Ringo the Flamingo
Is that a flamingo? Boy, I was surprised to see a flock of these awesome birds stand in a tide pool close to Faro airport in Portugal as we made our final descent. Quite a fun sight. And that was a nice and surprising way to start to a short vacation close to the town of Tavira.
Tavira
Tavira might not be the most popular city in Portugal but it is well worth a visit. The town itself is quite nice with a ton of small alleys to explore. But the true highlight of this region is the unique Ria Formosa national park. It’s basically a tidal river (Canal de Tavira) separating the coast line from the ocean. The entire area is a bird sanctuary that also hosts big flocks of flamingos. While I was not able to see them up close, I did spot a number of them in the distance. The plethora of salt flats in the region are also worth a visit – the salt has a pinkish color.
Crab Watch
A true highlight is a walk across the Canal de Tavira during low tide. It doesn’t take long – maximum 5-10 minutes. You will reach a nice beach & dune area where you can also swim in the Atlantic ocean. While walking there, I noticed hundreds of small crabs disappearing in little holes in the sand. When I stood still, they would come out again and go about their busy business. Taking photos or videos was difficult as they react to the tiniest bit of movement. Enter the GoPro! I sat it down in the sand and moved away. Thanks to the nifty GoPro app, I was able to remote control the camera. The little guys did not mind it at all! It was super fun. Take a look at this short video. I wanted to stay longer and experiment with different placements of the GoPro but the tide was coming back in with full force.
X100V
As my stay In Tavira was fairly short, I had just packed the trusted Fuji X100V and my GoPro. Both were great for the stuff that I did. Lightweight and small. But I do admit regretting not having a tele lens – watching and photographing the flamingos would have been super fun (hence no photos).
Here are a few of my favorite photos from this trip.
