Arriving in Kratie, a town in the north east of Cambodia, shortly before sunset, my friends and I dumped our bags at Silver Dolphin Hostel, grabbed some beers and sat on the river wall to watch the sunset over the Mekong river. The life-source of this region, this enormous river provides livelihoods to the people living along its banks. It also provides a home to various pods of Irrawaddy river dolphins.
The Khmer Rogue were responsible for such widespread destruction. They not only destroyed temples and homes and killed millions of people, but they were directly or indirectly involved in decimating natural resources and environments. The Irrawaddy river dolphins were captured and killed for the oils and fats in the skin and were victim to the aggressive fishing techniques used in desperation by locals who couldn’t access food during war time.
When tourism first began to reach this area, there were only around 70 dolphins in this stretch of the river, with family pods living in distinct areas. When I visited, this has now risen to around 100. Whilst fishing is still an important income for many in this area, the impact of tourism is becoming an ever increasing revenue. Like me, tourists visit this area with a hope of seeing these rare creatures, encouraging rules to be put in place for the protection of the dolphins.
The Khmer Rogue were responsible for such widespread destruction. They not only destroyed temples and homes and killed millions of people, but they were directly or indirectly involved in decimating natural resources and environments. The Irrawaddy river dolphins were captured and killed for the oils and fats in the skin and were victim to the aggressive fishing techniques used in desperation by locals who couldn’t access food during war time.
When tourism first began to reach this area, there were only around 70 dolphins in this stretch of the river, with family pods living in distinct areas. When I visited, this has now risen to around 100. Whilst fishing is still an important income for many in this area, the impact of tourism is becoming an ever increasing revenue. Like me, tourists visit this area with a hope of seeing these rare creatures, encouraging rules to be put in place for the protection of the dolphins.
To get up close to these beautiful creatures I took a guided kayaking trip with Silver Dolphin hostel. We were driven upriver before launching our kayaks to cross the mighty Mekong. We then headed downstream, weaving our way through flooded jungle (the river changes depth dramatically between the wet and dry season, meaning trees and plants are partially or fully submerged), stopping off on a sandy island before continuing to the protected area. This is a 4km stretch of river where fishing isn’t allowed and boat traffic is monitored. There we drifted and paddled hoping to get an up close view of the 30 or so river dolphins in this pod. The sound of them blowing water from their blow holes caused us to turn quickly enough to see the sleek body curve out of the water. Waiting a few minutes we would see the same animal resurface a few metres further off.
Happiness to me is sitting in a kayak, whether in drizzly Norfolk or in the beating sun of Cambodia. Add in seeing rare wildlife and a smug feeling of doing good by spending my tourist dollars on this worthwhile activity and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Happiness to me is sitting in a kayak, whether in drizzly Norfolk or in the beating sun of Cambodia. Add in seeing rare wildlife and a smug feeling of doing good by spending my tourist dollars on this worthwhile activity and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Silver dolphin offers basic accommodation as well as tours and ticket booking and you can find them on booking.com
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