Monkey Mia - The wild Dolphins in the Shark Bay (Australia)

Today we went to Monkey Mia, about 25 km from Denham, about 25 km away, because every day dolphins come to the beach to watch.

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Monkey Mia in der Shark Bay

As the Define are a big tourist attraction, the number of visitors was correspondingly high – not to forget: it is just school holidays in Western Australia,which is why an incredible number of families are on the way. For 10 AUD admission per person you can stay all day at the resort, which consists of a hotel, a restaurant and a small supermarket. Monkey Mia advertises that every day between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. dolphins can come to the beach and be fed (by individual selected visitors). When we arrived at around 7.45 am, dozens of people were already waiting in front of the information centre for it to start.

The Dolphins of Monkey Mia

A short time later, two employees spoke to the visitors, gave information about the dolphins and what will happen. We then all gathered down to the beach and lined up all of us. It had a bit of an amusement park. We found this super full. But we were told that on an Easter weekend up to 700 people wanted to see the dolphins!

The entrance to the visitor centre

The crowds at the visitor centre

The crowds on the beach

The two employees then gave another 10 minutes of information, including the story of Monkey Mia’s and the dolphins. The wild dolphins are sometimes very trusting and swim up to the legs of the employees. But despite all this, the dolphins are not touched,which we find quite good. Eventually, several volunteers came with buckets. They then picked out 1 to 2 visitors, who could throw a fish in the dolphins’ mouth.

The briefing of an employee

The Dolphins of Monkey Mia

The dolphins very close to the beach

Feeding the dolphins

After that, the spectacle was over. The other two feeding times do not take place at any specific time. These are carried out spontaneously as soon as dolphins return to the beach (but maximum until 12 o’clock). With us it was the case that there were three feedings until 10 o’clock and after that none more. The last feeding was much less frequented (perhaps only 1/3 of the people), as most tourists take part in the first action in the early morning and then continue to travel.

The Dolphins of Monkey Mia

The first dolphins come to the beach

The Dolphins of Monkey Mia

Relaxing on the beach

After the feedings – when the Define are gone again – the beach is almost empty. After 12 o’clock the dolphins don’t get any more fish, because they want to avoid getting used to the “non-self-fish-hunting”. The beach section, where the dolphins come so close, is also somewhat delimited. You are also not allowed to go for a swim there or lie down and sunbathe. By the way, the resident resort advertises with a hit rate of 99.6 . In other words, within two years there were only two “dolphinless” days. In addition to the dolphins, there are also a lot of pelicans to see. In addition, a few emus come by again and again. We then sat down on the beach for a few more hours and enjoyed the sun.

A Pelican

The beach of Monkey Mia

A pelican on the water

A Pelican

Emus directly on the beach

A Pelican

The beach of Monkey Mia

Thank you for visiting

Even though it’s all very commercial, we thought it was great to see and watch the dolphins so close to the beach.

Alle Reiseberichte aus Westaustralien

Australien hatten wir während unserer Weltreise im Jahr 2015 zum ersten Mal bereist. Hier waren wir vor allem an der Ostküste (Sydney, Brisbane, Airlie Beach und Cairns), im Süden (Adelaide, Great Ocean Road und Melbourne) und im Inneren des Landes (Ayers Rock). Australien hat uns damals so gut gefallen, dass wir hier auf jeden Fall noch viel mehr sehen wollten. Und was uns noch komplett gefehlt hatte, war die Westküste. Hier haben wir uns eine tolle Selbstfahrer-Route für knapp 2 Wochen zusammengestellt, um einige der Highlights des Bundesstaates Western Australia kennenzulernen.