Irawaddy Dolphins on the Mekong River

Deep pool in the background. Home to the dolphin "pod".

Just outside Kratie, Cambodia, on the Mekong River is a very deep pool of water that is home to a “pod” of Irawaddy Dolphins.  There are a couple dozen of these very rare dolphins that used to number in the hundreds before the Khmer Rouge decades back slaughtered most of them.  The dolphin is not considered an endangered species as there are several thousand in Bangladesh although their numbers in Southeast Asia are very small.  There is also a small pod in Laos on the Mekong just above the border crossing.

Typical guide boats.

These dolphins are very shy and difficult to photograph.  Combine that with a rocking boat in the river current and it makes for trying conditions.

The dolphins live in this deep pool, perhaps 800 meters deep.  Its depth allows the mammals to adjust to the changing temperature of the water throughout the year.  And because the pool is downstream from very shallow water, food is ample.

The river guides are attuned to the comfort of the dolphins so that they maintain a distance of 50-100 meters.  And the guides drift with the current, again to not frighten the dolphins.

Up for air.

All photos were taken with a Nikon D700 and Nikkor AFS 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens or Nikon D300s and Nikkor AFS 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 VR zoom lens.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Phnom Penh, Camboda

Interrogation room at S21 Security Prison.

One of the most emotional sights to visit while in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is the Tuol Sleng Genocide Musuem.  This venue was formerly a high school that was converted by the Khmer Rouge in 1975 to Security Prison “S21” to house the mainly  middle-class and educated segment of society for interrogation and torture.  The Khmer Rouge believed that educated city-dwellers were exploiters of society and of the working, mainly agrarian, classes.  There was a forced exodus from the cities and larger towns to the countryside.

Those rounded up for interrogation and torture included whole families.  One of the difficult sights at the museum is the photographs of those rounded up and imprisoned.  Not only do you see the frightened faces of men and women, you also see the faces of children.  Beside the photographs, you can view the cells where the victims were imprisoned, torture instruments and human bones including skulls.  Although grotesque in some ways,  the museum is invaluable in making sure we don’t forget what happened thirty years ago.  In depicting gruesome inhumanity, it reminds visitors that we should not be complacent in the face of such crimes against humanity.

Photos taken with a Nikon D700 and Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8 zoom lens.

Interrogation room at S21 Security Prison.

 

Photos of inmates, tortured and murdered.

Reflection of whom.

Photo exhibition.

 

Makeshift prison cell in classroom.