Wildly Adventures Travel.

Leading the way for the future. Saving Wildlife one Adventure at a time.

What is Responsible Travel?

This has become a hot topic in recent years with travelers becoming increasingly conscious in the choices they make on where to travel, what activities they are doing and what the company they are travelling with are doing to help preserve the environment and protect its wildlife for our future generations.

You may not realize it but you as the tourist hold so much power in your hands. Every time you make a choice, every time you open your wallet and pay for something. Your money speaks volumes. Saying no speaks volumes.

Your money and actions have consequence’s.

The industry relies not only on Tour operators being responsible but on you as the consumer, the tourist also making responsible choices. You have the power to change things for the better, starting today.

Who you travel with matters. What you do matters. Where and how you spend your money matters. It all MATTERS!

And we are hear to let you know what we as a company are doing. How we are making sure our tours are ethical and responsible and why you should choose us to travel with knowing that we are making the responsible choices for you.

What we are doing as a travel company?

We promote wildlife experiences NOT wildlife entertainment.

We have a number of wildlife policies we have set out to adhere to. You can read about these on the right hand column of this page.

We put the animals first. For example for Chimpanzee trekking in Uganda we choose the less visited sites and avoid certain locations that have been, in our opinion, devastated by over tourism and mismanagement of visitor numbers. So we no longer bring people here even though its where everyone wants to go because we aren’t doing this solely for profit.

We are genuinely running these tours to have a positive impact on the wild. On supporting projects doing invaluable work preserving habitats and protecting wildlife and where the animals welfare is their top priority.

So that when you travel with us here at Wildly Adventures, you know that we are doing everything we can to minimize our impact and to be responsible in our tourism practices’. Leading the way for the future and setting examples for other tour companies and tourists alike.

How to be a Responsible Tourist?

Here are our some tips on what you can do as a tourist:

1. Trust your gut. If something doesn’t feel right.. that’s because it probably isn’t. Ask questions, you have a right to know things, to know where your money is going.
2. Just say no. Your voice is a powerful tool. And if enough of us stand up and say no to unethical practices it can make a real difference. For example, saying no to a guide in Madagascar who is offering you a banana to lure a lemur down onto your shoulder and explaining your reasons why you don’t want to do it, may not have an instant effect but if the next 2-3 tourists who that guide also asks and they say no too? That can start to make a difference.
3. Be aware of what you share online and the impact it has. Think to yourself, what does my image say? What message is it giving? We want to avoid sharing images which give the impression that an animal would make a good pet.
4. Do your research into the places you will be visiting. Read online reviews and first hand accounts on blogs of people who have been there but keep an open mind because not everyone that writes a review will have the same views and opinions as you on issues such as animal welfare etc.
5. Respect local people, their beliefs and customs. Just because something is different to how you do things back home does not make it wrong.
6. When visiting a conservative country think twice about how you dress. While we do not want to tell you how to dress, in certain places it may not be appropriate for example to wear tight fitting, revealing clothes such as a crop top and bicycle shorts or go shirtless as a man. Please ask us if you are ever unsure and we will advise. Such as when visiting places of worship as a general rule you must cover your shoulders and knees, having a scarf is very handy when travelling for these situations.
7. Always ask before taking pictures of locals. How would you feel if someone took your picture without your permission?
8. Never give out money, sweets or other similar items to street children, this has led to a devastating effect in areas whereby children are being used to make money on the streets by gangs who take them from the villages. If you want to help please ask us and we can suggest suitable projects to donate to in the areas we visit.
9. We know you love animals but there are some activities which are exploitative and cause animals untold amounts of both physical and mental stress. The following activities should be avoided: Elephant rides, bathing elephants, petting tigers, walking with lions, petting lion cubs, walking with cheetahs, paying for selfies with primates and other wild animals, feeding wild animals etc. This list is not exhaustive there are many ways animals are being used in entertainment for the benefit of tourists, some may not be obvious. Do your research.
10. We believe that tourism can be the greatest form of wildlife conservation. Bringing funds directly to wear they are needed most. Visiting animals in their natural habitat in the wild, at genuine sanctuaries or wildlife friendly settings where animals have the freedom and ability to exhibit a wide range of natural behavior’s and you as the tourist can observe them from a safe and respectful distance. Above all spend your money wisely. There are many incredible organizations, projects, national parks, wildlife reserves and foundations doing amazing things. They need our support.

How to selfie responsibly?

Here are some top tips for how to take a responsible selfie and the kinds of mages we should be sharing online.

1. Is the animal in their natural habitat? If its not.. ask yourself why?
2. If you are interacting with animals in a rescue Centre or sanctuary make sure you make this information clear when you share these images online.
3. Always be wary of places that offer close encounters with certain species such as big cats or primates. these are *usually not ethical and ask yourself are these animals being used for the benefit of tourists? if so, this is animal entertainment and should not be promoted.
4. Are you at a safe distance? and not disturbing the animals natural behavior’s? If your presence is interfering with the animals natural behavior’s such as feeding, breeding and socialization then something is not right. When animals have been habituated for tourism activities the right way then your presence should have minimal effect on them.
5. Are you following recommended health and hygiene protocols for certain activities? Such as wearing a facemask when in the presence of Great apes. If you took a cheeky selfie, facing away from the animals with your mask down, just keep it to yourself. What you share online does influence the actions of others.
6. Did you have a close encounter with a wild animal? Think twice about sharing it online. It will only encourage others to want the same experience. One time during a gorilla trek a baby ran up and hugged onto my leg, it happened and was over in seconds. It was all caught on video, but I have never shared that online, nor will I because I do not want to promote these kinds of experiences. Yes, they happen. But keep them for your own special memories.

Interested in joining one of our group tours?

Our responsible travel and wildlife watching policy:

1. We only support responsible and ethical wildlife watching activities. This means we will only bring you to locations where the animals welfare is a top priority. Where visitor numbers are controlled and responsible wildlife watching practices are in place.
2. Single use plastic bottles are banned on all our tours. We encourage all our guests to either use filter water bottles or bring with them a reusable water bottle and we provide refillable solutions.
3. We ask all our guests to wear face coverings when in close contact with great apes such as on Gorilla and chimpanzee trekking. While it is no longer a requirement in most tracking locations we believe that it is very much still necessary both for the health of our guests and the animals we are privileged enough to be in their presence.
4. We have an anti-off track driving policy. Animals deserve space and choice to be viewed. The environment needs protection. We stick to roads on our safaris. (Unless special permission is granted for research activity purposes).
5. All our local tour operators and tour guides who we work with on our tours are vetted on our policies and agree to them during our tours.
6. We support locally run community projects and organizations through funds donations, raising awareness and supplying equipment. On all group tours we aim to partner with a local project, where possible.
7. We commit to regularly reviewing the animal experiences we bring our guests too and the locations we visit to make sure their policies are up to animal welfare standards.
8. We carbon offset by partnering with a locally run project aimed at conserving the critically endangered African grey parrots. This project is based in Kibale National Park, Uganda and we plant palm nut trees (a favourite of the parrots) for each guest who travels with us.
9. We aim to run our group tours in the low season (also known as green season). To minimize our impact and avoid adding to the issues of over tourism during high season.
   

Projects we support:

1. Pangolin Rescue Centre, Uganda.
2. Happy Girls Project Uganda.
3. African Grey Parrot tree project, Uganda.
4. Foundation Conservation Carpathia, Romania.
5. Leoponcon Sri Lanka.
6. Uspca, Uganda.

About Wildliy adventures:

We are an adventure travel company specializing in wildlife focused group tours. We can also plan your dream trip for you. Just get in touch to start discussing and Don’t forget to follow us on our social media to keep up with our antics:

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