Airbnb is bringing furry cuddles to you. Airbnb Animal Experiences is a brand new category of Airbnb Experiences that allow people to better understand animals through caring, expert hosts and set a new standard for animal tourism. With 1,000 Experiences co-hosted by over 300 species and their human advocates, guests can now paddleboard with corgis (OMG!), kayak with conservationists, and learn alongside urban beekeepers or skateboard with a world record winning bulldog (damn son!).
Airbnb Animal Experiences offers a fresh new way to connect with animals near and far, so that even busy urbanites can reconnect with the natural world through hiking with rescue dogs, chilling out with alpacas or just cuddling cows. Guests will meet animals in places that allow for gentle observation and bring a sense of connection far beyond animal selfies or performances. For those seeking more adventure, guests can discover arctic foxes or even help rescue puppies lost within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Joining more than 40,000 Airbnb Experiences available across 1,000 cities worldwide,
Airbnb Animal Experiences are underpinned by a new, industry-leading animal welfare policy, created in collaboration with World Animal Protection.
Around Asia, here are five standout Airbnb Animal Experiences for travelers and locals alike, including some in Malaysia:
A guided tour of a dairy goat farm – Penang, Malaysia
Join a guided tour of a dairy goat farm, where guests will get a chance to feed and pat goats while observing their behaviour as part of a dairy farmer’s daily routine. Observe how milking is done by machine, pasteurize the milk in the traditional way and learn how goat’s milk can be naturally preserved. Guests will even get to enjoy a taste of handcrafted dairy goat products before going home.
Explore the realm of the wild Malayan Tigers – Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Protect the wild tigers, other endangered wildlife and forests at the Yu River Tiger Corridor. On this social impact experience, guests will have a chance to record wildlife signs such as footprints and scratch marks, accompanied by the sounds of gibbons howling and calls from cicadas and birds. Help check a camera-trap, which was set up to monitor presence of wildlife and download the data. The jungle trek covers a distance of less than 10km, through wet terrain typical of a tropical rainforest, including crossing a knee-deep river. End the day by planting water tree saplings as part of efforts towards reforesting the degraded areas.
Save gibbons and forests – Phuket, Thailand
The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project succeeded in reintroducing gibbons back into the wild after they were poached to extinction some 40 years ago. Guests will step into the shoes of a gibbon research assistant, finding out more about the Project’s mission, research work and the gibbons under their care, before learning how to prepare a special nutrition ball, a supplement food wrapped in banana leaves that is then put into a long-distance feeding system. Lucky guests will also see other beautiful wildlife, trekking through the last remaining rainforest in Phuket.
Tokyo Cat Tour for Cat Lovers – Tokyo,Japan
It’s all about cats! On this Tokyo Cat Tour, cat lovers will visit one of the most famous traditional shrines in Tokyo, known as the birthplace of the maneki-neko – a cat figurine believed to bring happiness into lives by holding up a paw and bringing luck. Visit a cat cafe to enjoy a relaxing teatime surrounded by rescued cats, while learning to create an original maneki-neko to take home.
Learn Honey Beekeeping in the Himalayas – Nainital, India
Along the river Kalsa in the Himalayas, a hands-on experience at the beehive awaits, including suiting up in a beekeeping suit and learning how to care for bees. Guests will be involved in planting pollinator- friendly plants for bees, disease control, helping with colony mention and more.
You can experience additional animal experiences here too:
- Tea with Naughty Sheep (Loch Lomond, United Kingdom)
- Meet the Dogs of Chernobyl (Slavutych, Ukraine)
- Discover Arctic Foxes (Sudavik, Iceland)
- New Zealand Getaway and Horseplay (Auckland, New Zealand)
- Meet Life-Saving Animals (Siem Reap, Cambodia)
- Hike Runyon Canyon with a Rescue Dog (Los Angeles, CA)
Beyond helping people get to better understand animals and meet them in a new way, over 100 Airbnb Animal Experiences are Social Impact Experiences, cementing our commitment to animals in the long-term by directing all proceeds from bookings to nonprofits. Supporting causes such as conservation, animal rescue, and veterinary care, these Experiences help scale impact, foster empathy and include caring for rescued horses, seeing released macaws and spending a day with donkeys.