Surprise stop to the river dolphins

I have been spending the past two days in a small town working with local communities trying to assess the impact of the projects that the local NGO I am helping. Many of these communities depend on the river for fish and a water supply, yet like the World round, fish stocks have been declining for many years due to overfishing and the use of unsustainable fishing practices. Electro-fishing and dynamite fishing- some of the most disturbing practices still take place in this region. This not only disturbs the fish but some of the remaining individuals of one of the world's most endangered cetaceans- the Irrawaddy river dolphin. Work by many NGOs in this stretch along the Mekong has focused on promoting sustainable fishing practices and reducing pollution. Results are slow but I was delighted to see several dolphins gracefully breaking the surface with their small dorsal fins as we stopped by the river today. They were too quick and far away to catch with my camera but beautiful to enjoy in any case