Program Reviews

This course is definitely an experience. Personally, going from never having thought about leading expeditions, to be able to, is awesome. You learn so much along the way, with so many amazing experiences. I would definitely recommend.

ELT course has given me a really sound base to begin my career. The jungle environment and intensity and diversity of the training has enabled
me to learn on the go.
River canoeing, navigation jungle activities getting my planning focused.
A dynamic group of people helped us build on our weaknesses.
A tough course for people wanting something a bit different who are really looking to find themselves in a challenging well organised structure.

Travelling Australia was amazing and definitely worth it!!! Going up the East Coast was the best part and the people I met were incredible!! The sites were amazing and so much to do!! Never a dull moment and the 6 weeks in Australia were incredible and you can stay on for longer as well making it worthwhile!!

Have always wanted to travel but felt like going with a group/company would be best for the first time. I chose this trip as it had a mixture of expirences, for me one of the highlights of the whole trip was the Sachu Yacu wild animal rescue centre. Volunteering with animals is something I have wanted to do for a very long time and will base many future travels around. The place is so relaxing and peaceful, being in the Amazon rainforest Is truly an amazing experience. Working so closely with wild animals is experience you will never forget, going inside a cage with an ocelot is both terrifying and incredible at the same time! The people who run the place are so lovely and quickly become good friends along with all the other volunteers! Saying good bye when leaving was sad because everyone becomes so close, it really makes the expirence x10 more wonderful!
Banos is a town in Ecuador which I loved, bungee jumping off a bride is something I never thought I would do but it was absolutely amazing! Being on this trip has increased my confidence hugely, my self-confidence in travelling alone has become something I am no longer afraid off.
The trek to Machu pichu was difficult for me, I struggled quite a lot going uphill, but my leader was so understanding of my injury I came on the trip with and would contiously check up on me to make sure I was not in pain, he was so supportive. Completing the trek was a massive achievement for me, and the views from Machu Pichu itself made it so worth while.
My leader was brilliant! His sense of humour was always apparent, even on days with 5am starts! so happy I did not have a different expedition leader as he has taught me so much about travelling, I really couldn't of had anyone better!
The whole trip was better than I hoped and was defiantly the perfect first time travel!

Great trip for those who have never travelled by themselves before. I found it the perfect length of time to fit into my university summer. It also had a range of volunteering activities as well as cultural experiences. I found staying in home stays really helped to improve my Spanish.

My experience of the project in Fiji was one of those rare moments where you think it's too good to be true but the penny just never drops! Nukubalvu is set on an idyllic island and as soon as you arrive it just feels like home. The staff were amazing when I arrived, super friendly and easy to talk to as we'll as really knowledgable about Fijian culture. Going to the local village was a highlight; you are given a family who feed you, give you a bed to sleep in and copious amounts of tea every Sunday (and if you get Ma she hides you when it's time to drink kava!) It may sound quite daunting having to spend a whole day with a family of people you don't know and away from your friends at first, but everyone in every village I visited was so welcoming and kind you soon look forward to spending a relaxing Sunday in their houses! I stayed for two phases on camp, first as a volunteer then as the scientist's assistant - couldn't bear to leave! We started learning to identify fish, inverts and corals straight away and although it seems like a lot of work to start with it's not that hard to learn them all if you just put in a little bit of time and effort. The diving is incredible too; it's always magical floating around underwater but it makes you feel really quite clever when you can recognise all that you are swimming next to! I managed over 150 dives over two phases out in Fiji and never did I find one dive to be the same as another- you always see something different and cool so never ever pass up the chance to go in the water, you never know what you are missing out on!! Best months of my life. I've met some amazing people, seen some fantastic animals, adopted old Walasinger as my pooch (any food you don't eat give to him, he will appreciate it more than anyone) - safe to say I would jump back there in a heartbeat.

My Thailand trip was definitely the break I needed from a long and stressful final school year, I had a ton of fun and met loads of great people. The first few days in Bangkok were busy, some of it wasn't too spectacular like the floating market - big tourist trap - but a lot of the temples were amazing, and the locals were so friendly! Then we had a few relaxing days in Hua Hin by the beach, I think the boat tour we did was almost everyones highlight. We stopped at an island inhabitited only by little monkeys! Everyone got massively sunburnt apart from me. Bring suncream or your face may peel like our Group Leaders did... We then took a five hour train back to Bangkok followed by a night-train to Chiang Mai. That was a long day. Chiang-Mai was probably my favourite place, we saw elephants, tigers, did a bike tour, went "tubing" down the river (floating on big rubber rings) and of course the nightlife was pretty great. After a week we took another night train down to Lothburi and stayed with loads of other volunteers while working at an orphanage, another great week and I was never bored. The kids were lovely and there are other things to do like swimming, shopping, etc. I remember always feeling really safe in Thailand, our group leader did a great job although I felt like communication between him and head office wasn't great, our trup was different to what we expected. I still had an amazing time and would absolutely reccomend the program to anyone interesting in Thailand, volunteering or just meeting new people and seeing an entirely different part of the world culturally.

I had the most amazing time in Thailand! Although I do agree with Zoe
Bell, more organization wouldn't go amiss, as well as more communication between the people that were on the phones to us and the leader in Thailand. I feel not much organization was done before hand and it did not match up with what I had planned with someone on the phone, if it wasn't for Ben our leader in Thailand, I wouldn't have come back very happy. He was amazing, he took into consideration how we all felt as a group and then catered to our needs. Thanks to Ben I had an amazing time and met some amazing friends! So thank you Ben for making this trip unforgettable!

I was overall very happy with my gapforce trip to Thailand. However, I was disappointed by the organisation and planning. My co-ordinator Ben was fantastic, he took into consideration everything suggested by us volunteers concerning how we wanted to spend our time in Thailand. I felt very safe with him as my co-ordinator. Unfortunately the programme did not match the itinerary that I had signed up for which was disappointing, Ben tried to book us into everything we wanted to do but I felt the trip had very poor pre planning which was a disappointment. Also on arrival to Thailand I did not feel too safe because I was given minimal information on where I was meeting Ben and given no contact information.

Course:
Throughout the past 4 months the TEL course has challenged, pushed and inspired me. The course was run in sections each one taking our skills and abilities to the next level. It was well paced and very effective in ensuring we learnt everything correctly and safely but also realistically. The course utilised many different areas of Belize and as much variation as possible. I feel this was very beneficial and broadened our scope of learning especially meeting and working with many of the local guides and rangers. This was clearly only achievable with the excellent relations that the leaders had with all the local contacts and the mutual respect was obvious to see. Overall I found the course very well run and constantly challenging and enjoyable and also pushing us in many different directions. I joined to TEL course to push myself in different and challenging environments and I feel it achieved this on every level.
Leaders:
Our leaders for the TEL course, Henry Reynolds and Leo Bradbury, I feel, were the main factors in the success and the enjoyment of the course. Their enthusiasm and clear love of the jungle environment really shone through. There was a real feel that they both wanted to show off the best that Belize has to offer and while a lot of the course could be run in one area they really wanted to take us away and push us in other challenging areas and experience as much as possible. The desire to try new things, see new areas and ensure that we all experienced everything available was clear to see. The excellent relationships that they both have with the local guides and rangers was also clear and really benefitted the overall experience. The teaching methods were both well balanced and well thought out allowing us to practice all our skills whilst also being available to aid and educate us before any assessment to ensure a full understanding is gathered. Overall the leaders were excellent, always enthusiastic and fully engaged in giving us the best experience possible. They are both great assets to the TEL program and I believe intrigal to the course’s future success.