Oracell Brevirostiris

Our Trusty boat

Dolphins!!!!!!

The Crew, Madjid and Sabine in the foreground

It is called the Irrawaddy Dolphin, one of the rarest marine mammals on earth. The only place in the world to see one is right here in the Mekong River near Kratie, Cambodia. This freshwater dolphin lives and hunts here along the sandbars of the muddy Mekong. The species numbers somewhere less than two hundred remaining animals.

So, one of the rarest marine mammals and we are just going to go out in a little boat and spot one? Yeah, well, good thing I like boat rides on the Mekong. Skeptical about these dolphins I was, but Madjid and Sabine wanted to go and so...

Early risers make the best dolphin spotters. We were the first boat out this morning, bouncing away from the hotel before seven AM. The morning was cool, the Tuk-tuk was jouncing, and the countryside along the river was pretty spectacular. So who really cared if we did not spot anything but scenery?

Wow, was I wrong. Twenty minutes out on the water and I spotted the first blue-silver dolphin, rolling up out of the river and spouting to let us know where it was. Unbelievable! We spent the next hour drifting around in the crazy eddies of the Mekong, nicely quiet little dolphin spotters, and we were rewarded with sighting after sighting of these rare beasts. They would slowly roll by, in twos or threes, their rounded heads breaking the water first, followed by a short curved dorsal fin and back. As most good Cambodians, they did not seem to be in any hurry.

I was pretty damned excited by the time we headed back to shore. There had only been three boats all told, and it was very peaceful. Our timing couldn't have been better, for as we docked, a very large tour group was heading down the stairs to board a whole flotilla of boats. Smug in our nature spotting abilities, we swept past them without a word.

Back to the Tuk-Tuks! On with the journey