The Ningaloo Whaleshark Festival was planned as an annual, later a biennial, event held at the beginning of the whale shark season to welcome back the gentle giants to the waters of the Exmouth coast in Western Australia.
In 2007 the festival was held from May 3 to 6, with entertainment displays, workshops, boating and car shows, celebrities, exhibits, photographic and art competitions showcasing the magnificent whale sharks, also some extreme sports displays, wakeboarding, kiteboarding and freestyle motocross riders, particularly on the weekend.
The next Whaleshark Festival was expected to take place in May 2009 but that year's event was cancelled. Rescheduled for late May 2010, the festival was again cancelled, raising doubts as to whether it would ever be held again.
For festival and whale shark lovers, the good news is that the Whaleshark Festival has returned to Exmouth and was held from May 27 to 29, 2011. The 2012 festival is taking place this last weekend of May.
The whale sharks are expected to be around for longer, up to as late as October.
Festival events
The festival is aimed at bringing together all government departments, industry and community members in relation to protecting the whale shark and its environment and encouraging public participation in the many and varied festival events.
Snorkeling with the whalesharks was a feature of the festival.
Home to the whale shark
Ningaloo Reef — recognised nationally and internationally as a "premier marine environment" and home to the world's most predictable, seasonal gathering of whale sharks — lies on Western Australia's Indian Ocean coast west of Exmouth and just north of the town of Ningaloo.
The whale shark season is from April to July, following the mass spawning of coral, when the world's biggest species of fish congregate in the Ningaloo Marine Park.
