What's a river worth? - World Wildlife magazine

Early in the morning, the Orinoco River looks more like a mirror than a bustling lifeline. Soft pinks and purples hang from wispy clouds, turning two boats’ joint wake into a riffling painter’s palette. The expedition members—which include a local boat captain, a Colombian conservationist, a US-based academic, and a water resources engineer from WWF—cling to the metal rims of their vessels, staring intensely at the horizon.

Pffft! A soft mist spurts into the air, as a pinkish-gray river dolphin surfaces, poking its elongated snout and smooth head out of the water. Appraising its surroundings with beady black eyes, it takes in the human visitors floating nearby before disappearing back beneath the opaque waters. Several tail fins follow, slapping the river’s surface with a splash.

“They’re hunting,” says Sindy Martinez Callejas, the conservationist guiding the boats on behalf of the Omacha Foundation, an environmental nonprofit working throughout Colombia. She points to one with notches in its fin. “That one was caught in a boat motor, which gave him those unique scars.”

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