Baha Mar's signature yoga classes feature the property's hand-raised flamingos.
I'm pushing back my right foot in a shaky Warrior III pose when my heel makes contact -- not with another sweaty yogi, but rather a feathery mound of flesh. I've accidentally booted Sunny, a 6-year-old flamingo that's ambling around Baha Mar's Flamingo Yoga class on a lush patch of grass near the spa. The four-foot-tall pink bird -- one of 29 flamingos that live here -- emits a quiet honk and wanders over to a bowl of water to hydrate and presumably ponder this unexpected indignity. Thankfully, there are no hard feelings, and as I'm rising from a squishy foam mat in a Low Cobra pose, Sunny is at my side, her coral-and-black beak eagerly exploring the contents of my canvas beach bag.
The time-honored yoga gimmick of practicing amongst distractingly cute animals-cats, dogs, goats and alpacas among them -- has long been a lure for novelty classes, and at that moment, glistening under the blazing Bahamian sun, I'm channeling my own inner critter. But instead of seeking mammalian inspiration from the joys of Downward-Facing Dog or Cat/Cow, I'm feeling more like a hulking manatee amongst my considerably more lithe practitioners. Nevertheless, I leave with a relaxed post-yoga glow, along with some requisite iPhone pics of myself awkwardly tree posing next to the two flamingos who attended class.
Flamingo Yoga is a signature amenity at the sprawling Baha Mar resort, which boasts three separate hotels -- SLS, Rosewood, and Grand Hyatt. The 1,000-acre complex also features 11 pools; 45 restaurants, bars and lounges; an 85,000-square-foot casino; 3,000-feet of white sand beach; an 18-hole, Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course; nine tennis courts; a water park; and a Jon Batiste-branded jazz club. The flamingo is not only the national bird of the Bahamas, its long-necked presence permeates the entire property. From the flamingo-patterned casino carpeting that winds past a metallic Jeff Koons Hulk sculpture near the sportsbook to Baha Mar's daily flamingo parades, it's a flamingo's world here, and we're all just basking in it.
Kristin Smith, the "Chief Flamingo Officer" at Baha Mar, helped launch the thrice-weekly Flamingo Yoga program in 2017 after being inspired by the barnyard absurdity of goat yoga. "They're very comfortable with people," Smith says of her hand-raised flock. "And they're very curious and inquisitive."
Beyond being quite comfortable hanging out amidst a bunch of stretching yogis, the flamingos' natural inclination for balance serves as a kind of avian touchstone for one-legged poses. "People ask why they always stand on one leg, and it's because they can," says Smith, who previously wrangled flamingos at the Denver Zoo. "They've actually done studies and their perfect center of gravity is on one leg. It's amazing because you'll see when the wind blows, they're rocking back and forth. They expend the least amount of energy standing on one leg. Their legs are as long as their necks. And they do spend the majority of their time standing up."
And there's always a chance that a Baha Mar flamingo will become attracted to you during yoga class. "Sometimes flamingos will pick a person out of the crowd," Smith notes. "Whether it's something they're wearing or a color, sometimes if they have pink on they can be more interested. They really like tassels." Baha Mar's animal inclinations don't just stop with flamingos, either. There's an aviary with macaws and parakeets, a giant Aldabra tortoise sanctuary, and an aquatic area that houses nurse sharks, stingrays, sea turtles and a "touch pool" full of graspable Bahamian conchs, starfishes and sea urchins.
It's remarkably easy to view the property's animals, as practically everyone else is lounging poolside sipping pina coladas and local Kalik beers or snacking on grouper tacos and poke bowls. Gambling aficionados accustomed to the 24/7 intensity of Las Vegas or Atlantic City will marvel at how empty the Baha Mar casino is during the day, as most guests are outside enjoying the Caribbean sunshine instead of steadily betting away their 401Ks. During my three stays at Baha Mar, I've only ever checked into SLS -- the trendy chain with sleek satellites in Miami, Dubai and Mexico -- which recently upgraded an array of rooms here. The Baha Mar SLS's marquee venues notably include Carna, a steakhouse inspired by Netflix-famous Tuscan butcher Dario Cecchini; the excellent Japanese joint Katsuya; and the Mediterranean eatery Cleo; as well as the T-Squared indoor/outdoor cigar bar that features nightly Bellagio-style flaming water shows.
The true power move, however, may be to book a stay at the more exclusive Rosewood property, as we have previously reported. Baha Mar's newly launched Jon Batiste's Jazz Club is a reliably good bet for live music on the casino floor, even if the venue's talented local musicians gamely insert "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Sweet Caroline" into their sets to appease tipsy vacationers. But as the property's chilled-out flamingos might think during yoga class: just go with it, it's all gonna be fine.