Various statistics suggest that more than half of travellers want to see animals when they travel: that's why we keep returning to the topic of animal tourism and how we can do this in ways that both keep humans interested in caring for animals but without doing too much harm - and while bearing in mind that for many communities, animal tourism can be a significant part of their economy. To sum up: it's tricky!

In this episode I get a bunch of different perspectives. I start with Eryn Gordon, a travel writer who visited Thailand and had her first encounter there with an animal sanctuary that was ethical on paper but made her question this when she was there in person - something that many tourists experience.

Next, I speak with safari guide Suyash Keshari, who has many years of experience working in tourism with tigers in India (and other animals around the world), and discusses the difficult balance of tourist behaviour that does and doesn't impact animals in ways that actually change their lives.

Finally, John Roberts takes us back a couple of decades to describe some of what was happening when the world first started to consider whether it was okay or not to train and tame elephants for tourism purposes, and some of the tricky elements of this in the Thai context in particular. 

Links:
Eryn Gordon’s website Earth to Editorial - https://earthtoeditorial.com/ 
Eryn's TEDx Talk on “What it means to be a good traveler” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQYSdm-5ps 
Suyash Keshari, Ameliya Safaris - https://ameliyasafaris.com/  
John Roberts, Group Director of Sustainability and Conservation, Minor Hotels -https://www.minorhotels.com/ 
Whither Captive Elephants? by Daniel Stiles - https://medium.com/@danielstiles/whither-captive-elephants-f4e70a36aff8 

Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers

Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - https://notaballerina.com/linkedin

Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com 

Show notes: https://notaballerina.com/381

Various statistics suggest that more than half of travellers want to see animals when they travel: that's why we keep returning to the topic of animal tourism and how we can do this in ways that both keep humans interested in caring for animals but without doing too much harm - and while bearing in mind that for many communities, animal tourism can be a significant part of their economy. To sum up: it's tricky!
In this episode I get a bunch of different perspectives. I start with Eryn Gordon, a travel writer who visited Thailand and had her first encounter there with an animal sanctuary that was ethical on paper but made her question this when she was there in person - something that many tourists experience.
Next, I speak with safari guide Suyash Keshari, who has many years of experience working in tourism with tigers in India (and other animals around the world), and discusses the difficult balance of tourist behaviour that does and doesn't impact animals in ways that actually change their lives.
Finally, John Roberts takes us back a couple of decades to describe some of what was happening when the world first started to consider whether it was okay or not to train and tame elephants for tourism purposes, and some of the tricky elements of this in the Thai context in particular.&nbsp;
Links:
<ul>
<li>Eryn Gordon&rsquo;s website Earth to Editorial - <a href="https://earthtoeditorial.com/">https://earthtoeditorial.com/</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Eryn's TEDx Talk on &ldquo;What it means to be a good traveler&rdquo; - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQYSdm-5ps">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WQYSdm-5ps</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Suyash Keshari, Ameliya Safaris - <a href="https://ameliyasafaris.com/">https://ameliyasafaris.com/</a> &nbsp;</li>
<li>John Roberts, Group Director of Sustainability and Conservation, Minor Hotels -<a href="https://www.minorhotels.com/">https://www.minorhotels.com/</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li>Whither Captive Elephants? by Daniel Stiles - <a href="https://medium.com/@danielstiles/whither-captive-elephants-f4e70a36aff8">https://medium.com/@danielstiles/whither-captive-elephants-f4e70a36aff8</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Join our Facebook group for Thoughtful Travellers - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers">https://www.facebook.com/groups/thoughtfultravellers</a>
Join our LinkedIn group for Thoughtful Travellers - <a href="https://notaballerina.com/linkedin">https://notaballerina.com/linkedin</a>
Sign up for the Thoughtful Travellers newsletter at Substack - <a href="https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com">https://thoughtfultravel.substack.com</a>&nbsp;
Show notes: <a href="http://notaballerina.com/381">https://notaballerina.com/381</a>

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Amanda Kendle is a show for travel lovers. Each episode is packed with travel stories from fellow travel addicts on topics like using foreign languages, meeting the locals, getting lost and what we learn from our travels.

Tales from travel-lovers about why we travel and what we learn from it.

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Amanda Kendle - established 2016 - is a weekly show which helps travellers think about how our travels can be good for us and good for the world. We talk about how to make ethical decisions on our trips, sustainable and regenerative tourism, bringing back what we learn from the people and cultures we meet to improve our lives back home, and share the most memorable stories from travelling: fun, scary, educational and more. Most episodes include extracts from conversations with three different guests, centred on a particular topic, but you'll also hear occasional deep dive interviews, recordings from the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, and Amanda's own experiences from travelling past and present.

The Thoughtful Travel Podcast with Amanda Kendle - established 2016 - is a weekly show which helps travellers think about how our travels can be good for us and good for the world. We talk about how to make ethical decisions on our trips, sustainable and regenerative tourism, bringing back what we learn from the people and cultures we meet to improve our lives back home, and share the most memorable stories from travelling: fun, scary, educational and more. Most episodes include extracts from conversations with three different guests, centred on a particular topic, but you'll also hear occasional deep dive interviews, recordings from the Thoughtful Travellers Book Club, and Amanda's own experiences from travelling past and present.