Hi, I’m Claire. Based in Exeter, UK, vegetarian since I was six, vegan for over 15 years, and the person behind World Kind.
I work in travel tech by day, including a formative stint in the complaints department. I have read thousands of stories about how trips go wrong. It turns out to be excellent training for planning ones that don’t.
I spent my 40th birthday on a jungle trek in Sumatra, ankle-deep in mud, hosting more leeches than I’d have liked, watching a wild orangutan work out whether we were interesting. (We weren’t. She left.) Best birthday I’ve ever had, and the reason this blog exists.
Why “World Kind”
Because the animals were here first. This planet and everything living on it deserve better than tourism usually gives them, and you can see the world without wrecking it for the creatures who actually live there.
I’m not going to lecture you about it. Nobody has ever been converted by a lecture (I’ve been vegan long enough to know). What I will do is show you which wildlife encounters are genuinely ethical and which just have “sanctuary” in the name, where to find proper food in countries where “vegan” translates loosely as “so, chicken?”, and what things actually cost.
One rule above all: I only recommend things I have personally done and would do again. If a tour, a lodge or a restaurant is on this site, I’ve stood in it, eaten in it, or sweated up the side of it.
Where I’ve been
Thirty countries, give or take, including 15 years living in Australia. Standouts: wild orangutans in Sumatra, a Komodo dragon strolling past like it owned the place (it did), tortoises wandering the ruins in Athens, climbing Villarrica in Chile before it erupted (unrelated, I’m told), and a monkey sanctuary in the Bolivian Amazon that showed me what the real thing looks like (that’s Pearlita below, mid-nap negotiation).
Start here
New to World Kind? These three will tell you whether we’re going to get along:
- Ethical Orangutan Trekking in Bukit Lawang: the origin story.
- Vegan in Egypt: A Two-Week Reality Check: proof I don’t sugar-coat.
- Vegan in Greece: the trip that pleasantly surprised me.
Say hello
Found somewhere doing ethical wildlife tourism properly? Got a question about a destination? Tell me. I read everything, and I’d rather hear from you than shout into the void. The newsletter lives in the sidebar: honest guides and travel tips, no spam, because I hate it as much as you do.
Travel like you give a f**k. That’s the whole philosophy.