Today we went to the sanctuary, without doubt the absolute highlight of the trip and such a huge privilege!

It was just wonderful to meet the bears and some of the dogs and cats, and be guided through the sanctuary by Jill. We arrived on a health check day so we were able to get very close to one of the bears and give her a kiss and a hug. Although she was asleep, I’m sure she felt all the love.

It was great to be able to meet some of the staff as well and Dave Neale, who was on site so gave us an update on his work as well. After dinner, we saw the bears in bed just before we left, which was just magical.

No one wanted to leave but eventually we had to say goodbye to everyone. We were taken back to the hotel where we had farewell drinks in the bar. Back to London tomorrow.