Location
  • Tanzania
    • Arusha
    • Zanzibar
Length
1 to 16 weeks

Program Details

Language
English
Timeframe
Short Term Spring Break Summer Winter Year Round
Housing
Guesthouse Host Family
Groups
Small Group (1-15) Medium Group (16-30) Large Group (31+)
Travel Type
Budget Family Older Travelers Solo Women

Pricing

Starting Price
295
Price Details
Fully hosted experience from only $295 for 1 week - this includes airport pick-up, orientation, accommodation, meals and 24/7 in-country support.
What's Included
Accommodation Some Activities Airport Transfers Meals Wifi
What's Not Included
Airfare Travel Insurance Visa
Apr 27, 2023
Mar 06, 2024
88 travelers are looking at this program

About Program

Trusted by 125,000+ volunteers, IVHQ offers the world's #1 rated volunteer programs in Tanzania and 50+ destinations worldwide.

For 5 years, we've won the "Top Volunteer Abroad Provider Award" from GoOverseas, so you can trust that you're in the safest hands with IVHQ in Tanzania.

Our affordable projects start from $24/day for your accommodation, meals, airport pick-up, project placement and local support. Projects run year-round, with durations from 1-16 weeks. Choose from 8 projects, ranging from Animal Welfare, Sustainable Agriculture and Childcare in Arusha, a small city near Mt Kilimanjaro to the Maasai Immersion based at a village in Maasailand. Plus, you’ll stay with other like-minded, impact-focused travelers from around the world (private room options available).

With IVHQ’s superior pre-departure support services, you’ll gain exclusive access to your own Volunteer Travel Specialist, comprehensive preparation tools and volunteer training before you leave home.

Video and Photos

Program Highlights

  • Cheapest volunteer programs from $24/day for your accommodation, meals, airport pick-up, project placement & local support.
  • Volunteer for 1-16 weeks, year round start dates most Mondays
  • 15+ years experience & only B Corp certified volunteer travel organization
  • Get free changes up to 14 days before you start with our flexible booking policy
  • Affordable way to earn college credit - gain 5 credits for only US$500!

Popular Programs

IVHQ Zanzibar Turtle Conservation

Support a local Marine Turtle Sanctuary in Nungwi - a coastal village home to Zanzibar’s finest beaches. As a Turtle Conservation volunteer, you’ll have the opportunity to get involved in helping boost wild turtle populations and assist with treating and releasing injured turtles.

Volunteer with children in Tanzania with IVHQ

Do you love working with children and want to provide invaluable support within childcare centers across Tanzania? Work alongside local caregivers as a Childcare Volunteer, creating fun and educational environments to support the development of local children.

Medical Volunteering with IVHQ

Enhance your global perspective of medicine by shadowing and assisting medical professionals in clinics and hospitals around Arusha. This project is open to students in at least their third year of medical or nursing school, or fully qualified professionals. Paramedics, EMTs and CNAs are also welcome.

Maasai Immersion Project

Live like the Maasai people on this truly unique cultural immersion experience. Help in the village with farming, teaching, bead making or building to support the learning and development of local people.

Teach children in Tanzania with IVHQ

Collaborate with local teachers in Tanzania and lead classes of up to 80 students across a wide range of subjects. This is an opportunity to play a hands-on role in delivering more focused education to students within schools of limited resources.

Volunteer with women in Tanzania with IVHQ

Support with the education of local Tanzanian women who come from challenging backgrounds, giving them a chance to upskill and earn a sustainable income.

Volunteer with animals with IVHQ

Volunteer alongside a local vet in Tanzania, delivering mobile care to farm and domestic animals around Arusha. This project is perfect for all volunteers who love working with animals and have a passion for animal welfare.

IVHQ Zanzibar Rainforest and Coastal Conservation

Work within the local community to support the conservation of the Jozani Forest - the largest area of indigenous forest on the island of Zanzibar. You'll assist with environmental education efforts through various activities, including helping at a small reptile sanctuary, working at a farm co-op and assisting with mangrove tree planting.

Program Reviews

4.96 Rating
based on 113 reviews
  • 5 rating 96.46%
  • 4 rating 3.54%
  • 3 rating 0%
  • 2 rating 0%
  • 1 rating 0%
  • Impact 4.8
  • Support 4.95
  • Fun 4.9
  • Value 4.75
  • Safety 4.85
Showing 1 - 8 of 113 reviews
Default avatar
Evan
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Great Experience with IVHQ

In February 2024, I embarked on my first ever solo travel adventure - Volunteering in Tanzania for a month with IVHQ. I loved every minute of my time in Africa, the local team and coordinators were very kind and incredibly helpful! The accommodation was good, and the all of the staff, especially the "Mamas" at the house were incredibly friendly and very welcoming. There were lots of extra activities to do in the evening and the 4 day safari in the Serengeti is an experience I will never forget!
I can't wait for my next adventure with IVHQ and would highly recommend them to anyone thinking of volunteering abroad.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
If I did this programme again I would book to stay for longer! A month was a good amount of time for my first solo adventure, but I really do wish I could've stayed for longer - it was amazing!
Default avatar
Faith
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Another Fantastic Trip with IVHQ

This is my 3rd trip with IVHQ and that speaks volumes. Right from when you sign up, you get immediate support and assistance. Once you get to the country you are volunteering in, as a solo female traveler, you feel safe and comfortable with the help and organization they provide. All the lovely people I have met at the local placements have been wonderful and helpful. Food is always delicious (one of my favorite parts!) and the added excursions in some of these trips are fantastic!!! I am already planning my 4th and 5th trips.

If you did this all over again, what's one thing you would change?
I would not sign up for the excursions in advance. I would sign up when I get to the country.
6 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Nancy
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Time in Tanzania

I loved my experience with IVHQ and the host team. The application process was easy and the IVHQ staff was very responsive and helped us manage our expectations. The host team was absolutely amazing! I traveled with my husband, and we fell in love with the host team. They were so kind, organized and very responsive. They were always willing to answer questions and check in to see that everything was going smoothly. We really enjoyed working alongside the local people at our job sites. I worked in a local hospital/clinic and he worked construction building a house. It was also fun to work with other volunteers who were from all over the world. The homestay was beyond our expectations and the host mama and her family were very welcoming to everyone who came into their home. We found we loved traveling this way. It was an opportunity to connect to the local people and culture and see more of this beautiful country than we would have otherwise.

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Be open minded and open hearted. People will be responsive if you are patient, kind and positive. If your expectations aren't being met, you may need to reflect on what may need to be adjusted. Advocate for yourself in a way that is kind and professional. The people of Tanzania have their own sense of time which may be different than yours, relax and enjoy the scenery and/or the people next to you. You never know who you're going to meet.
Pros
  • I was able to engage with the people and their culture in a way you may not have been able to otherwise.
Cons
  • Public transportation is really crowded, but doable.
9 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Lucia
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Volunteering in Tanzania

I had an amazing experience volunteering in Tanzania that I would repeat thousand times if I could. The local team was so nice and they helped me in everything I needed. I really enjoyed going to my placement and meeting so many incredible children, I learned so much from them and their culture and I’ll be grateful forever! I also made so many friends from all around the world and that was one of the best things of my trip, it was an amazing and life changing experience that I would really recommend!

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
Go with an open mind, you will experience and see things that you don’t even expect but you will learn so much from that!
Pros
  • Make so many friends
  • So nice local team
9 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Ciara
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

The most amazing experience of my life!

Hard to put this experience into words really! The most amazing team. Couldn’t have made this journey any easier for me. Completely fell in love with the people, the place and of course the culture. Felt so so welcomed into the community, everywhere you went you were greeted with a smile, and pure happiness from the Locals. Made some real friends for life, and got to meet the most amazing children. Cant wait to book my flights back, and get back to doing it all over again. Thank you IVHQ!!!!!!!!

What is your advice to future travelers on this program?
JUST DO IT
Pros
  • Friendliest people
  • Supportive company
  • Amazing children
Cons
  • I had to leave
  • .
  • .
8 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Trini
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Thank you IVHQ

My volunteering experience quite literally changed my life. It had always been a lifelong dream to volunteer in Africa and IVHQ made that happen in the best possible way.
Pre trip I was very supported through emails from IVHQ, as they would send me information and always answered any questions I had, which helped me reduce my anxiety.
During the program, the local team was amazing! From the moment you step off the plane, you’re supported by them. We were taught to move around and experience the place like a local, which was the best because it helps you immediately feel at home. I didn’t even think of getting homesick!
My placement was everything I had ever dreamed of: the students, teachers I got to meet. It was such a soul fulfilling experience.
And if that weren’t enough, the people you get to meet are everything! The people in our volunteer house became a family, it was such a special bond that I will forever cherish.
Overall it was such an incredible experience that I can’t recommend enough. Thank you IVHQ!

9 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Jennifer
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

Childcare in Tanzania

This experience was by far the best thing I’ve could’ve done. I learned so much about myself but also the loving culture I was welcomed into. Every local I came across was welcoming and happy to see us enjoying their country. Not once did I regret my experience and I’m so glad I have these memories and life long friends to remember. I was involved in the childcare project, and those kids were the highlight of my day. They were so happy to see us and loving. The bonds I’ve created with some kids are something I will cherish, I hope to travel back soon to see them again!

What was the most unfamiliar thing you ate?
I drank goats blood and ate raw goat kidney with my day with the Massai tribe!
Pros
  • The local mamas
  • The food
  • The experiences
Cons
  • Lots of bug spray
  • Lots of mud
12 people found this review helpful.
Default avatar
Rosalyn
5/5
Yes, I recommend this program

LIFE CHANGING

I booked with IVHQ for my three week trip to Arusha, Tanzania to volunteer at a local preschool. The trip exceeded any and all expectations in the best way possible. I felt completely safe and at home in Tanzania. IVHQ was there for support whenever it was needed. Through them, I was able to meet 30 other volunteers from all around the world. I was expecting for this trip to change me and challenge me, but the outcome was greater than ever. I not only learned so much about myself, but I gained an appreciation for so many things that at home we describe as necessities. I learned the true value of love and time, and I learned to be at peace with where I am in the present moment. I could go on and on about how much this experience has changed me. Moral of the story though, IVHQ has allowed me to become the woman I have always wanted to be and I cannot thank them enough for also allowing the process to be quite simple and effortless. Being able to travel all around Tanzania on the most wildest adventures like a 4 day safari in the Serengeti or hike to the most beautiful waterfall, as well as being able to care for children and be apart of something so wholesome, is something I only ever dreamed of.

What was your funniest moment?
My funniest moment would have to be when all of us volunteers went out for dinner and drinks and it turned into a full blown kareoke night with the locals. All of us singing brown eyed girl, laughing and dancing will be something I will always remember.
Pros
  • Self-development/ growth
  • Understanding/ appreciation
  • adventures/ friendships
Cons
  • pushed out of your comfort zone
  • not much cell service
  • you will get dirty/muddy
21 people found this review helpful.

Questions & Answers

So for me to get from Calgary, Alberta, Canada to the Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania, it cost about $2800 Canadian dollars through KLM.

Hi Eesha, As long as you travel with a parent, guardian or family member who is 18 years or over, you are eligible to participate on one of our programs! When you apply, it is important that you include the name of your family member on your application, so that our local team can ensure you are placed with your sister. Jordan IVHQ Community Manager

Hi Sarah! Children volunteering as part of a group with adult minders, or with a parent, guardian or family member who is 18 years or over, are eligible to participate on an IVHQ program. When a volunteer under the age of 18 applies to volunteer with IVHQ, it is important that the name of their minder is noted on their application, so we know that they are eligible to volunteer and our local team...