Covid-19 and international volunteering.

At Animal Experience International we always make the health and safety of our clients our priority. As we navigate the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, we wanted to let you know your options, and assure you that we will be here to help you make important travel decisions.There have been many new changes put in place to keep people safe and to limit the spread of COVID-19. These changes affect international travel and therefore will have an impact on our AEI programs.

Many governments have issued a global travel advisory to avoid non-essential travel until further notice. In addition, many countries have put in place travel or border restrictions and other measures such as movement restrictions and quarantines. Airlines have cancelled flights. New restrictions may be imposed with little warning. This all means that your travel plans may be severely disrupted and you may be forced to remain outside of your country of origin longer than expected. It is difficult to predict what the next few months will look like, and when travel restrictions will be lifted.

We have been working with our partner organizations to ensure our clients can easily reschedule their AEI Experiences as needed. We do know that the animals in our programs will also be significantly impacted by the COVID-19 disruptions, and when travel restrictions are lifted, these animals will, more than ever require your assistance. Each situation will be different, so we encourage you to contact us so we can work on a plan for you and your particular AEI Experience. People traveling later in 2020, or in 2021 have time to monitor the changing situation and can make their decisions closer to their departure date.


Things you can do to stay informed:


Please take a moment to review Animal Experience International's cancellation policy. Do keep in mind there is no rescheduling fee if you do want to postpone. These centres will need our help more than ever when it is safe again to travel. Volunteers have always been critical in the survival of community conservation and animal welfare programs and we are committed to their future. We will be offering discounts in the future to help more volunteers travel to these centres and we hope that you will remain as optimistic as we are. We encourage you to help spread the word and let friends and family know that the animals in our programs will require extra help once restrictions are lifted. We are not sure when travel will be possible but do know that we will continue to work with you to make sure, as always, that your trip is safe, ethical and authentically helps the animals.

In the meantime, our partners are in desperate need of funds, any donations will help the well being of local conservationists, their families and the whole community. Of course, donations will also help the animals and ecosystems we committed to protect. If you would like to know how to directly donate to these groups you can email Nora (nora@animalei.com). 

Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions or concerns that you might have.

Remember, we are all in this together. 

Sincerely,
Nora and Heather

B Corps are certified by the non profit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. We have been a B Corp since 2013 and since then we have always been in the top 10% of quantifiable benefit to the environment and the communities we operate in.