Your tourist dollars can be a force for good, or a force for evil
There are some wonderful destinations in Africa where you will see and experience our wildlife in their own environment.
There are also places in Africa that will offer you an interactive experience with our wildlife which is unnatural.
If you are offered a Cub petting and walking with lions experience ask yourself "what happens to all these babies when they can no longer be petted and walked with". In most cases these lions will be used in a canned hunts. Their lives will end brutally and in terrible pain. If you indulge in cub petting and lion walking, then you make yourself an accomplice to one of the cruelest industries in the world.
We are proud to host the following destinations who have pledged to an ethical and responsible business model to help save our wildlife from extinction.
There are also places in Africa that will offer you an interactive experience with our wildlife which is unnatural.
If you are offered a Cub petting and walking with lions experience ask yourself "what happens to all these babies when they can no longer be petted and walked with". In most cases these lions will be used in a canned hunts. Their lives will end brutally and in terrible pain. If you indulge in cub petting and lion walking, then you make yourself an accomplice to one of the cruelest industries in the world.
We are proud to host the following destinations who have pledged to an ethical and responsible business model to help save our wildlife from extinction.
Ethical Destinations
DRAKENSTEIN LION PARK
is an award winning and internationally acclaimed sanctuary for captive born lions that cannot be rehabilitated into the wild. The Park provides these displaced lions with a lifetime home in an enriched environment, where they are treated with compassion and respect and allowed to live out their lives with dignity.
As a genuine sanctuary, the Park is not involved in breeding or any form of commercial trade.
As a sanctuary we do not allow any form of visitor/animal interaction.
Chimp Haven is a specially designed facility that has been created to provide a home to a number of animals displaced by the closure of Tygerberg Zoo. Chimp Haven is home to chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, marmosets, parrots, wallabies, duiker and numerous waterfowl.
Website: http://www.lionrescue.org.za/
is an award winning and internationally acclaimed sanctuary for captive born lions that cannot be rehabilitated into the wild. The Park provides these displaced lions with a lifetime home in an enriched environment, where they are treated with compassion and respect and allowed to live out their lives with dignity.
As a genuine sanctuary, the Park is not involved in breeding or any form of commercial trade.
As a sanctuary we do not allow any form of visitor/animal interaction.
Chimp Haven is a specially designed facility that has been created to provide a home to a number of animals displaced by the closure of Tygerberg Zoo. Chimp Haven is home to chimpanzees, capuchin monkeys, marmosets, parrots, wallabies, duiker and numerous waterfowl.
Website: http://www.lionrescue.org.za/
SAMARA PRIVATE GAME RESERVE
"Heart-stoppingly beautiful" is how award-winning Samara Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape is best described. Elegant lodges provide luxury accommodation nestled between an amphitheatre of mountains on 70,000 acres, where wildlife roams again. An amazing life-changing and wonderfully relaxing experience awaits, so come and walk with the cheetah as you celebrate the rebirth of a unique piece of Africa and experience a luxury safari in the Graaff-Reinet region of the Eastern Cape.
Samara contributes towards the conservation of our planet. We are convinced that the future of the planet lies in educating the young and to this end, we frequently bring children from previously disadvantaged schools in Graaff-reinet to Samara. They also plant Spekboom while they are with us, Spekboom, a remarkable plant indigenous to the E. Cape, is used to rehabilitate degraded land.
Website: http://www.samara.co.za/
"Heart-stoppingly beautiful" is how award-winning Samara Private Game Reserve in the Eastern Cape is best described. Elegant lodges provide luxury accommodation nestled between an amphitheatre of mountains on 70,000 acres, where wildlife roams again. An amazing life-changing and wonderfully relaxing experience awaits, so come and walk with the cheetah as you celebrate the rebirth of a unique piece of Africa and experience a luxury safari in the Graaff-Reinet region of the Eastern Cape.
Samara contributes towards the conservation of our planet. We are convinced that the future of the planet lies in educating the young and to this end, we frequently bring children from previously disadvantaged schools in Graaff-reinet to Samara. They also plant Spekboom while they are with us, Spekboom, a remarkable plant indigenous to the E. Cape, is used to rehabilitate degraded land.
Website: http://www.samara.co.za/
FOUR PAWS LIONSROCK BIG CAT SANCTUARY
Provides an appropriate, lifelong home for rescued big cats that have been kept in inadequate conditions in zoos, circuses or private captivity. The habitat, constructed for the big cats in 2007 in South Africa (Free State province, 18 km from the town of Bethlehem), includes large areas for family groups, enrichment to facilitate natural behaviors and high standards of medical care. In LIONSROCK hunting, trading or breeding of wild animals is strictly prohibited. The park encompasses a total area of 1,250 hectares. The enclosures for the big cats (112 animals in total; mostly lions, but also tigers, leopards, cheetahs, caracals, wild dogs, hyenas and servals) covers an area of 56 hectares. In the rest of the park, other typical South African species live freely (e.g. zebras, wildebeests and other antelopes etc.)
Website: http://www.lionsrock.org/
Provides an appropriate, lifelong home for rescued big cats that have been kept in inadequate conditions in zoos, circuses or private captivity. The habitat, constructed for the big cats in 2007 in South Africa (Free State province, 18 km from the town of Bethlehem), includes large areas for family groups, enrichment to facilitate natural behaviors and high standards of medical care. In LIONSROCK hunting, trading or breeding of wild animals is strictly prohibited. The park encompasses a total area of 1,250 hectares. The enclosures for the big cats (112 animals in total; mostly lions, but also tigers, leopards, cheetahs, caracals, wild dogs, hyenas and servals) covers an area of 56 hectares. In the rest of the park, other typical South African species live freely (e.g. zebras, wildebeests and other antelopes etc.)
Website: http://www.lionsrock.org/
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To be an ethical tourist these are the issues you should be aware of. |
1. Refrain from indulging in cub petting. Realise that when you pet a cub you are enriching and promoting the canned lion industry.
2. The same applies to any other interaction with wild animals.
3. A true sanctuary will never have breeding animals and therefore there should be no cubs to interact with.
4. Do not be deceived by SAA tourism brochures which publicise cub petting, walking with lions, elephant back rides etc. The SA Government endorses and promotes the canned lion hunting industry. You should not endorse cruelty.
5. There are some amazing destinations which are ethical for you to visit. Go to our Ethical Tour Operators page and you will see many operators who will see to your travel needs.
2. The same applies to any other interaction with wild animals.
3. A true sanctuary will never have breeding animals and therefore there should be no cubs to interact with.
4. Do not be deceived by SAA tourism brochures which publicise cub petting, walking with lions, elephant back rides etc. The SA Government endorses and promotes the canned lion hunting industry. You should not endorse cruelty.
5. There are some amazing destinations which are ethical for you to visit. Go to our Ethical Tour Operators page and you will see many operators who will see to your travel needs.