Jahra Nature Reserve reopens to visitors on 15 November
Book a bird hide through the Environment Public Authority website or the Sahel app before you go.
Jahra Nature Reserve opens to visitors again from Sunday 15 November 2026, the Environment Public Authority has announced, just as the migratory bird season gets going.
Booking
You cannot just turn up. Visits are booked in advance against one of the reserve’s observation hides, either on the Environment Public Authority’s website or in the Sahel app. A hide is a closed hut you watch the birds from without disturbing them.
The permit terms the authority published on its e-services portal, from the group fee to the payment window and the cut-off for changing a date, are set out in our earlier guide: Jahra Reserve: Ten Dinars for Five, and Only Seven Cars Inside the Fence.
What is there
The reserve has been protected since 1987 and covers more than 18 square kilometres at the far western end of Kuwait Bay. Its ponds are fed by water seeping through the salt flats and are ringed by reed beds. The ponds were enlarged and the main tracks levelled.
Perennials include common reed, tamarisk and nitre bush; after rain, seasonal plants such as sorrel and mallow come up. This season the Kuwait Environment Protection Society recorded lesser flamingos alongside greater flamingos there (the story).
Photo: Flamingos standing in shallow water at the edge of a reed bed, an illustrative image, not taken at Jahra. By pjt56, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.
Source: Environment Public Authority, announcement on its official accounts, 9 November 2026; Al-Rai, 9 November 2026.
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