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Wildlife Holidays Ideas For Those on a Budget

If you happen to be someone that enjoys being surrounded by wildlife and nature but are unsure as to how to go about it because of budget issues, this article can be a perfect guide for by helping you plan and organize a simple wildlife holiday within your budget. It does not matter whether you are an organized person because some effort will be required to plan this trap beforehand regardless. There are basically two phases of planning your wildlife trip, the first being to choose wherever you want to go, so this means which reserves, areas and species you want to check out, and the second phase is to plan your trip, and this includes things like information regarding your choice of country, your means of travelling and accommodation there and so on.

When you are deciding where you want to go, you can make the search process easier by focusing solely on a specific species that you want to see. A simple cursory search on google will help narrow things down for you and help you find spots that have multiple sightings of your choice of animal or plant species and so on. So, regardless of whether you are searching to find a specific big cat, a certain frog or a rare indigenous plant, you can find different online forums and groups dedicated to finding the perfect spot to find different animal species and so on. There are also websites like observado.org and a couple of others that can help you explore your area and gather as much information as you need. You can then start searching for national parks, conservatories and other trip reports and blog posts in order to get a better idea about what you can find in your area of interest.

In terms of planning your holiday, especially when you are on a budget, having a flexible travel schedule can be really beneficial. So, going off-season is a great way to save money on travel and accommodation. However, you also want to make sure that you are travelling at a time when sightings are possible. For example, there is no point going bear sighting during the midst of the winter season. So, you can check out different organized tours and what time they are offering, and then take other information like the natural climate of the area, the active period and mating period of your desired species and so on.

Other important information that you should consider in case you are travelling overseas is whether you need a visa that requires you to apply in advance, on arrival and so on. You also need to make sure whether you need to get any vaccinations done before you can travel to said-country and so on. Once you have a rough skeleton formed for your trip, you can then get down to details like where you will stay, how much you can afford to spend on a day, which mode of transportation is cheaper there, and if you will keep emergency money aside for emergency situations during the trip and so on.

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Wildlife Visiting Hot Spots in Cambodia

Cambodia is rich in wildlife, and there is a lot of places that you can visit in order to catch a glimpse of a wide array of animals in their natural habitat without disrupting them or engaging in any form of unethical animal tourism. The list includes a number of natural areas, as well as wildlife rescue and conservation centers as listed down below:

  • Mondulkiri is a spot that is very famous and is where you can go to check out their elephant sanctuary. The Elephant Valley Project is one of ethical wildlife tourist attractions, and another place to visit is Hephalum café, which is another center that promotes responsible animal tourism by collaborating with organizations like WCS and WWF. The EVP areas comprise of a decent area of a rain forest and you are able to watch the elephants as they roam around. You can also volunteer to help the sanctuary run by performing small tasks with them. The EVP is open during the weekdays but closed during the weekends. The EVP is currently developing an ongoing tour project that lets you see 3 different endangered monkey species as well but it is currently really expensive and costs over $100.
  • The Cardamom Mountains are not as relatively well known, but it is beginning to pick up some traction. It is located in South-West Cambodia and is relatively remote. You can find two community centers there, namely the Cardamom Community Center and Chi Phat, and out of the two centers, Chi Phat is believed to be tour centric. So, if you want to book a wildlife tour in the Cardamom Mountains, Chi Phat is the area to go.
  • Kratie is a great place for you to be able to get a sight of Irrawaddy dolphins, which happen to be an endangered freshwater dolphin species. From Kratie, you move to Kampi, which happens to be the only place to start proper dolphin tours, and you will be able to spot a few dolphins along the riverside from there.
  • Virachey National Park is situated in the North side of the country and is a lot like the Cardamom Mountains since they offer trekking and jungle hikes where you can be fortunate enough to spot a few animals along the way. Of course, you want to make sure that you check the weather conditions before you plan your trip here.
  • The Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue Center is a great place to go in order to better educate yourself regarding wildlife and its conservation. You will mostly find their area of focus to be towards bears, and you will find a number of rescue bears in different enclosures there and will tell you the story of each bear as well.
  • Betreed Adventures happens to be a place situated near Siem Reap and is known for offering a very real jungle experience. So, if you are looking to really get into nature, you can check out what they have to offer as well.
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Touring Animal Attractions: Knowing What to Avoid

If you are out in an exotic country, the temptation to check out different animal attractions can be pretty tempting, after all, who would not want to snap a picture with a tiger, ride an ostrich, or go swimming with the dolphins? Well, a lot of times these animal attractions are treating the animals poorly and are actually making not effort towards wildlife conservation. The only reason these harmful animal tourist activities are still ongoing is because there are tourists that are willing to pay to see it, and the purpose of this article is to make sure that you are responsible when you are touring anywhere, and ensure that you have an animal-friendly trip instead of one which causes them more harm in the long run.

When you are out on any kind of tour or trip that involves animals, there are a few steps you can take to ensure that you are not harming the animals or contributing to an otherwise unethical practice, and we will list them down below:

  • Avoid buying animal souvenirs, especially endangered animal souvenirs, this includes things like a shark tooth, animal skin, fur, leather, animal skulls and so on.
  • Do not consume any endangered animal product like shark fin soup, snake wine, turtle meat and so on.
  • Do not engage in any activity that allows you to touch, hold or take pictures next to animals. This is not a natural practice for wild animals, and while it can be tempting to snap a picture next to a tiger, you need to remember that most of these animals are heavily abused and trained so that they do not act nervous in front of humans.
  • Do not buy exotic animals as pets.

In terms of specific activities surrounding animals, you want to be wary and make sure that you do your research before you are visiting lion cub petting areas in sanctuaries, because these cubs are trained and usually kept away from their mothers on purpose so that the mother continues having more babies. Plus, once these cubs grow up, they are either sold to hunters as a game, kept as circus attractions or chained or killed. The adult lions, tigers and other big cats are usually chained, drugged and declawed in order for them to remain submissive enough for you to stroke them or take a selfie with them.

Similarly, elephant rides might sound appealing, but these elephants are tortured from a young age until they are old enough to be able to support human weight. Plus, the weight of a person on their back is actually not good for them, and it will lead to serious health problems for them as well.

Whale and dolphin safaris, activities and shows also end up mistreating the animals by keeping them in small enclosures, starving them, and this results in the animals developing ulcers and dying early as well.

So, before you go on any trip involving animals, you want to make sure that you do your research beforehand to make sure that the institution is actually working for animal conservation and not exploitation, and the animals are being kept in a safe and natural environment with minimal human interaction.

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