One of the Best Outfitters on Earth - National Geographic Adventure
Wild Planet Adventures
When traveling to the world's most remote and wild places, experience is critical! Our 22 years of wildlife travel experience is why we have been selected as one of the Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth by National Geographic Adventure, an award given to a tour operator whose trips meet the very highest standards. National Geographic Adventure's rigorous evaluation revealed top scores in 6 categories, including Quality of Service, Sustainability, Spirit of Adventure, Education, Client Experience, and Overall. We back up this top ranking in "The World's First Authoritative Rating of Adventure Tour Operators" with an astounding 4 trips amongst National Geographic Traveler's "World's 50 Best Tours", as well as a Top 10 "Must-Do" trip by Fodors, and several awards from Smarter Travel, who research and evaluate the world's best travel values. In fact, we have been so successful as the world's premier wildlife travel company, the largest segment of our business comes from repeat travelers.
2012 World's 50 Best Trips - National Geographic Traveler
Zambia Ultimate Wildlife Safari: An Ensemble of Legendary Master Guides
Four of our wildlife eco-tours have been named amongst the "World's Best Guided Trips" by National Geographic Traveler. In 2012 our Zambia "Ensemble of Legendary Master Guides" was named a "Tour of a Lifetime", noting that Wild Planet Adventures has "paired 3 master safari guides with three wildly divergent ecosystems in a country where its easy to see the Big Five--and there are fewer jeeps competing for a gander at them. These top trackers take on walking safaris in the woodlands and along the rivers of South Luangwa National Park; on game drives in the plains and wetlands of Kafue National Park; and canoeing past elephants in Mana Pools National Park.
2009 World's Best New Trips - National Geographic Adventure
India Ultimate Wildlife Safari:
Leopards, Tigers & Palaces
When National Geographic Adventure awarded our India "Ultimate Wildlife Safari; Leopards, Tigers & Palaces" one of the "25 Best New Trips in the World", they drew attention to our behind-the-scenes wildlife expertise. "If India's largest rhino population migrates to a region so remote it requires an extra flight, WPA charters a plane. If finding those rhinos means riding elephants into Himalayan foothills, WPA hires mahouts. WPA is constantly modifying itineraries based on the most up-to-date animal sightings, forming partnerships with local wildlife experts, and spearheading animal conservation efforts. The payoff is a dizzyingly exotic safari..." No other travel company goes this far to assure the best possible wildlife experience!
2007 "Top 10 Must-Do-Trips" - FODOR'S
Costa Rica: Ultimate Wildlife Eco Tour
Our first signature trip in Costa Rica ranked as one of FODOR'S top "10 Must-Do-Trips" in 2007, and then had the incredible honor to make FODOR'S very own bucket list again in 2008. FODOR'S noted the incredible value included in our unprecedented wildlife eco-tour; hiking and wildlife viewing with top naturalist or biologist guides in 8 national parks and reserves, plus cloudforest canopy tours, whitewater and flat-water river rafting, hot springs, volcanoes, beaches on both coasts, sea-kayaking with dolphins, snorkeling at night in the bioluminescence, a scarlet macaw migration and sloth rescue center. This is the ground-breaking trip that established Wild Planet as wildlife specialists; featuring interactions with animals, with wildlife specialists and scientific researchers, plus night hikes for nocturnal animals, safari-style paddling, and much more.
2007 World's 50 Best Trips - National Geographic Traveler
Thailand Ultimate Wildlife Eco Tour
National Geographic Traveler featured our Thailand Ultimate Wildlife Eco-tour as part of their World's 50 Best Trips in 2007. They were particularly impressed that we had found what they called "a wealth of wildlife sweet-spots, and has developed a low-impact wildlife experience based on conservation rather than exploitation." They raved about our deep jungle safari in Kaeng Krachan and Khao Sam Roi Yod national parks, snorkeling on Thailand's famous reef, cultural experiences in Chaing Mai and visits to an eco-responsible elephant camp and tiger rescue center. And they just love the climactic end of our trip: "The piece de resistance is saved for last...You'll spend three days in tree house in the rainforest. From your camp in the canopy, you'll see wildlife during the best times-at dawn, dusk and night. Harnessed onto a network of zip lines, you can zoom from ridge to ridge and to other tree houses for panoramic views and close-up wildlife encounters."
Best New Adventure Trips - Smarter Travel
India Ultimate Wildlife Safari: Leopards, Tigers & Palaces
Smarter Travel, who research and evaluate the world's best travel values, couldn't get over the sheer amount value we packed into our India Ultimate Wildlife multi-safari. "Africa isn't the only place in world where you can go on safari to see big game animals. [India is] home to rare species such as Bengal tigers, Indian rhinos, red pandas, and clouded leopards. "Smarter Travel acknowledged our wildlife expertise is uncommon; "Wild Planet Adventures [is] a wildlife specialist known for going to extraordinary lengths to give its clients the best and most unique wildlife viewing experiences possible." [In India] we don't just visit one or even two national parks, but rather five separate parks and wildlife areas," says Company Director Josh Cohen. "We've chosen these areas because they are either the single best place in India to see certain animals [and], when put together, they allow the traveler to be exposed to a wider variety of ecosystems than other tours, and therefore a wider variety of wildlife."
2008 World's 50 Best Trips - National Geographic Traveler
Coiba Island: The Hidden Dive Secret of the Decade
National Geographic Traveler named "Coiba Island - The Hidden Dive Secret of the Decade" amongst the "World's 50 Best Tours" in 2008. Coiba is a 1.1 million acre national park in Panama that is comprised of 7 virtually unknown islands that are only now becoming barely accessible to adventure divers. Wild Planet is proud to be amongst the first tour operators to offer SCUBA diving at this unparalleled UNESCO World Heritage Site. Coiba's reef is amongst the most pristine in the world due to the stigma of a former penal colony on one of the islands, plus the fact that it is completely outside of the hurricane belt. "Chances are that you'll be diving at some spots as the first human."
Best New Adventure Trips - Smarter Travel
Thailand & Laos: Ultimate Wildlife Eco-tour
Smarter Travel who research and evaluate the world's best travel values, gave our Thailand & Laos Ultimate Wildlife eco-tour their "Best Trip" award, noting that it "is a doozy, offering more outstanding wildlife encounters than any other tour in the region." Focusing on trips that combine wildlife viewing activities with creature comforts, and applauded our efforts to find the "the best preserved wildlife habitats and unusual activities. This task was a challenge in Thailand, a country with a history of allowing its environment to be damaged by reckless tourism, but [Wild Planet Adventures] managed to find a series of hidden gems and string them all together into one far-ranging 15-day trip."
World's 50 Best New Trips - National Geographic Traveler
India Ultimate Wildlife Safari:
Leopards, Tigers & Palaces
In 2010 National Geographic Traveler named our India Ultimate Wildlife multi-safari amongst the World's Best Guided Expeditions. They gushed about our tiger safaris by elephant-back, and noted "this wildlife-focused excursion through northern India also has you riding camels, rickshaws, rafts, and jeeps, to observe leopards, rhinos, monkeys, mongoose, and more at five national parks and wildlife refuges." Only Wild Planet offers a combination of safaris in such a wide variety of eco-systems, for the best wildlife experience possible. In addition to unsurpassed wildlife viewing, you'll immerse yourself in India's cultural and spiritual melange of sights, scents and colors as you explore the golden-hued desert strongholds of Jodhpur and Jaipur, the magnificent Taj Mahal, the remote villages of Rajasthan and off-the-beaten-track Assam, the Bishnois sect of Hindus who revere wildlife as part of their religion, and more. No other company offers anything like this!
2014 World's 50 Best Trips - National Geographic Traveler
Brazil "On the Jaguar's Trail--Pantanal to the Amazon"
Our fifth "Tour of a Lifetime" award by National Geographic Traveler highlights both the extensive planning that goes into our wildlife itineraries and the industry's best practices for wildlife viewing that puts the needs of the animals first. Our Brazil Pantanal to Amazon "On the Jaguar's Trail" safari features the virtually unknown Taiama Ecological Reserve, where we've been averaging 1.5 jaguar sightings per day. Our jaguar sightings are of exceptional high-quality, as we're usually the only boat in the vicinity, unlike more commercial areas where jaguars are often quickly surrounded by 20-30 boats. In addition to jaguars, wildlife lover's will thrill to the Pantanal's abundant wildlife, including hyacinth macaws, giant anteaters, silvery marmosets, playful giant otters and more. An exclusive primatologist-designed Primate Program in the Amazon rounds out the trip, with an option to visit Iguassu Falls.
