Flamingos feeding through the wetland and lagoon systems where they thrive.
Following The Pink Tide
Flamingoes bring more than beauty to Colombia’s Caribbean coast—they signal ecological balance, resilience, and hope.
In 2024, Chantecaille partnered with Amazon Conservation Team on their Ancestral Tides initiative, to support sea turtle conservation along Colombia’s Caribbean coast—an effort rooted as much in Indigenous knowledge as in modern science. That collaboration confirmed something essential: when conservation succeeds, it does so by listening—to ecosystems, to species, and to the communities who have lived in relationship with them for millennia. Today, that same philosophy guides ACT’s work with another extraordinary sentinel of coastal health: the American flamingo, the focus of our Spring ’26 Collection.
Along Colombia’s northern Caribbean coast, where the Caribbean Sea meets the dry forests of Guajira and freshwater flows down from the Sierra Nevada mountains, lies the Boca de Camarones wetland system. It is a place of shimmering lagoons, mangroves, desert scrubland, and dry tropical forest—a crossroads of ecosystems that sustain both wildlife and culture for the Wayúu Indigenous community.
“This wetland system sits in an incredibly biodiverse corridor,” says Juan Carlos Cruz, Manager of Science and Conservation for Amazon Conservation Team and the biologist leading ACT’s flamingo research. “It serves as an important feeding ground for many species of migratory birds that move seasonally along the Caribbean coast of South America—herons, egrets, ducks, and the American flamingo.” In fact, the importance of this landscape is so closely tied to flamingoes that the protected area bears their name: Los Flamencos Flora and Fauna Sanctuary.
Flamingos feeding through the wetland and lagoon systems where they thrive.
A Sanctuary Sustaining Life and Spirit
The American flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is one of six flamingo species worldwide. (Fun fact: flamingoes get their rosy hue from carotenoids found in the algae and small crustaceans they eat.) Although their colonies are formed of thousands of birds, there are only an estimated 200,000 of them across the region, Cruz says. Boca de Camarones is among their most important strongholds.
Flamingos are considered an “umbrella species.” Because they depend on healthy wetlands, “protecting these large and complex ecosystems to sustain flamingos also safeguards countless other birds, fish, invertebrates, and plants that live there,” Cruz explains. Their sensitivity to changes in water quality and food availability makes them powerful indicators of ecosystem health. In 2025, more than 14,000 flamingoes were spotted congregated in this protected area, a record for Colombia. “This brings hope for the conservation of the species,” Cruz says, “but also reaffirms the importance of this protected area that protects many populations migrating east for nesting season.”
Covering approximately 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres), the sanctuary’s mangrove ecosystems also provide essential environmental support to surrounding communities. Mangroves act as natural storm buffers, stabilize coastlines, filter water, store carbon, and serve as breeding and nursery grounds for fish and crustaceans—resources that are especially crucial for fishing communities like Boca de Camarones.
Beyond their ecological function, these wetlands hold deep cultural and spiritual meaning for Indigenous peoples of the region. “This area is of great spiritual and cultural importance for not only the Wayúu people, but also the Kogui, Arhuaco and Kankuamo that inhabit the Sierra Nevada and surrounding areas and have coexisted in harmony for millennia,” Cruz explains.
As Kogui spiritual leader Mamo Marcelo says: “The lagoon is of great importance because it is the mother of all bird species. It is the place where the songs of all birds can be heard.”
Left: Adult flamingos and juveniles.
Right: Wayúu women dressed up in traditional clothing in traditional celebrations and dances in Boca de Camarones area.
Flamingoes, People and Knowledge
ACT’s flamingo project grew naturally from its earlier work with sea turtles and the Wayúu community. “The Wayúu people have a profound relationship with the ocean, which not only provides bountiful food sources, but also holds great cultural and spiritual significance for them,” Cruz says. Flamingos, which feed and reproduce annually in the wetlands, are part of that same living system.
In recent years, many Wayúu community members have become eco-tourism nature guides within the sanctuary. “Their incredible knowledge of the area and the species can have a direct impact on their livelihoods,” Cruz says. Today, the community is actively involved in biological monitoring of both the wetlands and the flamingo population “so their survival can be assured for the future.”
For ACT, conservation is strongest when scientific research and Indigenous knowledge work together. “Traditional Indigenous knowledge has often been undervalued,” Cruz says, “but it is crucial for conservation, as it represents thousands of years of observation, adaptation, and coexistence with the environment.”
This knowledge, he emphasizes, is not static. “Indigenous knowledge is not just about the past—it is a living system of wisdom that continues to guide how we care for ecosystems today and into the future.”
Left: An American Flamingo in Colombia.
Right: Flamingos feeding through the wetland and lagoon systems where they thrive.
Left: Flamingos feeding through the wetland and lagoon systems where they thrive.
Right: Aerial view of the lagoon ecosystems in "Los Cocos" community in Boca de Camarones region (within the "Los Flamencos Fauna and Flora Sanctuary") in the middle Guajira, Colombia where the flamingos feed and live.
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