My Top 10 Wildlife Encounters Around The World

In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a zoologist. Animals are my passion (aside from travel) and form a huge part of why I choose the places I travel to. I have a wildlife bucket list (don’t you?), but I only allow myself to tick a species off if I see it in the wild, in its natural habitat. Some wildlife encounters have completely blown me away, others have left me disappointed – not in the animal, but in how the encounter was affected by humans. Some were planned well in advance, some were total surprises.

Here, in no particular order, are the ones that have stuck with me the most, even years later.

1. Dolphins in Monkey Mia

I always told myself that even though I was going to spend years backpacking, that didn’t mean I was going to forget all about my career dreams. So I looked up volunteer opportunities in some of the places I was travelling to. Monkey Mia, in Western Australia, was one of those places. Situated in Shark Bay, one of Australia’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Monkey Mia is famous for its friendly dolphins.

For decades, the dolphins have been coming to feed from humans at the beach, a practice first begun by local fishermen. The dolphins were becoming too dependent on humans for food, so the DNPW stepped in a few years ago and took over management of the dolphins. Now, only four specific dolphins are fed, and they are fed only a tiny portion of their daily needs to encourage them to hunt elsewhere. If you are interested, you can volunteer for one or two weeks, and help with the daily feeding, tourist interactions and cleaning duties of the project.

I absolutely loved my week with Surprise, Shock and the other dolphins. I’ll never forget standing calf-deep in the warm water with a wild dolphin leaning against my leg as she waited patiently for her fish. While I normally don’t like human-wildlife contact, this physical interaction was entirely up to Surprise. And I felt so much more privileged because of that.

Read more: Why You Need To Volunteer With The Dolphins Of Monkey Mia

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2. Vervet Monkeys in Liwonde

After working at the Lilongwe Wildlife Centre for four months, I was asked by LWT to start a pilot study monitoring a troop of wild vervet monkeys that were causing problems in Liwonde National Park, in the south of Malawi. I spent two months living in a tent at a lodge deep within the park, hearing elephants and hippos moving outside every night and following the monkeys during the day.

While it was at times mind-numbingly boring work, part of the job was to be able to identify each individual within the troop. Within a few weeks I could tell most of the apart and had named them. Each with their own distinctive personality, I loved their cheeky faces and trying to predict what they would do next, especially at meal times when the bolder ones would try (and sometimes succeed) to steal food from the lodge guests’ plates.

Read more: Malawi – My Life As A Wildlife Rehabilitation Assistant

3. Wallabies in the Blue Mountains

Another volunteer project I came across in Australia, this was a week-long trip into Wollemi National Park in New South Wales to do a bi-annual survey of brush-tailed rock wallaby populations in the area. One week with no phone coverage, no internet, no showers and no toilets…sounds awful to most people, but god I loved it.

The park was absolutely beautiful and we went much further into the wilderness than most people ever get to go. Each day we would hike up into the surrounding hills and cliffs to find the wallabies. These smaller cousins of the kangaroo were like ghosts flitting through the undergrowth and thick vines, so it was always a cause for excitement when we spotted one. The camaraderie I felt with the other volunteers, the nights under the stars and the abundance of other species we saw in the forests of Wollemi, all made this one of my top wildlife encounters.

Read more: Australian Wildlife – The Most Unique Animals You’ll Ever See

4. Elephants in Zambia

Visa runs are never fun…except when they involve four days on safari in one of the top five national parks in Africa. South Luangwa is stuffed full of wildlife, including a high density of leopards – the first time I’d seen these cats in the wild. While I’d seen elephants on various trips previous to this, never had I been so up close than when three young bulls came within a metre of our vehicle one morning.

You have no idea how hard it was to keep my excited freakout quietly internal while also calming down my friend who was amazed/terrified at just how close she was to them. Nothing is more humbling than seeing just how little us mere humans matter to these amazing creatures as they go about their business, i.e. eating everything in sight, without the smallest care that we’re right there gawking at them.

Read more: 5 Reasons You Need To Go On Safari In Zambia

5. Lioness in Namibia

My first of many wildlife encounters with big cats happened during my first trip to Africa, and it was an experience I will never forget. While volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary in Namibia, I had the opportunity to go on a camping trip up north to the vast lands of Bushmanland. We drove through amazing wilderness each day and camped under a giant baobab tree each night, cooking dinner on a campfire and staring up at the stars. I was a bundle of energy the entire time, having never seen most of the wildlife in the wild before.

A few days into the trip, one of my companions spots something under a distance tree. It’s a lioness chilling in the shade. Naturally we all lose it a little bit. She looked amazingly healthy and let us come fairly close (in the vehicle, of course) before slouching off. And the best part? The local rangers didn’t have her on record, so we got to name her: ‘Cora’, after the area we spotted her in.

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6. Humpback Whales in Tonga

One of the most magical wildlife encounters I’ve had – possibly the most magical – is definitely the most boast-worthy. After spending a year in New Zealand, I decided to explore the South Pacific for a bit. While this plan didn’t entirely work out, I did stay three weeks in the Kingdom of Tonga. My decision to travel to one of the least-visited countries in the world was entirely based upon the fact that it was possible to swim with the migrating humpback whales that passed by the islands. It cost a ridiculous amount of money, but it was worth every penny.

Unlike my experience swimming with whale sharks in the Philippines, the guides here took the welfare of the whales very seriously, limiting the number of boats and swimmers around the whales. We spent over two hours with a mother and calf while they chilled lazily in the warm, deep waters. I was constantly catching my breath at the sight of them. Even better, I happened to be on a boat with four underwater photographers.

Read more: Swimming With Giants – The Humpbacks of Tonga

7. Black Rhino in Malawi

With rhino numbers plummeting all over Africa, I knew I had only a limited amount of time to see them in the wild. So when I found out that several Black Rhinos had been reintroduced into Liwonde, I was really excited. I got to know the rhino researcher while living there, and one day he offered to take me out with him when he went tracking.

Several hours later, we were moving agonisingly slowly through the bush, taking care with every step not to step on those dry leaves, or that twig, knowing there was a rhino mere metres away from us. With an armed ranger in front of me and Kris behind, of course my heart was pounding, knowing at any second the rhino could spook and take flight, potentially in our direction. What an experience.

So it was with great sadness that I heard only months later that Kris had been killed by a rhino while working on another relocation project in Rwanda. His lovely wife and beautiful baby daughter were left behind and I can only imagine their sorrow. He was a dedicated and passionate wildlife conservationist and will always be missed. His passing has made this memory one of my most cherished top wildlife encounters.

8. Loggerhead Turtles in Cape Verde

I spent four months living on the beach in Sal, one of the main islands of the Cape Verde archipelago off the west coast of Africa, working as a loggerhead turtle field ranger. It was physically and mentally the hardest period of my life, but it was worth it to see the incredible difference the organisation I was working for – Project Biodiversity – was making to the loggerheads that come to Sal to lay their eggs each year.

Six nights a week I patrolled the beaches with volunteers, other field assistants and soldiers to deter poachers and record data on any turtles or tracks we found. By the end of the season I had seen hundreds of nesting females and thousands of hatchlings released into the ocean, but the magic of each and every one of those wildlife encounters never faded.

Read more: Project Biodiversity – Saving Sal’s Turtles One Night At A Time

9. Quokkas on Rottnest Island

I took the ferry from Perth to Rottnest Island for one purpose only: to find the ridiculously adorable quokka I’d seen in all those #quokkaselfie pictures. I thought they’d at least be a little hard to find on the island, but nope. There they were under the picnic tables, next to the bakery, under some trees by the lighthouse, hopping between the tourist cabins, trying to steal my little stuffed lion toy…they were pretty much everywhere.

I didn’t manage to get a classic quokka selfie, but it was such a fun experience anyway. Their friendly nature comes more from a lack of natural predators on the island than simply habituation to human presence.

Read more: The Rottnest Island Quokkas: Australia’s Cutest Animal

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10. Sea Lions on the Otago Peninsula

While living in Queenstown for the winter back in 2014, my roommate and I decided to hire a car and do a little roadtrip across to Dunedin, on New Zealand’s south east coast. Snow-capped mountains are great and all, but sometimes you just want a little beach. On the Otago Peninsula, a short drive from the city, there are beautiful sandy beaches home to Little Penguins. While I have yet to tick off any penguins from my wildlife bucket list (unfortunately, we were there at the wrong time of day), we did see the other occupants of the beach.

The Hooker Sea Lion (don’t laugh) is a common sight here, with their giant bodies covered in sand from sleeping on the beach. The males really are ginormous, and rather scary, but generally don’t care that you’re there. While sea lions look so graceful in the water, they do not look at all graceful on land. Rather, they look more like overweight couch-potatoes that occasionally roll over for a scratch or throw themselves down the beach (surprisingly quickly), teeth bared, when they decide they like another sea lion’s patch of sand better.

Read More: 20 Amazing New Zealand Destinations Not To Miss

How to Have Responsible Wildlife Encounters:

Never, EVER feed wildlife.

Enticing wildlife with food not only puts yourself in danger, but can lead to wildlife learning to depend on humans to survive or becoming more aggressive – neither of which are a good thing. Human food can also be dangerous to animals, making them ill or malnourished.

Mind your food and dispose of scraps properly.

Feeding wildlife can occur accidentally too, if left unattended or not thrown away correctly. When camping, hiking, or just out in nature, store any snacks or food in proper containers, and don’t leave food lying around unwatched. Even if you think there are no animals around, there probably are. And never leave food next to a rubbish bin. If the bins are full or you can’t find one, take it with you. Don’t be lazy!

Keep your distance.

Wildlife is unpredictable. Unless you’re very familiar with animal behaviour, it can be hard to tell how wildlife is reacting to a situation. Just because an animal looks calm, doesn’t mean it is. Certain times of the year have added dangers, such as mating seasons. Animals can be even more aggressive or volatile during these times, so extra caution is necessary. There have been too many instances of tourists getting too close to wildlife and getting injured, which usually leads to negative consequences for the animal as well.

Don’t touch.

If you’re lucky enough that an animal approaches you of their own free will, please don’t try to pat them. They’re not pets, they don’t enjoy it and it can spook them into doing something aggressive. Your touch can also be dangerous to some animals, particularly marine wildlife who have very sensitive skin. Whales, dolphins and sea turtles can be harmed by the chemicals often found on our skin from lotions, suncream and insect repellent.

Always be aware of your surroundings.

Many wildlife encounters become dangerous simply because the human wasn’t paying attention. When out in nature, always listen out for wildlife, don’t wear headphones, make noise and travel in groups if possible.

Stay calm.

Always important. If you’re surprised by wildlife, remain calm and don’t run. While the original intention of the animal is probably not to hunt, suddenly running or moving away may cause their chase instincts to kick in. Stay facing them and back away slowly. 

Which of these wildlife encounters would you most like to have?

I want to hear all about the amazing animals you’ve seen in the wild – tell me your stories in the comments!

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