Lakes and natural reserves acquire a special vitality during the migration season, drawing birdwatching enthusiasts eager to observe flocks of birds. This is particularly the case for flamingos, which are not only an environmental spectacle, but also an opportunity to capture moments when natural beauty converges with the quiet thrill of observation.
Along the shores of Lake Qaroun in Fayoum governorate, thousands of flamingos now carpet the water to form a living tableau during the migration season, signalling the restoration of ecological balance to the world’s oldest natural lake.
The scene is not only visually striking, however. The return of the flamingos follows a series of measures aimed at rehabilitating Lake Qaroun’s ecosystem, paving the way for a new phase of ecotourism and restoring its role as one of the world’s most important stopover sites for migratory birds.
“Flamingos do not return to any habitat unless precise environmental conditions are met, such as water purity, abundant food sources, and a stable ecosystem,” said Manal Awad, minister of local development and acting minister of environment.
Citing state efforts to restore ecological vitality to Lake Qaroun, Awad explained that the environmental recovery plan had encompassed engineering and ecological interventions, including the dredging of Bahr Youssef to enhance water flow and prevent stagnation, the establishment of eight wastewater treatment plants, and efforts to remove more than 85 per cent of sewage water compared to 12 per cent previously.
“All these measures have contributed to curbing direct sources of pollution,” Awad said.
The return of flamingo colonies to Lake Qaroun is a “real turning point” in the process of restoring the ecological balance of the area, Awad said, noting that reviving the lake’s biological life is set to invigorate tourism with boat trips and birdwatching itineraries.
The ministry has conducted 180 accredited protection patrols, not only to monitor fishing activity but also to assess water quality and halt violations, she stated. Water that once suffered from untreated industrial and agricultural discharge is now subject to an advanced environmental monitoring system that ensures compliance with international standards.
This transformation has created a fertile environment for the growth of crustaceans and small fish, which constitute the primary food source for the iconic pink bird, she said.
“The development and rehabilitation of Lake Qaroun is part of a broader plan to achieve environmental sustainability across Egypt’s lakes,” Al-Husseini Farahat, head of the Lakes and Fish Resources Protection and Development Authority, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
“The improvement in pollution levels in Lake Qaroun enabled the release of sole fish broodstock fry in 2022 and shrimp fry in 2024-2025, helping to rebuild the food chain for migratory birds and making the Lake attractive to flamingos,” he added.
Recording the return of waterfowl, particularly large colonies of flamingos, is proof that Lake Qaroun’s ecosystem has markedly improved, Farahat noted. He referred to the role of the Permanent Technical Committee for Improving Lake Ecosystems, formed under the Ministry of Environment and with the participation of other relevant authorities, in reviewing environmental conditions and assessing rehabilitation projects on scientific principles.
Emad Adly, head of the Arab Network for Environment and Development (RAED), said that within the framework of the 100 Million Trees presidential initiative, the RAED took part in the first phase of the Green Road initiative in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, the Youth Foundation for Development and Creativity, and the Mediterranean Cooperation Centre of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The phase involved planting trees along roads leading to the entrances of the Wadi Al-Rayan and Qaroun natural reserves in Fayoum that receive large numbers of migratory birds. The road leading to the Lake Qaroun reserve was planted with 850 Omani mulberry and golden shower trees, with the participation of 100 volunteers from 17 African countries, he added.
INDICATORS: Khaled Elnoby, Chief executive officer of the Nature Conservation Egypt, explained that birds are among the most important biological indicators of the health of any habitat or ecosystem in terms of their density and diversity.
He added that each species has specific ecological needs that determine why it uses or inhabits a particular environment.
He said that hundreds of thousands of white storks and flamingos spend extended periods at heavily polluted wastewater treatment sites during migration seasons, particularly in winter. This phenomenon has been documented at the Alaqi wastewater stations in Aswan, the Sharm El-Sheikh treatment plant, and many other locations, Elnoby added.
Egypt lies along the world’s second most important migratory flyway, along which hundreds of millions of birds pass. Migratory birds require resting and feeding sites in order to complete their journeys.
“Given that Egypt is marked by aridity and water scarcity, with a limited availability of safe surface water bodies, birds are compelled to seek out any available water source amid the harsh desert landscape to rest and replenish their energy. This accounts for the presence of large numbers of flamingos at Lake Qaroun and other similar sites,” he noted.
“But the question is when is bird monitoring a genuine indicator of ecosystem health,” he said. He explained that this is the case when observations relate to resident and nesting birds rather than migratory species that are compelled to stop temporarily along their routes.
A resident bird chooses its nesting site, and this choice signifies that the location is safe and free from poaching and tree cutting and supported by a robust food chain. In such environments, birds are not anxious about the availability of food, whether grains, seeds, insects, or small prey, nor are they exposed to pollution, he said.
Environmental contamination by chemical compounds, such as pesticides, leads to the death of chicks, whether in the egg or during the hatching stage. Elnoby expressed the hope that flamingos will choose to nest at Lake Qaroun, or at the very least that the number of overwintering birds will continue to increase and that their wintering period will grow longer.
Hussein Rashad, director of the Ashtoum Al-Gamil Protected Area in Port Said, said that Egypt’s lakes had suffered from neglect until the launch of the presidential project to develop them in 2017. Lake Qaroun, he said, had faced several threats, most notably pollution from sewage. In response, extensive efforts have been made to rehabilitate the country’s lakes, including Qaroun, through the establishment of multiple wastewater treatment plants.
Rashad stressed that the return of birds in general, and flamingos in particular, is a positive indicator of environmental safety, especially in the case of resident birds that live and breed at Lake Qaroun. However, this is not the sole or definitive factor concerning its environmental health.
He called for a programme to monitor water and sediment quality four times annually to be established in order to track water conditions, particularly during the winter census of migratory waterbirds, and to draw comparisons with previous figures.
Flamingos favour saline lakes rich in primary food sources such as algae, shrimp, and crustaceans, he said.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 January, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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