Pink dolphins and reformed Colombian rebels turn no-go zone into ecotourism hit

The number of Amazon river dolphins, found in Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela and known as botos by locals, have fallen so drastically they are now on the IUCN endangered list. Photograph: Hiroya Minakuchi/Minden/naturepl.com

“The dolphins are more playful than us,” says Diego Cifuentes, co-founder of Villa Lilia Agroecoturistico, a community dolphin-watching project on Colombia’s Lake Nare. “If you give off good energy, they may even touch you.”

Diego Cifuentes, who set up the dolphin-watching project on Lake Nare. Photograph: Dimitri Selibas