Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort

Overview

Monkey Mia dolphins

A self-catered kitchen and laundry provides the ultimate freedom for travellers on a budget, while the Monkey Bar and Boughshed Restaurant enable seaside dining that satisfies the most discerning traveller.

Facilities include a freshwater swimming pool, artisan spring hot tub, masseuse, internet café, tennis courts and free gas BBQs.

Equipment for fishing, snorkelling, volleyball, sailing, scuba diving, 4WD tours and kayak and glass bottom boats are also made available.

Monkey Mia activities

The Resort accommodates the corporate traveller through an 80 seat conference room with state of the art AV equipment and full catering services provided. A total of 14 businesses, including masseur, corner newsagency, dive shop and souvenir centre, are located in and around the Resort.

The local staff and owners passion and knowledge of Shark Bay, coupled with years of dedication has seen the Resort grow since 1990 from a single camp on the shores of Dolphin Beach to what it is now - a thriving, expansive environmentally sensitive Resort.

Beachfront accommodation

The Resort is now self sufficient. All waste from the Resort is either processed onsite or removed entirely, with the ultimate aim of creating minimal impact on the environment. The Resort creates its own drinking water without taking from the land and creates solar power.

Monkey Mia's vision is to be "A sustainable, world leading nature based experience creating magical encounters.” Their mission is to continue to develop a truly nature based holiday destination centred on continuous improvement to ensure they remain one of Western Australia's premier tourist attractions.

Aboriginal ownership and employment

The Resort is 50% owned by the Aspen Group 50% with Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) owning 26% and the Yadgalah Corporation owning 24% ensuring the cultural heritage is retained and shared with visitors throughout the world.

An indigenous traineeship program implemented by the Resort aims to create employment opportunities for the local indigenous people. The success of these traineeships is measurable through more than 80% uptake, with plans to establish additional traineeships in the near future.

Cultural influence - Darren 'Capes' Capewell

Darren guides a tour party

Local guide Darren 'Capes' Capewell takes visitors on a journey through his traditional country. Visitors discover the ancient traditions of local Malgana and Nhanda people and enjoy activities such as tasting local bush tucker, learning about medicinal plants and the indigenous language, spear and boomerang throwing, animal tracking and experiencing dreamtime stories while listening to didgeridoo.

Sea kayaking tours are on the drawing board for 2006 to highlight the connection between the Malgana people and the ocean. Current tours are Daytime (Buna) Dreaming, Dusk (Maru Maru) Dreaming and Didgeridoo Dreaming.

The tours (very popular with the UK market) promote a spiritual reconnection between people and the land, and aim to have minimal impact on a sensitive country. 15 max people participate in each tour and 'Capes' encourages guests to 'tread lightly'.

Backpacker accommodation

The tours are conducted on the principles of Education, Understanding and Respect, (EUR) and visitors leave with a heightened awareness of their environment and considerably greater respect and understanding of the land shared with its original owners. Capes started these tours 18 months ago and gained approval through the traditional elders.

He is actively involved in the promotion of cultural tourism, and sits on the WAITOC board as well as the World Heritage Committee.

He is a community consultant for the organisation, with expertise and regard for environmental sustainability. Capes has also taken on the responsibility of educating the Aboriginal youth in the area.

Challenges

There are three key challenges for the Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort: isolation, infrastructure and employment.

• Isolation is a major factor - we have had to be self sufficient. The Resort is now totally self sufficient. All waste from the Resort is either processed onsite or removed entirely, with the ultimate aim of creating minimal impact on the environment. The Resort creates its own drinking water without taking from the land and creates solar power.
• Put in our own infrastructure - we have had to establish our own infrastructure including building and maintaining the local airport and strip of which 35% is now used by locals in town.
• Employment - retaining quality staff can some times be a challenge due to remoteness and transient nature of the tourism industry. We have created reward initiatives to try and encourage good staff to stay longer.

Snap shot

Images courtesy of Money Mia Dolphin Resort.