Part 1 - Phnom Penh and the Killing Fields
Part 2 - Kratie and the Kampi Dolphin Pool
Part 3 - Koh Trong Island

And indeed, Kratie is beautiful. We wander along the riverside, watching the sun set. Vendors standing behind small stands sell bamboo sticks filled with krolan (sticky rice) and nem (pickled fish) wrapped in banana leaves. A woman smiles at us, and asks if we would like to taste the fish. It is truly delicious.

The next morning, we drive down to the Kampi Dolphin Pool. Along the Mekong River banks, several wooden boats are anchored, gently bobbing up and down. The river is surprisingly quiet. Only a small fisherman’s boat drifts along the river; two men standing on it precariously, struggle to reel in a large net. Our boat guide explains that he also fishes half of the time. “I prefer to take tourists out to visit the dolphins,” he says, “as I make more money this way. But there are still not enough tourists for me to make a living.”

But because of the over fishing, more and more dolphins are being killed, and have now become an endangered species. If there are no more dolphins, there won’t be any tourists. “I still have to feed my family,” the man responds a tad apologetically.  

We spend some time on the boat watching the dolphins. Leon struggles to capture them on film; by the time he sees one and can point the camera in its direction, it disappears back into the water. It’s impossible to guess where it will re-emerge.  But eventually, Leon succeeds in getting good shots.

Our boat guide then turns on the throttle, and the boat bounces further down the river. We circle small deserted islands covered in tall grass. Giant trees whose roots look like intricate carvings tower above the water.

Back at the harbour we meet two Spanish tourists, Tom and Enrique. They tell us enthusiastically about the many dolphins they saw. “There were even calves swimming with their mothers. They swam right next to our boat!” They marvel at the beauty of the area. After spending the last five months travelling through large, noisy cities in Asia, this place feels so peaceful. “It’s great that there are no tourists around!”

I start to wonder whether we are doing the region a favour by trying to attract more tourists here. Won’t larger crowds cause more pollution? Will the petrol from the boats not harm the dolphins even more than the fishermen? According to WWF, the dolphins are now ‘almost extinct’ due to pollution levels in The Mekong.