AEI speaks about whaling practices in the Faroe Islands

A few weeks ago a cruise ship witnessed a traditional whale hunt in the Faroe Islands. It caused a lot of distress among the passengers. We were asked by the Washington Post to comment.

You can read the whole article here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2023/07/13/faroe-islands-whale-hunt-slaughter-cruise-line/

While we believe our quote does get to the heart of what we think is important about travel, we did want to share our whole comment because it could spark even more conversation.

I don't think it's a tour operators' responsibility to shield passengers from the truth. The whale hunt in the Faroe Islands is indeed harrowing but it is a reality. While I don't think culture is ever an excuse for violence, this whale hunt, for the present is a part of the culture and history of the Faroe Island. To shield passengers from seeing it would be engaging in erasure around the very people we should be engaging with when we visit their traditional lands. Shielding people from cultural events also takes away the nuance in discussions that could and should happen around animal welfare, traditional activities and tourism. 

I think it's also important to create room for discussions about animal welfare and marine conservation for those aboard these ships. I don't ever think discussion is bad, especially when all parties are given a seat at the table. 

The whale hunt is extremely distressing to witness. Full stop. But turning away doesn't help the animals who are killed, and it doesn't help give voice to those who take part in the hunt. Shielding passengers only allows them to be ignorant to both the traditional culture of the place they are visiting and to the sentient beings who are being slaughtered. 

I don't think tragic scenes should be accepted but they also shouldn't be hidden away either. 

Covid-19 Policy Updates

We are very happy to announce all of our programs are open and accepting volunteers! Many countries are still requiring a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country, don’t worry we will work with you if that is the case.

All of our programs will be requiring full vaccinations and masks while volunteering with the animals and while on the program. Covid-19 is a virus that has spilled over from a wild animals and we have seen numerous cases of both domestic and wild animal infections from humans. To protect the health of the animals you are volunteering with and the communities you are living in- we ask that you respect all the new and developing rules and polices of our partners. Our commitment to you is that they will never be a surprise. Once we know something, you will know something as well as the rational behind it.
We are all in this together, we will continue to act like it!

If you have paid your deposit for a trip in 2020 or 2021 but could not go because of Covid-19, remember it still is waiting for you. Our deposits are non refundable but they are transferable. Normally we hold them for a year but of course, these circumstances were completely different. We will be holding deposits for another full year. All deposits from 2019, 2020 and 2021 will be held in trust for the client until 23 March 2023.

Please, do not hesitate to ask us any questions to get clarifications.

Take care friends!

Reasons to travel with AEI for your first trip after the pandemic.

-Amazing pre-planned adventures helping community based conservation groups!
-Authentic animal volunteer activities.
- Travel insurance that extends beyond your return date (just in case there is a flight change or unexpected anythings).
- Guaranteed safe and sanitized housing.
- Guaranteed meals. Why is this important? Around the world cafes, restaurants, shops and stores have had to close temporarily, or even permanently, due to a lack of travelers. This can make travel stressful for those trying to make a plan before they are in country! We set up all your accommodation and meals before you have even left to make sure you are safely and happily taken care of.
- Ongoing supportive care from travel experts who have travelled during the pandemic and can walk you through all the steps. Want to zoom before you go? Would you rather email? We are here to talk as much or as little as you would like - we aren't comfortable until you are!
-VIP Arrival Plans to make your trip safe and comfortable. PCR tests, hotels and shuttles booked by us so you just have to plan your in country selfies and post cards!

Travel is once again within your reach – you will need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and then we will help you with the rest! You can be traveling safely to Costa Rica (sea turtles!), Spain (horses!), Guatemala (wildlife!) or Thailand (elephants!) right now with more countries opening up in 2022 – many of them with us leading the trip (Mongolia, Malawi, Australia...)! We look forward to helping you plan your Animal Experiences as travel becomes a reality again.

Looking for something completely different? We partnered with the luxury travel group Girls Guide to Paris to offer a *luxury* Croatian adventure featuring truffle hunting, island hotels and of course dolphin conservation. See what everyone is buzzing about: Girls Guide to Paris: Croatia Edition.

Consent Based Travel

Over the next month we will be explaining more about the importance of what we are calling consent based travel. But here are the basics for those who want to know right now!

In order for a relationship to be healthy it must be a consenting relationship and we think that travel is all about healthy relationships. Relationships with the host communities, relationships with the animals and relationships with ourselves. SO, the easiest way to understand if we are participating in ethical and healthy travel is to see to see if everyone is consenting.

Some communities have vulnerable populations and are asking for travellers coming in 2021 to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. In order to have a consenting relationship with these hosts, we will need to be fully vaccinated. Easy, we just have to be patient!

What about animals? Importantly, coercion is not consent. If an animal must be tied up, chained or contained in a cage (or tank) to interact with you, it’s not a healthy and consenting interaction.

How can you know you are a consenting traveller? Well, do you actually want to travel right now? Are you being true to yourself and doing what you want not just doing what the gram wants? After a year of self care, be real with yourself, what do you want? If you aren’t comfortable travelling right away, that is totally okay! It’s a strange and anxious time, this is why we are planning more group trips for down the road. We want to make sure people are actually comfortable and enjoying their travels.

We will be expanding on these topics soon but if you have any questions or want to learn more don’t be afraid to message us. We are here to make sure you, the animals and the communities around the world stay safe, content and respected.

Take care of yourselves and stay safe out there.

Nora

Travel 2021 and 2022 on your own terms!

By now, you probably know A LOT about the vaccine roll outs. Yippie! We can travel again... as a slight reality check, while these vaccines are very promising and have given us (finally) some hope in this dumpster of a year, having a safe and effective vaccine around the corner does not mean mass vaccinations for everyone around the corner. What we need to remember is we will be living in the Covid era for a while longer. The world will not be able to get vaccinated over night, or even over a month or two. BUT the world will be able to open up to travel because of other technologies being trailed and refined now: testing!

Covid-19 testing is opening up countries around the world as we speak! British Airways is piloting a program that they personally rapidly test all passengers at the start and finish of all journeys and more countries are opening boarders to those who can show off their negative test. 

No one on Earth has thought more about ethical and safe travel than travel advisors like us. Trust us, we have spent hundreds of hours in meetings, webinars and planning sessions with partners, industry leaders and travel/medical/mental health/epidemiology experts. We aren't just committed to making sure you can travel safely and security- we want to travel, too!  How can we make sure everyone is safe? Testing and social distancing at our already spacious and rural locations. 

What else can we do? We are going to travel WITH you in 2021 and 2022. We are going to still have our normal solo adventures available but we are going to plan more expeditions! We aren't here to hold your hand, we are here to have your back. Make sure you are safe, covid secure and comfortable. We don't have dates yet but all the small group trips are going to be to our partners. You can go to our website and already see where you can travel with us! 

Our small and rural wildlife rehabilitation and conservation centres are perfect for those wanting to avoid crowds (all of us in 2021), they are located away from large cities. You stay privately in sanitized and clean accomodation and when you volunteer you volunteer socially distanced with other people who (like you) have tested negative for Covid-19. 

These trips aren't for everyone, in fact our spaces are VERY limited so we can ensure private accomodation and distanced volunteer activities. But if you want to travel this year, we have been prepping for 11 months to make sure you can do it safely and as always ethically and authentically. 

We will be announcing locations and dates over the next few months so keep an eye out! 

TL;DR

We are going to be leading small group trips in 2021 and 2022 because we want to do the work while you have an amazing animal adventure. Covid secure, safe, comfortable and of course ethical trips guided by Nora and Heather!

I want to travel in 2021!

I want to wait a bit longer but would like more info...

Costa Rica Update

Want to help the conservation of endangered animals?

Volunteer in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is open to *some* travellers and volunteer.

The three pillars in which we built AEI are: safety, ethical practices and authentic conservation activities.
In the last 6 months we have been working hard at making sure none of those pillars crumbles or falls.
This has meant with some countries opening up we have had to make hard decisions. We need to keep local communities and our clients safe- and how do we do that in a pandemic while they desperately need help and donations?
Most of our programs are still closed but we are happy to announce if you are from Canada, some American states or some countries in Europe, you can volunteer in Costa Rica on our sea turtle conservation program!
We will be writing more about this in a newsletter today and of course updating all the details on the website. But if you want to travel to authentically help turtles, we can make sure you do it safely, and of course ethically.

How can you volunteer in Costa Rica?

• Canadian, Australian and European passports are accepted. Sadly, no Americans are allowed just yet- this also includes those who transit through America. 

• You must be able to show a negative Covid 19 test taken within 48 hours of travel

• You must complete an online epidemiological form provided by the Ministry of health.

How can this be safe?

• All volunteers must wear masks while volunteering. Hand sanitizer is provided and social distancing while volunteering is required.

• Social distancing at home and off time is more than possible since you live in your own cabin in a small community with a very low population density. 

• Volunteering activities take place outside and with other participants who have been cleared of risk (through national and regional requirements of testing).

• Our travel insurance partner covers Covid-19 complications. 

If you want to help sea turtles in Costa Rica check out our website or contact us today. We will be more than happy to talk to you about the realities of volunteering in 2020. 

When Can We Travel Again?

The TL;DR is: we don’t know.

The long story is we don’t know because every country and company is going to be a little different. There will be different restrictions at borders, there may be quarantine mandates based on your passport, there will be different commercial flight availability for each country, there will be changes. It will be be different. Will it be different forever? We also don’t know.

To be travel experts and to not know doesn’t feel great but we have been signing up for every single travel talk, industry webinar and community meeting possible. We don’t love getting you to travel, we love travel, too! We want to help you travel safely but we also want to travel safely!

What we do know is that when travel opens up again ( probably at a trickle to start as countries and travel companies figure out their specific plans) we will be there right with you to make sure you are as safe, confident and comfortable as always. We have have always been proud of our clean safety record- more than 800 people have traveled with us safely to more than 20 projects! Remember, we go to all the placements first to make sure they are safe, they are ethical and they care authentically helping animals. We will not blindly be sending clients back into the field to help animals. We will be making sure everyone will be safe every step of their adventure.

We also have been in regular meetings with all our placements. There are already policies written to help keep you safe. Quarantine friendly housing is just the beginning! Don’t worry, like I said, when you are ready to travel, when the world is ready to have you travel, we will be sharing with you the plans we have developed and agreed on.

In the meantime, I am still here! Answering questions, helping ease anxieties and working on travel plans (for myself and others traveling in 2021 and beyond), if you have questions send me a message!

We won’t be sheltering in place forever so allow yourself to dream. Think about where you would like to go, who you would like to volunteer with, what animals you would like to meet when this is all over. Because, it will be over, we aren’t sure when but it will end.

Travel will be safe, it will be fun, it will be an adventure, it will be later.

Nora

Covid-19 and Travelling to Thailand

We have recently had some people postpone their trip to Thailand due to Covid-19 and fears of infection.

Let us say, this is a high stress time with misinformation swirling around quite a lot. We are really happy to be able to be able to talk more about Covid-19 because we believe with more information we all can make better decisions about travel. Remember all media can be divided up into three categories: what we know is true (science based fact), what we think is true (how we interpreted those facts) and then speculation/ opinion. When you are reading about Covid-19, travel and really anything at all, it’s important to be critical about the publication, the author, the bias and the ‘facts’. Its important to look for articles that states their sources and reference trusted sources. The World Health Organization: trusted. My Uncle Jimmy who posts an unreferenced photo of an unnamed market in an unnamed country: not trusted.

We have been watching this outbreak as well and have been in constant contact with our group in Thailand to see what things look like on the ground. Currently, the Covid-19 virus has been reported in Thailand, with a total of 40 people infected. 13 of those have been new infections in the last month. Currently, there are more people in the United State of America that have been infected with Covid-19 than in Thailand. Thailand, with it's high level of development, health care and massive emphasis on tourism is in a unique position that they have been able to keep travelers and residents protected from outbreaks. 

Thailand is Asia’s most prepared country in the event of an epidemic, as ranked by Johns Hopkins University, and sixth out of 165 countries globally. Thailand ranked second in having a robust health system capable of treating the sick and protecting healthcare workers. It was ranked third in the prevention of the emergence or release of pathogens.

Currently we follow the World Health Organization and the government of Canada travel advisories and both have not changed how they rank travel to Thailand. Neither of them have warned that travel to Thailand would be dangerous or put you at risk of Covid-19. We have no reason to believe that travel to Thailand would be dangerous at this time. If things change, of course we will alert our travellers and we will be able to change their trip. However, knowing how well prepared Thailand is and how well they have kept their people and travelers safe in past pandemics (SARS, H1N1, etc), we and global experts have no reason to believe our travelers will be at a higher risk of contracting Covid-19 if they travel to Thailand. 

It is also important to note that our wildlife and elephant centre is 2,464 km away from Wutan province, where the Covid-19 outbreak originated. This is the same distance from Toronto to the south of Cuba. Travel has been banned and restricted in China and between China and most other countries which is why we are seeing very few reports of Covid-19 in places outside of China.

We are cautiously optimistic that the vaccine that is being tested now will bring safety to even more people in the coming months. 

Is Covid-19 scary to read about? Yes it is. But so are other viruses and diseases that we have now become blind to: rabies, malaria, zika, etc. So before you cancel your trip because it seems like Covid-19 is dangerously everywhere, please contact us so we can discuss with you more details about it. Hand washing continues to be the best way to stop the spread of infection so no matter if you travel or not, please wash your hands.

We really recommend listening to the podcast: Science Vs. They do a science based breakdown of Covid-19 that could really help clear a lot of the misinformation. We really like this source because they have a huge number of citations that you can go through yourself. They have a new episode they released in March: Science Vs. Corona Virus Updated.

UPDATE: Here is the most recent statement from our partner in Thailand:

We are following news updates of the virus and advice of health professionals on how to best deal with the situation. 

There have been 19 confirmed cases of the virus in Thailand and 1000’s more around the world, mostly in China but also in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Canada, the USA, among others. There have currently been no fatalities outside China. The virus can only be fatal in humans with underlying health conditions, the elderly and the young.

Luckily, our centre is not within an area where we see a large number of Chinese tourists. However local beach resorts of both Cha am and Hua Hin are busy tourist destinations so we recommend avoiding visiting these places and if volunteers do visit these places they are advised to where a mask. Volunteers are also advised to avoid any unnecessary contact with other humans and regularly wash their hands.

We recommend that volunteers do not fly through Mainland China prior to coming to Thailand.

While at the airports, using public transport, or other heavily populated areas we recommend wearing a mask and avoiding any unnecessary contact with other humans.

We think the risk of coming into contact with the virus while at the centre is less that it would in any other country in the world who have already seen the virus. It is no different to attending school, work or visiting your local shopping mall.

We hope that world leaders and health authorities deal with the spread of the virus around the world fast and effectively.

Please let us know if you have any further questions

Adventures are in the speed bumps

Imagine you are going on the adventure of a lifetime to volunteer with a sea turtle conservation group in Australia. Everything is in place. Your pick up from the airport is all arranged - you know exactly where and when to meet the shuttle. You have accommodation at a local hostel and they have all your arrival information and are expecting you. The organization where you will volunteer is all set up, and you know exactly where to meet the group on your first day of volunteering and at what time. How exciting! And then at the last minute disaster strikes. One of your many flights has a gate change and you miss your connecting flight! Your new flight has you arriving in Australia a full day after you planned to get there. Your flight is boarding, you're hurrying to get on the plane and you have no time to make any changes to your many arrangements.

What do you do?!

If you have booked your travel adventure through Animal Experience International, you simply relax. A quick email to the AEI Coordinator, and you will know everything will be taken care of for you. Your shuttle will be re-booked. Your hostel will be notified that you will be delayed. The people meeting you from the sea turtle organization will be informed and a new arrangement will be made for you. You can get on your flight and relax, knowing everything has been taken care of for you. Animal Experience International is a registered travel agency. Not only are we animal lovers, we are also travel counselors and travel managers and active members of the Travel Industry Council of Ontario. Booking through AEI gives you peace of mind - knowing that you can sit back and enjoy your trip.

Including all the bumps in the road that make travel an adventure - not an inconvenience!

How Do We Keep Volunteers Safe?

Safety is a top priority at Animal Experience International. Our amazing clients travel to more than 15 countries, helping animals in countless ways, making new friends and immersing themselves in new communities and cultures. We want to empower our clients to try these new experiences, knowing that we have ensured the best safety practices are in place.

We have personally been to all of the Placement Partner locations to inspect, participate, view and judge the transportation, activities, humane animal care, volunteer care and living conditions. We have met the people you will be staying with, working with and adventuring with our placement partners. AEI Experiences are only made official once we are satisfied that they are safe, ethical and responsible placements. AEI has signed agreements with our partners to ensure they will provide assistance in the unlikely event of an emergency or crisis, and will help you find appropriate medical care if needed.

Our volunteer coordinator emails with all of our Placement Partners at least once a week, some of them once a day! This close relationship benefits everyone. We can reach our contacts quickly if needed, we can be advised of any changes to the programs and we can give our partners feedback that we get from our volunteers. Each of our Placement Partners has established international volunteer programs, with excellent safety records. The volunteers go through applications and interviews to participate in the placement, and AEI clients sign agreements to follow rules and procedures outlined by AEI. This helps to ensure a safe and friendly volunteer environment where any acts of violence, harassment or dangerous behaviour (towards people or animals) can result in dismissal from the placement.

As a volunteer, you will be met at the airport by a representative from the organization, and taken directly to your placement. During your stay you will be living either on-site, or in the community in a pre-approved hostel or home-stay. At the end of your trip, you will be returned to the airport for your flight home. This provides a continuous duty of care, and minimizes the risk of you getting into trouble in an unfamiliar country. You are part of the group from the very beginning!

AEI provides you with up to $500,000 in travel health insurance through the International Volunteer Card - insurance specifically for “voluntourists”. The Volunteer Card has the added bonus of a 24 hour emergency support line, manned by people who specialize in travel emergencies who can offer you advice and assistance no matter where you are. You will be provided with a detailed safety procedure manual explaining how to arrange emergency medical evacuation, and payment to a hospital or facility that requests upfront payment.

We also provide you with travel manuals that give practical advice on everything from travel visas, staying safe, health concerns, and what to pack, to how to deal with culture shock - these manuals are guidebooks specifically designed for you and your exact adventure. We believe that the more prepared you are, the safer and more enjoyable your experience will be.

AEI also offers a book, Traveling Without Baggage (written by our volunteer coordinator), about keeping safe while traveling. This book is available for purchase as an e-book or a printed version can be sent to you. We’re sure all authors think their book is important, but we really believe travelers will benefit from this short book – in terms of both physical and mental health.

As you can see, your safety is very important to us at Animal Experience International and to our Placement Partners. Despite all the safe guards that are in place, safety ultimately comes down to the individual. This is a trip that you will be taking on your own, so we encourage all of our volunteers to be smart, not to take unnecessary risks, and to trust their gut! Guts always know. If something feels unsafe, it probably is, so be empowered to say no if needed and trust yourself. As in all things in life, there are no guarantees that nothing bad will happen - but we try our very best to stack the deck to ensure you will have a safe trip and a positive, life- changing experience.

If you would like more information or clarification about safety policies and procedures, please don’t hesitate to ask. That’s why we are here!

Nora and Heather.