Pink River Dolphins Trip Report 2024

Amazon River, Brazil

We spent two weeks in the Amazon with the river dolphins. This year saw a record drought, with the river reaching its lowest levels in over 100 years, which made photographing the dolphins extremely challenging.

We encountered dolphins every day, but visibility was difficult due to the low water levels.

Additionally, forest fires in the Amazon affected our experience.

Although we never saw the fires directly, we would wake daily to smoke in the skies and the smell of smoke was steadily getting stronger each day. There was always a haze around the sun and it was overcast every day.

In this trip report, I’ll share a couple of journal notes and images from our time spent in the Amazon. Even with the devastation that weighed heavy on our minds, we made the most of our time, had some fun every day, and we experienced some really good wildlife encounters.

September 18, 2024 - Day One

We left the lodge at 8:30 AM to check out the dolphin spots. Where we are staying, there are two places that offer dolphin interactions. We visited the one closest to our lodge, and right away, a dolphin showed up. Unfortunately, the water was far too murky here.

This is the dry season in the Amazon River, and this year the river is at an all-time low. I read somewhere that it’s the lowest the river has been in over 100 years, which pains me to think about.

Of course, I have no idea who was measuring the water level 100 years ago to know that, but either way, the water level is very low, and they’ve had no rain.

What’s strange is that when we were here two years ago, it rained every afternoon, like clockwork. We would go out and spend our time with the dolphins, in decently good visibility— then go back to the lodge, and right around 3-4 PM, the rain and thunderstorms would come.

This year... nothing.

So we left the first spot and motored over to the next one. The water here had a better flow, and even though visibility was still a challenge, it was much better. We got in the water, and almost immediately, four dolphins came by to say hello.

I love these dolphins so much. They are the friendliest dolphins I have ever encountered. The visibility was tough, but the dolphins were so close to us, we could see them perfectly. I dipped my face in and looked through the view finder of my camera to see what my camera was seeing. Even though the water was silty I could see them. I gripped the handles of my camera tight, trying to calm my emotions. I get worked up with these guys I admit, and I snapped shot after shot. I shot blind and hoped one or two of them would come out.

We stayed with them for quite a while, our friends getting to know these amazing creatures. They are so curious and incredibly fun to spend time with in the water. We had to figure out our camera settings, though, which was tricky. It was super bright, and the light was all over the place, making it hard to get the settings right.

Despite the frustration, being around these friendly dolphins was a joy, and we all managed to get some shots.

There were four dolphins: two older ones and two younger ones. The youngsters were especially sweet and stayed with us for a long time. They repeatedly bumped against us, always trying to get our attention.

September 23, 2024 - Day One for our guests... and it was a really good day!

We began the day at the dolphin area, and our guests had a blast. Unfortunately, the visibility was terrible, as the water level continues to drop at an alarming rate.

Still, a couple of dolphins hung around, and the group had a great time. They played with the dolphins and got to experience them up close. It was fun to watch.

After spending time with the dolphins, we returned to the lodge. Our afternoon plan was to visit the area where we encountered the Macaco caiarara monkeys with our previous group.

We planned to visit the monkeys at 3 PM. However, I wanted to go back to Sloth Island to find more sloths and hopefully get better pictures. I was still excited from finding seven sloths the day before. This area is a great spot for sloths, and I was hoping to see even more.

I mentioned to the group that I wanted to leave at 1 PM, and both Keegan and Cody, along with Makala, wanted to join. So, we went with Frank, our guide.

It took at least 20 minutes to find our first sloth, but after that, it was game on. We found a lot of sloths.

By the end of the day, we had encountered a total of 15 sloths. One tree alone had four of them, and two were hanging very low.

The juvenile sloth we found the day before was still sleeping low to the ground, which was pretty special.

We stayed with the sloths for almost two hours, but eventually, we said goodbye for the day. I'm definitely coming back before we leave this spot.

I wore a short sleeve shirt and my arms were itching from whatever is in the forest here. I mentioned it to Frank our local guide, and he said, “ Oh yeah, some of the trees in their cause people to itch badly if you touch them.”

Thanks for the heads up brother. lol

We definitely paid a price for our chance to photograph the sloths. So worth it!

I ended up washing off the itchiness before we headed out to find the monkeys.

We left to find our unusual monkeys. It was a slow boat ride, as the water is extremely shallow in some parts, so we moved carefully.

We finally made it to the monkeys and were thrilled to see these very strange creatures visit our boat.

They have this odd habit of standing erect and walking around on two legs.

Such strange monkeys. It's feels like they're evolving right before everyone's eyes.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, it was an amazing trip with incredible wildlife. While the trip wasn’t perfect, it was still pretty perfect—nature is nature as always—and we made the most of our time here and had an absolute blast.

A huge thanks to our friends who shared this incredible adventure with us.

Thanks for making it special.