Sunday, March 4, 2012

Dolphins of Kratie

Boats waiting for passengers
Back in January, we took a roadtrip to Kratie: a town on the east side of the Mekong River.  We went for a friend's wedding, but thought we'd spend an extra day to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphins.

We rented a moto from our guesthouse and drove north for about 45 minutes to Kampi, the home of the dolphins.  Our entrance fee got us our own private boat and driver and 60 minutes out on the water.  (Actually, our driver was really nice and let us stay out almost 2 hours.)

The ride involved a lot of moto-ing around the river, then sitting with the engine off, staring at the water, and waiting.  But, we did get to see several dolphins during our time on the water!  Very cool and definitely worth the trip.

Here's just 2 videos from our boat ride - and they're not great quality.  But! maybe that will convince you to come to Kratie and see the dolphins in person.

Our boat and driver
 

Waiting...and waiting...and waiting...and...Dolphins!