The 15 Best Wildlife Hotels for Ethical Animal Encounters

Getting up close and personal with wildlife is every animal lover’s dream trip. But—speaking as an animal lover myself—we also know that many of these experiences are actually harmful to the very animals that we profess to love so much. Below, discover 15 Indagare-vetted hotels (including a couple ships) where travelers can answer the call of the wild, responsibly.

In Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park, travelers can embark on a once-in-a-lifetime trek to observe endangered Gorilla Trekking. Expert guides lead small groups through dense rainforest, where guests can witness these extraordinary primates up close, supporting vital conservation efforts. Indagare’s preferred properties include One&Only Gorilla's Nest, Wilderness Bisate and Singita Kwitonda. “It's the most intimate wildlife experience you could ever ask for” says Indagare’s Ali Malecka, who recently helped lead an Indagare Journey to Rwanda.

At Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, Thailand, an Indagare Impact hotel, guests can participate in an ethical elephant experience in the lush jungles of Northern Thailand. The camp partners with conservation organizations to care for rescued elephants—who live as permanent residents on the grounds—offering visitors the opportunity to observe these gentle giants in a natural, unchained environment. “The elephants are the stars here,” says Indagare Jen Barr. And instead of riding, guests walk alongside them through bamboo forests, learning about their rehabilitation and the challenges of elephant conservation in the region.

The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi is a renowned elephant orphanage dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating young elephants affected by poaching and habitat loss. Visitors can witness the playful interactions of the orphaned calves during their daily mud baths and learn about Sheldrick’s pioneering reintegration program. For a continued wildlife experience, Giraffe Manor offers an intimate stay where endangered Rothschild’s giraffes roam the property, often poking their heads into the dining room windows at breakfast.

The Maldives is one of the best places in the world to swim with manta rays, particularly in protected areas such as Hanifaru Bay, where these graceful creatures gather in large numbers. Guests at SonevaFushi and One&Only Reethi Rah can join marine biologists for guided snorkeling excursions that contribute to manta ray research and conservation. And at Four Seasons Landaa Giraavaru, the Manta-On-Call program alerts anyone who’s signed up whenever there’s a sighting so they can snorkel with them.

Ningaloo Reef, off the coast of Western Australia, is one of the only places where visitors can reliably swim alongside whale sharks, the world’s largest fish. Travelers at Sal Salis Ningaloo Reef, a remote eco-lodge set within the coastal dunes, can join guided boat tours to swim alongside these gentle giants in their natural habitat. The seasonal migration (March to July) offers a rare opportunity to snorkel in crystal-clear waters as these filter-feeding sharks glide gracefully below. Back at the lodge, the barefoot-luxury experience continues, with tented accommodations just steps from the Indian Ocean.

Jaguars are famously elusive, but seeing them in the wild is almost a guarantee when staying at Brazil’s eco-luxe Caiman. The private reserve and lodge within the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetlands, is where pioneering leopard research organization Onçafari has its headquarters. Guests can join a biologist from Onçafari (a portmanteau of “onça,” which means jaguar in Portuguese and “safari”) on a game drive to track the reserve’s resident jaguars and see them up close. These drives have an impressive 98 percent success rate of seeing at least one jaguar. And during the rest of their stay, guests join Caiman’s own team of naturalists, seeing capybaras, giant otters, anteaters, fabulous birdlife and—of course—caimans. (Also on offer: joining another NGO that has a base at Caiman to study hyacinth macaws, the world’s second largest parrot.)

At Singita Pamushana, guests can participate in black and white rhino conservation efforts within the Malilangwe Wildlife Reserve. Guided by expert trackers and anti-poaching teams, visitors can observe rhinos up close while learning about protection strategies, including dehorning initiatives and ranger patrols. The lodge, set in a private 130,000-acre reserve, offers an intimate safari experience while directly contributing to conservation funding.

Set within a private rainforest reserve, Nayara Tented Camp is a luxurious safari-style camp under the shadow of Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano. It’s also home to a thriving sloth population. Guests can explore the on-site Sloth Conservation Sanctuary, where researchers study these slow-moving creatures and work to protect their habitat. Guided nature walks offer the chance to see sloths in the wild, alongside toucans, monkeys, and tree frogs, all within the lodge’s reforested environment. Nayara Springs and Nayara Gardens Hotel and Spa are also in the same reserve.)

The Galápagos Islands offer some of the world’s best opportunities to snorkel with sea lions, known for their playful and curious nature. Encounters are especially memorable when done from a luxury expedition yacht, allowing access to remote, protected waters with minimal human impact. One of Indagare’s favorites: the Indagare Adored Aqua Mare, which provide expert-led excursions to snorkel alongside sea lions, reef sharks, and marine iguanas in this pristine ecosystem.

New Zealand’s iconic yet elusive kiwi bird is notoriously difficult to see in the wild, but guests at Rosewood Cape Kidnappers have a rare opportunity to observe the nocturnal birds up close. Led by expert guides and conservationists, the property’s night tours visit a protected wildlife sanctuary and carefully reveal kiwi burrows. Other possible sightings include the bizarre but beautiful glowworm.

The vast wilderness of Torres del Paine National Park in Chile provides critical habitat for wild pumas, plus Andean condor and a host of of other wildlife species. Indagare’s preferred lodges in the area—Explora Torres del Paine, Tierra Patagonia and Awasi Patagonia—offer tailored excursions within the park, combining high-end accommodations with immersive wildlife experiences. But they also have large preserves of their own, offering even more opportunities to see wildlife.

The word unique gets thrown around a lot. But, without any hyperbole, looking down at a polar bear walk across the frozen Arctic Ocean while standing on the deck of a luxury icebreaker is among the most unique travel experiences. There is only one passenger ship that can take travelers deep into the Arctic, and that’s Ponant’s Le Commandant Charcot. Its voyages—to polar bear hot spots like Svalbard, eastern Greenland and the North Pole (!), see guests walking and skiing across sea ice and taking Zodiac excursions through “polynyas,” the areas of open water surrounded by ice, all while on the lookout for the Arctic’s apex predator. (On my sailing last year, we had close sightings of polar bears a whopping 10 times.)

The Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project, established in 1987, is the world’s longest-running continuous hawksbill sea turtle research program, dedicated to studying and protecting these critically endangered turtles that nest on the island's pristine beaches. From June through November, guests at the Indagare Adored Jumby Bay Island Island can join researchers to observe nesting turtles, with hatchling releases typically occurring from August through December. The project has contributed decades of research on hawksbill behavior and migration while engaging the local community in conservation efforts.

Deep in Ecuador’s Chocó Cloud Forest, Mashpi Lodge offers an immersive wildlife experience in one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems. Guests can explore the private reserve with expert naturalists, spotting howler monkeys, tayras, and—a key draw for many visitors—over 400 species of birds—including the vibrant Andean cock-of-the-rock. For a unique perspective, the lodge’s Sky Bike glides silently above the forest canopy, offering up-close encounters with hummingbirds, toucans, and even sloths. There’s also a hummingbird garden, plus opportunities to join night walks, which cab reveal glass frogs, ocelots, and bioluminescent fungi.

Rottnest Island, just off the coast of Perth, is the only place in the world where quokkas thrive in the wild. Guests at Samphire Rottnest, a stylish beachfront retreat, can encounter these friendly, photogenic marsupials up close as they roam freely across the seven-square-mile island, nearly all of which is parkland. Biking trails traverse from beach to beach, and there are quokkas to be found in every direction.