What Travelers Should Know: Spotting Exploitation and Choosing Alternatives in the Middle East

Travel often arrives as a promise: to witness history, to meet new people, to feel the scale of places that shaped human stories. Across the Middle East, that promise can be complicated by scenes many visitors find hard to reconcile with the wonder of monuments, deserts, and coasts. At archaeological sites, desert safaris, coastal resorts, and urban promenades, animals frequently appear as part of the visitor experience, with working equids carrying people up steep paths, camels posed for photographs, dolphins performing in tanks, and animals presented for staged photos. Investigations and reports from animal‑welfare organizations, including high‑profile exposés by groups such as PETA alongside local advocates and international media, have documented animals showing signs of exhaustion, untreated injuries, and chronic neglect: bodies and behavior reveal long hours, inadequate rest, and stress from repeated handling and confinement.