Seven Spectacular Wildlife Phenomenons to Experience

This species of penguin is the only one to spend all year round in Antarctica. In early Spring of each year the penguins travel to breeding sites, where they stay until returning to the sea with their chicks and spending the summer – January to March in the southern hemisphere – feeding there.

Along the pristine coastline of Ostional National Wildlife Reserve on the Nicoya Peninsula, from June to December of each year a natural phenomenon called ‘Arribadas’ takes place in which hundreds of thousands of sea turtles come to the shore to lay their eggs in the black volcanic sand. Tens of thousands of olive ridley, Pacific leatherback and Pacific green sea turtles can arrive at a time, making it one of the largest nesting sites for turtles worldwide.

Surrounded by savannah, valleys and volcanoes, the alkaline lakes of the Great Rift Valley are the setting for a wildlife spectacle in which as many as four million lesser flamingoes move between them, depending on the water’s level of algae. Over one and a half million flamingoes can be seen at one time as they move between and feed on the lakes.

Each year between May and September the plankton-rich waters of Quintana Roo state on the Yucatan Peninsula attract around 800 whale sharks who come to feed. These giant marine creatures, which grow up to 12 metres in length, can be seen in various locations around the world, but none can rival this specific spot for sheer numbers.

In September and October of each year, as many as 1,000 macaws arrive at Tambopata National Reserve clay lick in the Peruvian Amazon, blanketing the riverbank in colour. Stay at a riverside lodge in the southern Peruvian Amazon to explore the rainforest of Madre de Dios, before venturing into Tambopata National Reserve to see the gathering of macaws.

See southern right whales in the sheltered bays of South Africa’s coastline, as they migrate each year from Antarctica. While the Whale Route stretches all the way from Cape Town to Durban, Walker Bay is the most popular vantage point to see the whales from, as they breach as close as 50 metres from the shore. As a result, the region is known for having the best land-based whale watching worldwide, with humpback, bryde’s and killer whales also passing through.

Stretching from northern Tanzania to Kenya’s Maasai Mara, the Serengeti is the setting for the world’s largest land migration of mammals, which has been named one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa. From January to March of each year wildebeest gather in Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area for calving season, when the rain provides grass for around 260,000 zebra and 1.7 million wildebeest, followed by 470,000 gazelles and an abundance of other game.