Dolphin Encountours NEEDS YOUR HELP! 🐬💙

Covid 19 has impacted our project immensely, we have had no tourism or volunteers for six months!

Dolphin Encountours Research Center is an inspiring environmental centric nonprofit organisation that focuses on conducting meaningful dolphin and whale research, educating tourists and the local community about our vast ocean and introducing the world to wonderful whales and the friendly, wild Dolphins of Ponta.

Due to CV19 our main income streams from educational marine mammal tourism and volunteer programs have been non existent for half a year which has resulted in the immense suffering of our team, some of who have been in our employment since 2001. Over and above, company licenses, boat and center inspection fees, work permits and the likes have all expired, leaving us swimming against a financial tsunami. One does not realise the vast amounts of monies that are given to the various governmental departments in order to undertake our work in Mozambique.

It pains us to do this again but we have no other choice but to ask YOU for help. We need funds to help pay for a number of things in order to keep our project afloat, staff healthy and happy and of course, continue our ongoing work in the Reserve.

The projects that are supported by our organisation includes the monitoring of both the Indo pacific bottlenose and the endangered humpback dolphin and the spinner and spotted dolphin populations! During the winter months we also monitor the humpback whale migration and during turtle season we employ a further 3 monitors to collect data on the loggerhead and endangered leatherback populations! Further to this, we have a stranding project which was established to keep record and assist with possible dolphins and whales that have been washed up on the beaches.

The time has come for us to re-evaluate our purpose and move forward with courage and grace, it is time to acknowledge and accept that tourism as we know it is no more. With CV19 travel restrictions in place, it seems difficult to imagine the free and open tourism of days gone by. Although there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel regarding borders reopening, in reality international tourists may face a 10 day quarantine period on arrival and possibly expensive, invasive CV19 tests.

We are ecstatic about the prospect of finally being able to visit and swim with our finned friends again but there are a number of costly hurdles that we will face before we can freely return to the sea. Without taking salaries into account or the livelihood of our founders and staff we are looking at having to pay R101 015 or $6314 to the government in order to be operational (Please see below for financial breakdown). This is beyond daunting, especially because every donation and cent we have received over the past couple of months has gone towards basic living and keeping our staff healthy.

We know that people all over the world are struggling and this is why it pains us to reach out and have to ask for your help once again. We are sorry but we can not continue on our mission if we can't tackle this financial tsunami ahead, and we can't tackle it alone.

Please HELP US by DONATING NOW 🐬💙🐳🐢