest of the country’s capitol. The country’s first biosphere and UNESCO heritage nature reserve cites more than 300 species. Lapwings, seriously endangered, summer there, too, in the more than 200 lakes.