Had a great time experiencing culture in the village (who knew there were so many ways to use the longyi) , travelling to Mingun, eating great food (the food provided... read more by the villagers were better than the top rated restaurants in Mandalay. We found out from our guide that they were asked to use less salt and oil which brought out the taste of the ingredients better) and sleeping overnight in tents! Chit was a great guide and shared with us tons of fun facts about dolphins and Myanmar.

The most magical thing was seeing the dolphins~ We were lucky enough to experience 4-5 dolphins joining in cooperative fishing on the first day. We even got to see a baby and mummy dolphin swimming close to us (the fishermen observed the mummy dolphin wanted to join in fishing but the baby dolphin was sticking too close to mummy. I hope it was a great learning experience for the baby dolphin who was watching the community fishing as much as it was for me. Unfortunately, although the first day was full of dolphin sightings (even from the ship) , we didnt get to see any on the 2nd day. As this is wildlife, i would suggest that one choose at least the 2 days tour to maximize the chance of seeing dolphins!

Through the tour, I could feel the efforts made to preserve the dolphins population, promote community fishing and help educate the villagers! The project is around 2 years old and is still struggling to raise funds to protext the dolphins, so do join the project! You get to save the environment and be part of something magical!

  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

  Though I am typically inclined to skip tours in favor of my own plans, I am so glad we had this amazing experience! We did the full 3 day tour... read more in early May, spending two amazing nights beside the river. The area is so beautiful...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.

  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.

  I spent with a friend 1 night and 2 days along the Irrawaday chasing the dolphins with this tour. The experience was great! Don't expect a 5 stars hotel service... read more but everything is comfortable and definitely enough to enjoy the experience at the fullest. The...More

  Truly a very special experience to spot the dolphins in their natural habitat! So beautiful! But also all other activities are more then worthwhile! Lovely to visit the local communities... read more and relax on the boat and overlook daily life along the shores. Great experience and highly recommended!

  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.

  I would really recommend this trip to everyone! The first day started with the pickup at our hotel. We went to the river and went on board the boat. The... read more boat was of good quality. First we got an introduction about safety followed by our...More