Some areas of the Bodrum Peninsula have miraculously avoided the triumphant march of the little white boxes up hill and down dale. Lake Tuzla provides a precious sanctuary for a host of wildlife, none so regal as the flamingos on their annual migration. Irreplaceable wetlands like this are under constant threat of draining for agriculture and development. When itā€™s gone, itā€™s gone. We should think about that.

Thank you to the lovely YĆ¼ksel for these superb images which were taken in February 2012.

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Imagine the absurdity of two openly gay, married, middle aged, middle class men escaping the liberal sanctuary of anonymous London to relocate to a Muslim country. I chronicled our exploits with the mad, the bad, the sad and the glad in a blog for the whole world to ignore. Then came the book which became a critically acclaimed best seller. Its success opened out a whole new career for me, firstly as an author, and now as an indie publisher. Who'd have thought it? Certainly not me. In June 2012, we ended our Anatolian affair and paddled back to Britain on the evening tide, washing up in Norwich, a surprising city in eastern England, then to the wilds of Norfolk as the only gays in the village. Iā€™m sometimes nostalgic for our encounters with the hopeless, the hapless and, yes, the happy go lucky. They gave me an unexpected tale to tell and for this I thank them.

17 thoughts on “Pink Flamingos on Lake Tuzla”

  1. We went in March and it was enchanting but already the eco-system is under threat and has changed due to never ending expansion of Bodrum. Hoperully the flamingos have tenacity and won’t give up their home easily!!

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  2. Thank you for sharing this piece about the endangered wetlands and the annual flamingo migration, Jack! Please tell YĆ¼ksel these images of the flamingos are fantastic. Excellent visual compositions!

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  3. They are wonderful to watch. Some stopped near here, at Pamucak, on their migration earlier this year. We were lucky enough to be there at that time.

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  5. Aren’t they gorgeous! We are having similar problems with wetlands being drained for development. I hope they do preserve this area…

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  6. Gorgeous. (Too bad they look so tacky when they’re in plastic on someone’s lawn šŸ™‚ )

    By the way, did you replace your usual header with these critters? Your pansies are missing.

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  7. Wow, loved the photo slideshow. Would love to be able to see the pink flamingos. As you said, once it’s gone it’s gone. We’ve got a wetland here which is preserved…for now. There are a lot of people keeping an eye on it…
    Julia

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  8. I’m really pleased that there is a growing number of people who are fighting to preserve Turkey’s fantastic natural heritage. Power to the tree huggers, I say!

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