Tuzly Lagoons

The Tuzly lagoons are a string of shallow salt and brackish waters lying behind a long sand bar on the Black Sea coast southwest of Odesa, made a national park in 2010. They sit on one of the main migration routes along the western Black Sea, and in spring and autumn the numbers are large: waders, terns, pelicans, flamingos in recent years, and wintering wildfowl. Dolphins are seen offshore and the bar itself is a nesting beach for terns.

What you actually see

• The lagoon chain - shallow salt and brackish waters behind the sand bar.
• The migration - very large numbers of waders and waterbirds in spring and autumn.
• The sand bar - a long spit between the lagoons and the open sea.
• The tern colonies - nesting birds on the bar, protected in season.

When to go

April to May and September to October are the migration peaks and the reason to come. Summer is hot and the lagoons shrink. Winter brings wildfowl but the coast is bleak.

Honest expectations

There are no hides and no visitor infrastructure; this is birdwatching from the shore with a scope. Parts of the bar are closed in the nesting season and the closures are enforced. Summer beach use conflicts with the birds in places.

Nearby

Akkerman fortress is northeast, and Vylkove is southwest.