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.

On occasion, people have shared with us that they were unable to go on an AEI Experience because they could not afford to pay the trip fees. We find this really heartbreaking because we truly believe if there is a will, there is a way. If you want to travel and volunteer with animals, we want to help you do it. We want to help you live your dreams and that’s why we offer fundraising mentorship. We have been fundraising for volunteer trips, work, school and charities for years and we can give you ideas on what has worked for us and what has worked for our clients. We are here to help, so we hope that you accept it!

But why are there fees?

The sad reality is that it is actually quite expensive to run an animal welfare or conservation centre, and animal sanctuaries have even more associated costs. From electricity for the surgery rooms, to water for cleaning and bathing, from food for the animals (they do eat a lot) to medications and veterinary staff to look after the health and well being of the animals - it is not free, or even low cost, for a centre to be in operation. Thankfully volunteers, like you, step up and offer help – meaning these centres can exist on the limited funding they receive from donations.

Feeding, housing and caring for the animals are large expenses. But what about the cost of taking care of you? Who will pay for your meals and your electricity while you are volunteering? Who will pay for the petrol required to drive you around? Who will pay for the water you use for your laundry or showers? In order for us to be ethical and just-minded, we have sat down with all of our partners and agreed on ethical and fair compensation for your stay while you are volunteering. We know that the time and skills that you volunteer are invaluable (thank you!) – but we don’t want our partners to lose money because we are helping. We cover the cost of the resources required to host our volunteers. We offer more than a living salary to our drivers and of course we pay house mothers for their time preparing meals, not just for the groceries our volunteers consume. Since most of our trips include your accommodation and food in the total price of the trip, we think of AEI Experiences as “all inclusive trips”. When considered in this light, our experiences are less than what most people pay for a one week vacation!

AEI is a B Corp and we have pledged social, economic and environmental responsibility. The majority of your money goes directly to our placement partner to pay your placement fees which cover your accommodation, meals, airport pick up and drop off, training, support while on project and any membership fees and uniforms that are required. Your travel insurance and IVC Card benefits are added to your fees and so are carbon balancing your travel with the Carbon Farmer. The rest of your fees go towards supporting our placement partners (such as the place where you will be volunteering), developing new placement opportunities and allowing AEI to function as a socially responsible B Corp.

We provide our clients with many fundraising ideas as well as much fundraising assistance and mentoring throughout the process. Please let us know if you are interested in learning more about fundraising – either for your personal fees and airfare, or to provide additional support for the organization where you will be volunteering. Most of our volunteers do fundraise for at least a portion of their fees and you can too! If you do have any questions about fundraising or about fees, please ask! We want to help you be able to help some of the most ethical programs on the planet - as a responsible AEI volunteer!

How Do We Keep Volunteers Safe?

Volunteer Fees, the ethics behind them.