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Published: December 2nd 2004
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Nanga Resort in the morning
A shot of our accomodation in the Nanga resort Nanga Bay to Waroora Station
I wake up due to the noise made by my fellow group members packing their stuff. This means I am a bit late – probably due to the many beers in the hot spa. I have to hurry to grab some breakfast, jump under the shower, and pack my bags. I seem to have earned myself a reputation for always being the last one on the truck and I hear the first comments about the “German efficiency” (what the heck? Has nobody outside Germany noticed that this infamous “efficiency” has gone down the drain? ;-). Well, we have a good laugh about that and I suspect that this will be a running gag for the rest of our journey.
This morning our first stop will be in Monkey Mia. The place is famous for the fact that a group of dolphins living in the Shark Bay area regularly “visits” the shores of Monkey Mia. I am a bit sceptical about this whole “dolphin watching from the shore” as I had some previous experiences with dolphin watching that were rather unpleasant. Anyway, I am open-minded to things to come. We arrive at the station and
Monkey Mia
The dolphins of Monkey Mia. the first impressions are positive. Visitors are welcomed with signs that immediately tell them about the way this place works. The highest respect for the wild-life is requested from every individual. When we arrive at the beach a number of people are already standing in the sea with water up to their knees. And there are dolphins, eight or nine of them, very close to the shore, perhaps 3 or 4 m away form the spectators. We quietly join the group and listen to the announcements by the rangers. They tell a lot about the history of the place (in earlier years, feeding was not restricted and this caused a lot of trouble for the young dolphins, which lost their hunting instincts), how things improved in the last ten years and they let us know about the individual dolphins. Some of the females have their calves at their sides, which playfully swim around their mothers. I am impressed. It is a very peaceful moment and I would describe it as being kind of “spiritual” for the fact that these animals clearly display their curiosity. It feels like the world is turned upside down, that the dolphins are actually watching us.
Monkey Mia
The ranger waiting for Sandra to come closer. The dolphin waiting for Sandra to feed her :-) And they do. They turn themselves on their sides to get a clearer picture of the humans. For a split second I have the feeling that I made eye contact with one of them, but this could be a trick of the eye, as their pupils are far too large to tell, at what they are really focussing. After a couple of minutes it is time for the morning feed. Everyone is told to step out of the water and some rangers come with buckets containing the fish. Only the adult dolphins will be fed and only a total of two fish is given to them. At this point volunteers from the crowd are chosen to give the fish to the dolphins. Out of our group, Sandra is asked and she happily follows the invitation. Wow, I envy her for that. After a couple of minutes it is time for the second fish (there seems to be a strict order, only when all the other rangers indicate that the first fish have been fed, everyone goes on to the second round). The guy with the bucket is looking at the group of people next to him, and the calls out
Monkey Mia
Sandra, after feeding the dolphin. “the gentleman with the chequered shirt… would you like to feed the dolphin?” I look at myself (a chequered shirt, oh my god!) look at the people next to me (no chequered shirts!) and step forward. I can’t believe it, but I really get the chance to feed a dolphin. I feel very happy about this, and I got a big grin on my face as I slowly walk closer to the ranger and the dolphin, which is perhaps 0.5 m away from him. I take the fish and the ranger tells me to let it slowly drift into the open mouth of “Piccolo” (that’s the dolphin’s name). I am perhaps 20 cm away from her and it is one of those moments that I won’t forget for sure! She plays a little bit with the fish (the ranger’s comment: “Just as every teenager (she’s 12) – playing with food”) and then suddenly “Nicky” (the leader of the group) swims close by and takes the fish herself. After standing in the water for a minute or two and asking the ranger about the dolphins I step out again and feel great. This is a really nice experience and I am
Monkey Mia
A close-up of one of the dolphins (thanks to Marijke for that great shot!) pretty confident that they found a very good balance between the interests of the visiting humans and dolphins.
To round this morning off, we get onto a catamaran and sail the Monkey Mia bay for an hour, which is nice and relaxing (perhaps apart from the 10 minutes in the “boom net” which were quite wet and exhausting, but still fun!).
After the sail we decide on the spot, that we will drive to Hamelin Pool again to have our lunch there as the BBQ site at that spot was quite nice.
On this day we have to make another long run north, to reach our accommodation which is another sheep station, called Warroora station. Going through Carnarvon (picking up more beer – the liquor store sells Beck’s, thank goodness!) and further north, we have to leave the highway and hit the dirt track for some more kilometres. We arrive at the station perhaps 30 minutes before sunset, so we quickly change into swimmers, jump on the truck and drive to the beautiful beach to take a dip in the ocean and watch the sunset while drifting in the water.
As we return to our camp site, some of the
Monkey Mia
Me, after feeding the dolphin (again thanks to Marijke for the picture!) group have already started preparing dinner and Scott (our guide) and I start up the camp fire.
Later that night, we decide to climb the roof of the toilet (Scott’s idea!) and watch the stars, which is quite funny – I never before watched the stars sitting on the roof of a toilet *g*. After an hour or so, it is time to hit the beds as another early start awaits us on the next day.
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