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Much of Western Australia’s wildlife can be found swimming in the waters along the coastline. Interacting with the bottlenose dolphins at Monkey Mia is one of the classic wildlife experiences of the state.

 

Monkey Mia is located just 25km from the town of Denham, 850km north of Perth, in the Shark Bay World Heritage area. This bay is well known world wide for the pod of dolphins that visit most days, generally each day in winter but less predictably in summer, waiting to be hand fed; a ritual that began in the early 1960’s.

 

The best time to see the dolphins is between 8 am and 1 pm, however a full day should be allowed for the excursion. The specially trained rangers will select a lucky group of visitors, to help feed the dolphins each morning. For the other visitors it is equally exciting to watch the dolphins frolicking leaping, and generally playing around in the bay around you.

 

Though the actual viewing of the dolpins is free, there is an entry charge per vehicle to the Monkey Mia reserve, and you will receive a copy of the Code of Behaviour which should be followed. Shark Bay is also home to a variety of marine life including sea turtles, school sharks, manta rays and dugongs.

 

The Dolphin Information Centre, open daily from 7am till 4pm, provides information about the dolphins and their habits. The original Information Centre was opened in the 1980’s. With the sealing of the roads in 1985, the number of visitors to Monkey Mia dramatically increased and in 1990 the surrounding waters were declared a Marine Park. In 2001 the new Monkey Mia Visitors Centre was opened.

 

Monkey Mia Air Charter offers scenic flights over Zuytdorp Cliffs and around the bay. Alternatively boat cruises leave from Monkey Mia to enable viewing of the dugongs grazing amongst the seagrass beds. Monkey Mia also offers a small range of restaurants and accommodation.

 

Nearby is the beautiful Shell Beach, a 60km beach formed from billions of tiny white ‘coquina bivalve’ sea shells. The shells go right out into the bay and, as the deposits are many metres deep, a number of local buildings were built of blocks of the compacted shells. It is possible to walk out for quite a distance through the clear waters.

 

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