We care about the animals, guides, and keepers our customers encounter on a Gold Medal, Pure Luxury, Cruise Plus or Incredible Journeys holiday. We understand that experiences involving animals are often part of our guests’ most treasured holiday memories and we want to embrace these interactions in ways that are both responsible and safe for animals and people alike. Interactions with animals should be an opportunity for education and inspiration, fostering a lasting respect and understanding that will ultimately help to safeguard nature and wildlife for future generations. 

We ascribe to the Global Animal Welfare Policy of our parent company, dnata Travel Group, this policy draws on the work of the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), World Animal Protection (WAP), The Asia Captive Elephant Working Group (ACEWG), European Centre for Eco & Agro Tourism (ECEAT), the Asian Captive Elephant Standards (ACES) and other independent expert bodies in this field. These guidelines aim to ensure that our customers enjoy experiences with animals safely and humanely, and that the animals themselves are treated with respect and protected from exploitation, cruelty or neglect.  

The dnata Travel Group’s Global Animal Welfare Policy means we avoid actively promoting or selling experiences that exploit or harm animals, whether they are wild, reliant on some form of human managed care, or domesticated. Experiences we try to avoid include, but are not limited to, animal shows, performances, photo opportunities, or cultural and sporting events where the animal does not have the freedom of choice to terminate the activity and move away when desired. The dnata Travel Group’s Global Animal Welfare Policy encourages our customers to view wild animals at a respectful distance and in small groups, in their natural habitat. However, there are times when an animal may have been born or have been taken into captivity due to rescue or rehabilitation requirements. When this is the case, we expect suppliers to meet the minimum standards of care determined by the ‘Five Domains’ of Animal Welfare:

• Freedom from hunger and thirst: regular access to nutritious food and clean water 
• Freedom from discomfort: a suitable living environment that provides shelter, opportunities to rest and considers the species-specific needs of wild animals 
• Freedom from pain, injury and disease: preventative and curative health care 
• Freedom to express normal behaviour: living space that encourages natural behaviour 
• Freedom from fear and distress: appropriate areas to seek privacy and limited human contact.

The full dnata Travel Group Global Animal Welfare Policy can be viewed here. We work with our suppliers and independent experts in this field to ensure its commitments exceed industry standards but also welcome feedback from customers – particularly where they believe those standards are not being met. In such instances, customers should contact our team on [email protected] so that appropriate action can be taken.