A perennial favourite on backpacker itineraries for Western Australia, Monkey Mia is famous for the dolphins that come right up to the sandy beach shore and swim around delighted visitors in knee deep water.
First started in the 1960s by fishermen throwing the occasional fish to dolphins in the area, the dolphins continually returned in the hope of more food and their fondness for fish plus their friendliness saw more and more visitors. Today the dolphins are fed three times a day through a strict management program to ensure they’re not reliant on human handouts and are breeding properly.
Monkey Mia is in quite a remote spot geographically, and there is only one hotel near to the beach where the dolphins appear. This is the unsurpisingly named Monkia Mia Dolphin Resort, which is pretty huge, with a big camping and caravan park, a cluster of wooden chalets and a large concrete block with double rooms and backpacker dorms and communal kitchen, so it caters for everyone. The mix of visitors to Monkey Mia seems to be 50/50 between Aussies and tourists – I’d definitely not want to visit during the school holidays, as the place is no doubt overrun with kids. The resort is literally right on the beach, which is a long, narrow stretch of sand that provides plenty of room for sun worshippers.
The dolphins turn up every day early in the morning, and besides spending time with them, the resort has added a fair few other activities, like catamaran trips, visits to the local cultivated pearl farm (home of the “black pearl”), snorkelling and bush walks with aborigines too. Personally, I was really impressed by the arial view of Monkey Mia, which lies on a long, thin peninsular within Shark Bay. As we came into land, the dark blue of the ocean and lighter turquoise of the coral closer to shore contrasted dramatically with the bright red earth festooned with scrub, the coastline undulating into the distance in graceful curves that stretch to the horizon. It’s from the air you get a sense of how remote Monkey Mia once was and just how big the Australian outback really is. There are scenic flights over Monkey Mia if you come by road but want to take to the air to see it.
There’s only one pub and one restaurant in the Monkey Mia resort, and they charge a premium on their food, so stock up in a supermarket before you arrive if you can. A couple of days is probably all you need to make the most of staying at Monkey Mia, as it’s not the cheapest place to spend time on the west coast. Still, it’s a fun way to see wild dolphins up close and personal and enjoy some time on the beach.
