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Traveling in Harmony with Animals
Whether striped and spotted or furry and fluffy, animals are a major draw for travelers. We’ve always encouraged our guests to engage with the environment around them – including animals – as long as it’s positive. Our animal interactions are based on the five freedoms of animal welfare below.
The Five Freedoms
ABTA used these five freedoms to create guidelines for the travel industry. We partnered with experts like ABTA and ANIMONDIAL to audit every tour so that you can feel confident that all animal-related experiences align with our high standards.
Freedom from hunger and thirst
Freedom from discomfort
Freedom from pain, injury or disease
Freedom to express normal behavior
Freedom from fear and distress
Travel Tips for Interacting with Animals
Sometimes, it can be hard to know what experiences meet the appropriate standards of care for animals.
To make sure your animal-related encounters are positive, here are some quick tips:
Don’t support businesses that have wild animals as pets.
Don’t feed, touch or try to hold wild animals.
Support sanctuaries where animals are free to roam.
Don’t pay to have your picture taken with wild animals like tigers, monkeys, or elephants.
Don’t buy souvenirs that are made from wild or endangered animals, such as ivory, coral, turtle shells, tiger and rhinoceros products.
Animal Experiences on Tour:
Spot indigenous wildlife on an exciting river boat cruise on Tropical Costa Rica.
Search out the “Big Five” during an open-air safari drive on Spectacular South Africa.
Head to the Santa Cruz Highlands in the Galapagos Islands to see giant tortoises in their natural habitat on our Machu Picchu & Galapagos Wonders tour
