Day trip on local very comfortable boat. Dolphins are came, but you must be a very quick photographer to take them. Telephoto or binocular are fine. Also our choice to... read more see village is nice experience (There is possible to see monastery on oposite side) Our guide Mr. Nein Lin Oo is very pleasant interpreter, debate was also about practical life in Myanmar. Nice day, recomend.

  Who knew there were dolphins in the Irrawaddy. This was a fascinating trip and truly off the beaten track. We were fortunate to see a pod of eight dolphins. We've... read more been in Myanmar over five years and thought we had seen everything. This was special...More

  First of all, I am Myanmar citizen who lived in Yangon for whole life.

I don't even knew there are dolphins in the Aeyyarwaddy .I was travelling across... read more Myanmar for a month,doing my bucket list. I found this tour by chance,someone from Reddit recommended to me.I booked the tour on spur of the moment and I don't have any expectation or rather that i don't have much expectation.
Did I enjoy the tour? Oh, I surely did.

I went there in last November which is over a month now and yet I am making an effort to write a good review here, because I found their Business card in my wallet. I'd plan
to go again next year.

Do you love the environment?
Do you want to help people?

Just go book a tour when you are in Mandalay. I believe in responsible vacations and, that I am helping people by my vacation. This tour checked both. They operating responsibly for the environment as well as helping locals.

  My wife and I booked a private 1 day tour (we wanted to do 2 days, but only had 1 extra day in Mandalay). We booked in advance, Paul... read more was very responsive via email. On the day of the tour, Ko Nyein our tour guide picked us up at the hotel and also took us back in the evening. We first took a larger 2-level boat to the location where the dolphins "hang out", and then transferred to a smaller boat. We spotted many dolphins and witnessed how "cooperative fishing" worked. U Maung Lay the "dolphin whisperer" and another fisherman demonstrated from another small boat, which was very interesting to watch. You need to concentrate and be very fast to take photos, as you cannot predict where exactly dolphins might appear. We just wanted to be quiet, in the moment, and soak in the experience of seeing the dolphins do what they do. We had lunch on the boat, brought from the village, which was as expected. We went to Singyun Village, met with villagers and learned about bamboo hat making, etc. A special and unexpected treat was, we saw part of a local family's child's Buddhist "novitiation" ceremony. The villagers also treated us to snacks and teaf leaf salad, etc. Before returning to Mandalay, we chose to visit Mingun's "Mya Thein Dan" pagoda, as we had already seen other pagodas and the big bell during a previous trip. Ko Nyein and the family who operated the boat offered to take us further up river or to another village, but we declined as we didn't feel like packing too many things into one day. We would have been perfectly happy just to be on the boat, as the entire experience was so tranquil, enchantingly peaceful, and the scenery so beautiful. Ko Nyein and U Maung Lay were very knowledgeable, and the boat family were accommodating. This is a great tour if you want to learn about the dolphins, the conservation efforts, and rural Burmese life and the agriculture industry around the area, mainly peanut farming and some rice. Strongly recommended, and do two days is you can.

  This was a wonderful trip, it’s a small organisation and we were able to be quite flexible as all on our trip wanted to see as much dolphin related activity... read more as possible, and didn’t worry too much about other village and craft related activities. They...More

  Can't recommend this trip enough. It was a really good mix of activities with some free time on the boat mixed in. I definitely wanted to see the dolphins but... read more birdwatching was also high on my list and I feel I got a good amount of time in and saw some great birds.

We actually saw dolphins very early on while on the main, large boat, before we even went out with the fishermen. Going out on the small was great, seeing how the fishermen work with the dolphins, seeing a fish skid across the top of the water out of nowhere because a dolphin flicked it with his tail to let the fishermen know where the fish were.

That part was a little hard on certain parts of the body because we were out in the small boats longer than planned. There was an issue with the propellor of the main boat that needed to be fixed, so once the fishing was over they too us in the small boats to the camp site. It took about 5 hours or so for them to fix the boat and get it up to the campsite. It was one of those experiences in this country where something has gone wrong, no clear idea of how or when it is going to be fixed, but if you roll with it and have faith in them you know it will work out fine, and it did. They handled it very well.

Everyone in my group and the other group with us took naps in the tent once we got there and I had a fun time around a fire with the guide and the women from the village who prepared our dinner. I got to practice my Burmese and push my vocab to the limit while being giggled at around the fire for a couple hours before everyone else woke up.

The bed in the tent was more comfortable than the one in our guesthouse in Mandalay.

The village visits were interesting and the meals cooked by the wonderful villagers were fantastic, not a huge difference in variety from village to village but it was really good so that didn't matter.

The sort of trip I would easily consider doing again.

  It was definitely one of my highlights in Myanmar! Taking a break from pagodas/stupas after 3 amazing days in Bagan, I opted to do this tour instead of probably the... read more usual Mandalay route as I really love dolphins! The 2-day tour brought us along Ayarwaddy river and we were fortunate enough to see dolphins both day 1 afternoon and day 2 morning and them trying to do cooperative fishing with the fishermen! On Day 2 we even saw a small pod and possibly mother and calf!

But as many reviews mentioned, the tour is much more than dolphins, you got the chance to explore the villages living along riverbeds of Ayarwaddy, and learn how to make WELL USE of a longyi (not just wearing it!), enjoy amazing food prepared by the generous locals and monastery, staying overnight on the secluded beach on the river with a camp that has a double bed mattress prepared for you, enjoyed a bonfire with your groupmates and local villagers, and enjoyed a glass of Myanmar wine which you can purchase on the boat, knowing how to do fishing the Myanmar way, also exploring Mingun to see the largest brick structure in the world... could never recommend enough to this tour!

Kudos to our guide Chid and the team to make this tour a very comfortable one for us, but whats equally, if not more, important is their effort of saving the Irrawaddy Dolphins, which are currently endangered in Myanmar due to electric fishing. It does go a great length to keep this amazing mammal alive as well as the heritage of cooperative fishing and I applauded everyone for their dedication into it.

  As someone who does not typically like guided tours, I highly recommend this tour! It was a great way to explore Myanmar village life and the tour guide Chit was... read more very knowledgeable and friendly. We saw dolphins both days, although they caution that the dolphins...More

  My husband and I did the 3-day Explorer. I don't even know where to begin. This trip was so amazing on so many levels. First of, I have... read more to talk about the cooperative fishing. Do you know that there are only THREE place in the...More