Garden Route Wolf Sanctuary — Attraction in George

Still trying do decide whether I liked this place or not. Will summarize positives and negatives to help you with your choice of whether you want to go or not.

Positives

The farm animals were wonderful very cute The goats have character The pigs are fat :) They give you food to feed the farm animals Nice play area for kids If you have kids they will love the farm animals The wolf dogs seemed to love the guides that were taking people on tours so they don't seem badly treated. The actual enclosures they are in aren't in bad condition Animals look well looked after

Negatives

You have to pay extra for a guided tour ( I am quite conflicted about the exploitation of letting people touch the wolves and take pictures with them. Would think with a Sanctuary they would not be exploiting the animals and making money off of them like this) Enclosures weren't big enough for the wolves (not that this is a professional opinion but I would think wolves in the wild cover many kilometers) Supposed to be a Sanctuary but there is no info on why the wolves are there. Why it is a Sanctuary? If there was more info it would be informative to know what the wolves are doing there in the first place. No one you can ask for more info otherwise you have to pay for guided tour. I think if there was more info available to the public it would have been a much more informed visit and my star rating would be much higher. I think in general people need this info In my opinion a place is not a Sanctuary unless the animals have been saved from human cruelty (circus etc) and cannot be released into the wild due to being too tame/too familiar with humans or unless they are being rehabilitated and released back into the wild. South Africa is not a wolves' natural environment. It is too hot for wolves here Quite expensive to essentially see huskies and wolf dogs in large cages and farm animals. Some of the wolves/huskies seem a bit anxious (pacing up and down) The wolves and dogs have scabby and bloody ears due to the flies. They do mention they have introduced a wasp that is not harmful to animals or humans but eats flies so hopefully this will help with the fly problem and help the wolves ears heal in future.

In general I think it would be better if the actual wolves stayed in their natural environment (the wild) as they seemed more anti social and not as happy as the huskies or wolf dogs. I don't think actual wolves should be in cages full stop and it was a little sad...

I visited the Garden Route Wolf Sanctuary with high hopes, especially after paying the R200 entrance fee per person. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed and would not recommend this experience.

From the moment we entered, nearly all the wolves were sleeping or completely inactive. I understand that animals have their own rhythms, but as a visitor, it’s quite frustrating to find almost every animal asleep, especially when there is no guidance or signage to manage expectations.

What made the experience worse was the attitude of one of the staff members. A female staff member approached us in a very harsh and disrespectful manner early during our visit. I had snapped my fingers trying to get the attention of the wolves—something I didn’t know was not allowed. Instead of politely explaining, she abruptly told me, “Respect! Respect!” in a raised, confrontational tone. I tried to explain that I didn’t know it was against the rules, but she cut me off and falsely accused me of kicking the fence and running around—which I absolutely did not do. I was shocked and frustrated by how she exaggerated what happened.

From that point on, she continued to watch us, making us feel uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Ironically, the small petting farm section turned out to be far more enjoyable than the main wolf area. The farm animals were active, friendly, and fun to interact with—unlike the sleeping wolves and the cold human interaction.

In summary: • Ticket price: R200 per person • Animals: Mostly inactive wolves with minimal interaction • Staff: One rude and unprofessional staff member created a very negative atmosphere • Best part: The farm animal section — much more enjoyable than expected

Unless staff attitudes and visitor communication improve, I wouldn’t recommend this place. You might regret the visit,...

The animals were all thin and sickly, the dogs all had ear mite wounds that the flies kept sitting on. The bunnies had eye infections. All the animals were too thin and did not look well taken care of at all. The 2 monkeys were terrified of people and ran everytime somebody looked at them. Don't expect to even see any authentic wolves only dog wolf mixtures, kept in "packs" that are far too small even according to their "information boards" wolves are supposed to be kept in packs of 5 or more.. Not 2. It's completely overpriced and not worth it at all! There is zero useful information explaining which is a wolf and which is a dog mix.. Clearly they don't even have any pure wolves available. There were no wildlife specialists or anybody that we could see that walks around or makes sure people don't do stupid things to the animals. There were people scratching and playing with the wolf dogs sticking their hands through the cages and disobeying every rule but nobody was there to watch or stop them. The only staff we saw was the 3 ladies in the kitchen and they were nice. Don't waste your money on this "experience" rather go somewhere nice like the Cango Wildlife Ranch where they actually care about the animals and treat...