Program Reviews

Seychelles was incredible, the scenes were that out of a movie and the people made the memories, I genuinely couldn't change a thing because I don't know what could beat it.
The number of times I thought to myself, "how is this real" would be surprising, but that's exactly how it felt, I was swimming in coral reeds on the other side of the world, identifying fish and helping make a difference, and that feeling will be difficult to match. Seychelles made one of the best months of my life and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to go.

My time in Greece was a wonderful experience. I spent 4weeks working with the GVI Greece team looking after the sea turtles. I learnt so much while volunteering with GVI and felt like I was making an impact the entire time I was there! I was also able to explore a lot of the local area while volunteering as we had a lot of free time. This was such an eye opening experience that allowed me to realise my passion for conservation.
I would 100% recommend volunteering with GVI, as I will be again in the future :)

Had an incredible time with GVI Ghana; spent one month working in local partner schools with primary aged children assisting with one to ones to support literacy and maths. Work was very rewarding, kids were very engaged and you could see their progression. Felt very well looked after, food provided was a lovely mix of Ghanaian and western. Had plenty of cultural activities including African dancing, trip to Cape coast slave castle and hiking trip to the lush Volta region. Overall an incredible experience I am eager to go back!

I’m an undergrad marine biologist and decided to come to GVI Seychelles as part of my placement year at uni, my main goal of the academic internship is to gain research for my dissertation as well as get involved with marine conservation! The staff are great at listening to your ideas about things such as your project ideas or even suggestions around base. I’ve made loads of friends since being here and really don’t want to leave! If getting to dive 5 days a week in the most amazing reefs doesn’t entice you I don’t know what will!

Staff members are very nice. It takes a bit of time to get used to the base and your daily schedule but once you get used to it you will have a wonderful time. You get introduced to a life of a marine biologist who has to take care of his/her diving equipment which includes filling up your tanks by yourself. The weekends off are a great opportunity to discover the rest of the main island (Mahé) but you can also discover other islands (I went to Praslin and La Digue with the other volunteers on base). Speaking of other volunteers, during these 4 weeks I got to meet some incredible people. Working together from Monday to Friday and then having a nice weekend really helps making friends.
To conclude, I definitely do not regret signing up for this experience and encourage everyone reading this to do it too!!

I am a fourth year Biology Student at the University of St. Andrews. I chose to take part in a GVI program over the summer as a way to create a positive impact and meaningful change, whilst still having fun during my holidays! I loved that the program allowed me to get real hands on experience in turtle conservation. You learn how to do everything really quickly even if the initial PowerPoint lessons sound confusing. The communal living situation was really fun, and even though you are together all the time, it is very easy and normal to go off for some alone time each day! Overall very chill, relaxed and fun vibes, you will make some of the best memories and meet some of the best people from all over the world! Everyone I know that was there for only 2 weeks wanted to stay longer which speaks for itself!

I did the GVI Tenerife U18 program for marine conservation and I genuinely had the experience of a lifetime. It was two weeks of immersing into marine life, conservation and GVI's mission. Being in the U18 group, you also get to experience the island's culture, such as visiting Teide, surfing and going snorkeling. At the same time, you are able to get field experience by going out into the boats, collecting data on the cetaceans we viewed, and doing fin identification as a group when we got back. We helped clean the beaches we were near, and entered our collections into data. This combination of both fun and also serious scientific study is what makes GVI so appealing and perfect for teenagers to also become involved in helping the environment. I think we all have lost a bit of hope when it comes to protecting our planet, but GVI helped reconstruct it for me, and the lessons I learned there have helped me take small steps in assisting the environment from home. You also make the friendships of a lifetime. I can't wait to do it again next summer, and hopefully become a core group volunteer.

This program was full of once in a life time experiences, from swimming with turtles, sharks and whale sharks. The conservation work done by this program has had a meaningful and long lasting effect around the Seychelles protected area and is seeing a recovery. The Dive opportunities are some of the best in the world, and will stay with me for life. There is also plenty of socialising opportunities on the weekends when you can explore the surrounding islands and experience the unique local culture.

I have waited a few weeks before posting this review to allow the dust to settle and also to give GVI time to respond to my direct emails with them. The response I have had from GVI has been wholly unsatisfactory and I hope that parents read this and think carefully before booking with GVI and sending their children abroad with this company.

Pre Trip

Beware… When signing up you will receive mountains of paperwork to complete. Immigration forms, numerous T&C’s, doctors forms, solicitors forms, police checks, references, covid passes etc etc.
I am sure most of this is necessary but GVI could streamline this somewhat, instead they just throw it at you and to make it worse communication with them once the booking and PAYMENT has been made is non-existent, this leaves parents panicking that something may be missing or filled out incorrectly as the trip approaches.

We were also blatantly lied to by GVI.
We specifically asked would there be any add-ons/extras once the trip is paid for, the verbal response was that apart from the flight was NO. This is incorrect….
You will need to pay for a private medical note from a GP, you will need a solicitor to fill in a Notary form (at least £100). We were booked on a diving trip and to all the parents amazement it only comes to light when booked that we need to supply the majority of the diving equipment. All of the wetsuits & masks etc as well dive watches & maker buoys have to be purchased in advance and taken on the trip. It would be much more environmentally friendly if this could be hired/borrowed whilst on the trip as is usually the case when diving abroad. What made it worse that some items weren't even required or used, such as the marker buoys or the expensive diving watch. These didn't even make it out of the box!!

During the trip.
After the hassle and never ending expense we never the less sent our sons in the hope that they got out of the trip what was promised… Not the case.
The trip quickly turned into a farce, it transpires that the majority of the staff in Mexico were themselves just volunteers, I believe they offer some of the adult GVI participants free board etc to assist in looking after the teenage group. These volunteers had absolutely no experience or qualifications in looking after younger people, they couldn't be bothered and some of them became quite threatening. At one stage we were getting reports home and were worried for the safety of our children. Thankfully some of the staff decided to walk out and this was a relief, they were obviously not suitable and we were worried that something terrible could happen.

When getting to Mexico the group were amazed that they were then confined to the compound for large parts of the day, after an hour or two of the so-called activities they were just expected to sit on their beds all day in something similar to “House Arrest”. The whole trip was in then danger of disintegrating, the group were contacting home complaining of the situation and GVI contacted the parents admitting that there were issues and gave a load of spurious excuses.

In the end they didn't do half of what was promised and it certainly wasn't the marine conservation/ diving trip we all paid a lot of money for. It turned into a beach holiday with a bit of diving thrown in!! The group enjoyed each others company and got the most out of it that they could but many things like coral monitoring/conservation & beach cleaning were non existent, they were meant be there to volunteer but not one volunteering duty was undertaken.

When they got home we were waiting for an in-depth email & post mortem from GVI perhaps explaining what happened and some admission of fault..Perhaps even an expected partial refund, instead they just went silent.

I then emailed GVI and their response was appalling. They choose to respond in a very legalistic manor and not apologetic at all, of course they quote various T&C’s, its probably why they bamboozle you with paperwork when booking.

On the trip itself they basically blamed the participants for the lack of coral research they said the group couldn't be trusted....Incredible!! Lots of parents & group met at the airport and you couldn't wish to meet a nicer bunch of pleasant and well educated young people, some of the group were even studying marine biology so to insult us and treat the group who had paid an awful lot of money for the trip with such disdain tells you a lot about GVI.

The response from GVI has led me to the opinion that they are bordering on being a “Rogue Company”. I wouldn't be surprised if they are in financial troubles, they obviously severely cut back on what was promised and what we paid for. It has now only come to my attention that there are groups of people not just from this trip but many others that are considering legal action against GVI for various reasons..
As the company is based in South Africa remember that they are not covered by ATOL or ABTA, if they fold you will loose your money.

Think twice.

Volunteering with GVI this summer as a Marine and Coral Reef Conservation Research Intern was one of the best experiences of my life and made me realise how much I love fieldwork and marine conservation…so much so that I’m actually changing my major and am working towards setting up a conservation dive club in university which will aim to collect data and conduct PADI DAD dives!

I loved that not only was I in paradise, but I was also able to contribute to real-world research and aid conservation efforts in the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss. Not to mention, the dives were spectacular! The highlight for me would be seeing some whitetip reef sharks, a school of humphead wrasse, and swimming with dolphins.

Early wake up was around 6:30, followed by the morning chores, either cleaning the bathroom, preparing breakfast, or starting the compressor shift. Cooking for so many people and the loudness of the compressor was definitely something that took time to get used to. After breakfast, depending on the dive wave I was in, I would either kit up and go for the morning dives or do some more chores before the afternoon dives. Although I didn’t stay for a very long period (I wish I could have stayed longer), I still managed to do some surveys, which I really enjoyed. I especially enjoyed the Sharking surveys we did in the morning and evening. Even though there were no sharks in sight, we were able to spot some beautiful rays, and I loved the tranquillity of the water whilst wading through it in search of anything exciting.

In the evening, volunteers would hang out together or cook dinner together. I love cooking, so I would try to be involved whenever possible. I was surprised at how quickly I settled into a routine on base. I loved it - the complete immersion in nature and the sense of community and belonging I had whilst being there. I have made so many wonderful memories there.

I thank GVI for such a wonderful experience and look forward to staying involved as a GVI Ambassador!