Spending 2 days 1 night on the river with Living Irrawaddy Dolphin Project was the best decision we made in Mandalay. The most amazing thing about this trip was not... read more only seeing dolphins, but also learning about the unique relationship between local fishermen and dolphins....More

  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.

  Our day began with a short ride to the boat dock where we took a boat crewed by a local family and our guide Chit along the Irrawaddy river past... read more the towns of Mingun and Sinjun. We then transferred to a small boat and followed the local fishermen as they communicated with the dolphins. The dolphins work with the fishermen and being the fish to them so that they can cast their nets for their catch. It is amazing to see the dolphins surfacing briefly and then circling the boat. We had about 90 minutes to watch this and learned that although still very much endangered, the number of dolphins is increasing slowly through the Living Irrawaddy Dolphin Project.

We had lunch back on the larger boat which was provided by a local village. We then spent some time in Sinjun where we had refreshing snacks and drinks and learned how to tie a longhi in many different ways and got to see how the local women make the conical bamboo hats. We received 2 of those hats as gifts.

We then sailed over to Mingun and visited Hsinbyume Pagoda which was delightful.

We sailed back to Mandalay as the sun was setting after a most wonderful day.

  I was lucky enough to join a friend at short notice to undertake this trip down the Irrawaddy river and see the cooperative fishing. It was a chance to... read more see the unique cooperation between man and dolphin. They are very shy mammals and requires time and patience to see them, plus the fact their numbers are decreasing all the time.
We got some great shots of both the dolphins ‘waving’ to the fishermen and of the men throwing their nets. I think we had the ‘top fisherman’ who has been doing this since he was 15yrs old. Along the route we came ashore several times - to see local life along the river and an overnight stay in beautiful tents. They were very comfortable. The ladies from the local village set up the camp and them bring food to us. I really enjoyed my trip with Judith.

  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

  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.

  We had a fantastic day sailing along the Irrawaddy River, stopping off to eat food, see how the villagers live and watch the bamboo hat weaving process with their hands... read more (and feet!) Then off to meet the Fishermen who collaborate with Dolphins! Learning all about how they do it whilst sailing along the river. We then changed boat and went searching for the Dolphins. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see them in action but the day was really nice and a fantastic way to see Mingun and a part of Mandalay you very rarely get to experience.

  We joined the day tour on the Irrawaddy in the hope to see the Dolphins. Unfortunately it was not at the right time. However.. We had a beautiful day on... read more the Irrawaddy! Chit, the guide did an amazing job in looking after us and answering...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.