[2] Eighty per cent of the Tanbi Wetland Complex is composed of mangrove forest which is made up of several species of mangroves, including Avicennia africana, Conocarpus erectus, Laguncularia racemosa, Annona glabra and Rhizophora spp., with the occasional baobab and Borassus aethiopum palm standing on the drier ground.

The vegetation gradually changes to the west and south into bare flats, saltmarsh and dry woodland, with agricultural land encroaching around the fringes of the complex.

[3] Over 360 species of bird have been recorded in the complex, including Pel’s fishing owls, brown-necked parrots, blue-bellied rollers and pygmy sunbirds; while in the northern winter Palearctic migrants such as ospreys and black-tailed godwits are found.

The site has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of western reef egrets, black-winged stilts, slender-billed and grey-headed gulls, and Caspian and royal terns.

[2][5] In 2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report included Tanbi Wetland Complex in the list of African natural heritage sites which would be threatened by flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the century, but only if climate change followed RCP 8.5, which is the scenario of high and continually increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the warming of over 4 °C.,[6] and is no longer considered very likely.