Program Reviews

My time as a climate crisis and clean energy intern was such an excellent opportunity. I really wanted to gain experience in my field, firstly to know what working in conservation/ clean energy would really be like, and also to add to my CV for university applications. Since it was virtual, I wasn't sure what kind of work I would be doing, or how useful it would be. Fortunately, my project was something I am genuinely interested in that made a concrete difference; I made a cost benefit analysis for switching a conservation hub in Thailand to solar energy, which included designing the system best suited for the area. I learned a lot and my mentor, Bex, was so supportive and helpful. I would absolutely recommend this for someone wanting to explore their chosen field and make a difference.

I stayed on the base located at Cap Ternay, northern west of Mahe, for five weeks. I was actually supposed to stay four weeks, however I acknowledged, as I spent my time there, that I was not ready to leave this beautiful island, the precious work for conservation and friends I have made, hence I went for one week extention of my stay. The base is located in the middle of the forest with two beautiful beaches near, Bay Ternay and back beach in which we do beach cleanups around twice a week. I really loved the remoteness of the place as I came from a big, crowded and caotic city. We often go to the beach to watch sunsets on the rocks located on the rightside of the plage where once I cut my foot trying to climb one of the rocks covered with oysters. I am thankful for Rose who has trained all of us for first aid response, we managed to treat the wound properly. Similar injuries are inevitible there. After every weekend, when we returned back from Beau Vallon or other cities, something happened whether a scratch from a trekking or a foot sprain. Once, one of the volunteers ''accidentally'' got bitten by another volunteer while playing American football on the beach. So, you can imagine how the staff must be sick of our injuries, although they were really helpful with the incidents happenning currently. Let me talk about some not depressing things happening on the base other than the wounds. So, our daily routine basically is an early wake up at around 6.30 a.m., then we do the duties such as cleaning bathrooms, changing binbags, preparing dive equipments, compressor shifts...We are all responsible for the preparation of three meals. Aaand diveeess. We do two dives a day. We generally spend three or four hours on the boat. According to the tide, we may walk around two hundred meters on a very bumby, sandy road in the sea towards the boat, hence I love high tide when we do not suppose to walk with 20 kilos on your back. But either way, once you enter the water, you forget all about the struggle coming on the boat. Numerous, vividly colored reef fish, various types of nudibranchs, giant rays and so on. I have managed to see three, 2.5 meters long white tip sharks chilling under a rock. I have missed the whalesharks seen two weeks before I arrived to the base unfortunately. During the dives, I have done distinct works underwater including removing debris from the bottom, coral surveys, invertebrate, reef fish and nudibranch surveys. Everyday is an opprtunity to learn something new and the staff tryies really hard to make variations on the daily schedule. One day you go for a seagrass research in the bay, another day you find yourself snorkelling at dawn, searching for juvenile sharks. Withnessing the work I have done there is utilized for conservation purposes by local institutions makes me eager to do more, and learning from the people working there about their experiences of conservation in distinct countries gave me hope to plan my future oriented around conservation while travelling around the world. It was a once in a life time experience for sure. I am greatful for the opportunity to get to know both volunteers and staff members and to share precious moments and memories with them. I felt how much this experience contributed to my perspective of life and my personality as soon as I landed in Turkey. I will definitely continue participating in other programs with GVI.

I am a thirty-something from Pennsylvania who ventured to GVI Limpopo South Africa. I decided to take a break from my current career and get involved with the wildlife conservation internship. I was there for a total of 5 weeks. I loved the experience so much I extended a week while on base. I would recommend this program to anyone who is a nature enthusiast and especially big 5 animal lover. You will get the most out of this experience if you stay 6-8weeks. Being self-directed is an important skill to be fully invested in the impact you are making. Get used to little sleep, cold showers, bad coffee, fluctuating temperatures and hand washed laundry, it is part of the experience. If you can go with the flow and don’t mind a minimal, communal living you will love this adventure. Every morning you watch the sunrise and every evening the sunset. I am a learner for life, so the internship program was a great way to stretch my “book brain” since it has been sometime since formal in-school education. You will learn everything from animal behavior, bird identification and calls, invertebrate and soil surveys, trees and invasive species, reserve work and more. The most amazing take away is all the friendships you will acquire for a lifetime. Go, Enjoy and don’t forget your camera!!!

This was a mind opening experience! We got to see the wildlife so up close and personal. There really is something so unique and special about seeing the wildlife thrive in their natural habitat. As well I’ve made life long friends from so many different parts of the world! I definitely recommend everyone do this at least once in their life! At first I was very skeptic about traveling so far and sharing a room with strangers but you learn to adapt quick. One of my favorite memories there was seeing a leopard on a kill.

I travelled to Phang Nga Thailand on the u set 18s course over July/August 2022. To volunteer in the Community and with Turtles and a week of adventure. Every single day was full of new food, places, experiences, we learnt so much and seeing the lifestyles of this country was extremely eye opening. I didn’t full appreciate what we had in the Uk that is just taken for granted. The GVI staff were so friendly, supportive and kind the trip would not have been the same. We explored local communities and visited lots of markets and a Primary school which was incredible. My favourite part was working in the Royal Thai Navy base centre for the conservation of Green Sea Turtles. Been up close to the amazing animals, was so special as they are endangered I felt so lucky. Eve was also so cool to work for, all of us were truly inspired by her and aspire to have the same job as her. During adventure week we explored mangroves, jungles, waterfalls, temples it was non stop! The team spotted many species of wildlife for us to see. Every night we travelled to new accommodation, as my group was quite small we all became close friends pretty quickly and each night we’d be playing card games with our GVI staff ( Jen, Kiz, Gay, George and Kyra) and then sit out on our balcony chatting before bed. Now that I’ve had to come home I miss all my new friends so much! I’d completely recommend this trip to anyone wanting to try something new and make new friends as it was a really great 2 weeks. Travelling alone at 16 was a bit scary at first but I met some other volunteers at Heathrow and the journey was completely fine we were just so excited to land in Thailand and get started. I’d do anything to relive my experience there I loved it so much.

I would recommend volunteer at GVI. I volunteered at GVI Thailand Chiang Mai for two weeks and it's one of the best experiences I've ever had. The staff, the villagers and the other volunteers and interns were very nice and friendly people and you can have lots of laughs with them. The experience here would change you and you wouldn't want to leave the place while being there because everyone else makes this place feel like home to you. There's a lot of good things to do there like elephant hikes and rice picking and I've learned a lot of new stuff and skills while being there. I'll definitely come back again and I've missed so many of my new friends. I would definitely want to volunteer at other GVI programs to learn more about the animals and other new stuff. It was also good to learn about the elephants in GVI Thailand Chiang Mai.

I spent twelve weeks in GVI's Chiang Mai base. For the first eight I was a career intern, then I became staff in my final month. I spent my internship hiking into the forest daily and carrying out observational biodiversity surveys on the forest's inhabiting elephants. In addition to this, I took part in courses and seminars relating to local biodiversity and global conservation concepts. I took classes to learn the local dialect, Pakinyaw, and also taught English to some of the villagers. I fell in love with the community and staff alike. To say it was a life-changing experience would be an understatement!

Greece was a unique experience,
If you're looking for an organized, fun and helpful trip while traveling around Greece then this trip is perfect for you ! I had a chance to volunteer in Greece and help protect turtle nests. The best part about this trip was being able to relocate the eggs if we felt they were endangered. I got to hold them and carry them to a safer place, it was such a wholesome experience. For volunteer work, we also got to do beach clean ups that were both necessary and fun because we would turn them into competitions as to who would get the most trash. After each beach clean up, we would look through the garbage and reuse some things like glass bottles for flower pots and other rubbish as decoration, it was so creative ! While other people were doing other surveys (morning walks to protect the nests) other people would make bamboo turtle tunnels to protect the nests from light pollution. I would 100% recommend this trip because it was not only fun but also worth every penny, I loved getting to know all the teens that were with me that came from all over the world and we got to discuss so many things and have open minded conversations about anything. As a group, we also got to be immersed in Greek culture by visiting places like Olympia and tasting different food and beverages local to Greece. Making these friends was so fun and it felt like I had known them forever :)

I was an intern for the month of June 2022 at the GVI Greece base. It was an amazing experience working alongside ARCHELON (the sea turtle protection society of Greece) and the wonderful staff members and volunteers for GVI. Being a part of loggerhead sea turtle conservation efforts in the Mediterranean Sea was incredible and helped prepare me for my future career in environmental conservation. I had the time of my life and hope to go back in the future.

I could not recommend this base and experience more!

I’ve always had a strong passion for wildlife and when i found GVI, i knew it was something i had to do. I’m glad i did as it was everything i expected and more! From day one i was made to feel welcome and was involved in the day to day routines of working within conservation. The staff were very helpful and knowledgeable, making the whole experience better. I made memories and friends that will last a lifetime and would 100% recommend anyone, like me who shares a passion for wildlife, to do the program!