Want a way to combine your love of travel with your passion for our furry, fluffy and feathery friends? Animal lovers are often overlooked when it comes to travel marketing; there are plenty of guides for families, couples and even solo travelers but what about those who want to get up, close and personal with the four legged, or more species that call our planet home?
Fear no more as we present to you our whirlwind guide to four fantastic, unique holidays that animal lovers will adore!
Borrow A Dog While On Holiday
Believe it or not, while you’re in Hawaii you can borrow a dog from a local shelter and take it with you around the islands.
All you need to do is speak to the guys at the Kauai Humane Society, and they’ll sort you out with a personal pet bag that contains a dog vest, water, towels, and treats as well as a guide to places that are dog-friendly.
Explore everything Hawaii has to offer at the same time as getting to know your new pal; they’ll even be able to help with the adoption process if you can’t bear to leave your dog behind at the end of your stay.
Volunteer At A Cheetah Outreach Sanctuary
Why not spend up to three months living and working at the Cheetah Outreach Sanctuary in South Africa?
Become part of a valued team while you help to feed the cubs, take youngsters on walks, speak to visitors about the importance of conservation, digging fences or constructing new buildings and even have time to bond with the cheetahs one on one.
Here, all accommodation, food, and transport is included to and from work as well as having plenty of time off to get to know the locals, take trained farm dogs out to rural homesteads and even visit the vast Serengeti plains famous for the yearly wildebeest migration.
Cheetahs have on average a 50% kill rate success every single time they hunt and target large herds of animals such as groups of antelope, hares, and flocks of game birds.
Befriend Baby Panda Cubs
Discover the joy of working with baby pandas as you feed them, clean out their cages and educate visitors on the plight of the giant panda, as you travel to Chengdu to spend a month at the Giant Panda Centre.
All meals are catered for, except arrival day, and you’ll stay in hostel accommodation which is perfect for getting to know your fellow volunteers before preparing snacks, assist in brushing pandas fur and observe the pandas social behavior all at the same time as helping to protect an endangered species.
Howl With Wolves In The Wilderness
Despite their fearsome reputation wolves are extremely gentle, fiercely loyal, and deeply misunderstood animals.
Visit Ely, Minnesota, home of the International Wolf Center where you can embark on overnight howling trips, trekking deep into the wilderness, and watching wolves play in their natural habitat.
Please note, volunteers will be dealing mostly with data, research feeding preparation, and education and will only be able to interact with the wolves in the presence of a trained wolf handler.
There are many other volunteering holidays for animal lovers out there but you won’t go wrong with these four. Enjoy them!
Also read: Most dog-friendly countries in Central America