Program Reviews

I was part of the first volunteer group in Cimarrones Costa Rica. The people were all really nice and welcoming. There is also a nice river right on the property that is perfect for a quick cool down after the children's class. The women's class is also rewarding. All the students are so eager to learn that you end each class happy.
I was able to take charge of my internship project, and interview three people from the area. I would suggest more than 4 weeks for interns that plan on conducting interviews though. However, I was very comfortable volunteering 4 weeks (it felt like the perfect length). Without the desire for more interviews, I was very happy with my time.
The base itself is comfortable and has two showers (one with hot water). I personally never needed the hot water shower. There are also fans for those who need to be cool at night. Alicia, the cook, also makes the best plantains I have ever had. You will fall in love with her cooking!

I have just completed a virtual Wildlife Conservation with GVI and had an amazing experience. I chose the part time eight week programme, as I was also working full time. Everyone who I met during the process were extremely helpful and passionate. The courses that I studied were in Wildlife Conservation and Careers in Sustainable Development. They were well organised and engaging, and could be completed at my own pace. I was assigned a research project in the Seychelles on Aldabra Tortoises, and I really loved the work. Even remotely, I gained a vast amount of kowledge on the ecology and behaviour of the species, and contributed to ongoing studies currently being carried out in the field. I would highly recommend a GVI programme to anyone aiming to begin a career in Conservation.

The program was amazing, all the staff were so friendly, helpful, inspiring and full of interesting stories and experiences. The food whilst out there was really lovely and it was amazing to try some traditional Greek food. The volunteering itself was excellent and I felt like what I did had a real impact. The other volunteers were lovely . I would have definitely spent more time there if I could have! The whole experience was so inspirational. I am now on extremely interested in doing a GVI project as part of my year in industry with university.

Hello! My name is Ombeline, I’m a 23 y.o French girl living in Switzerland. I’ve volunteered for 8 weeks in the Marine conservation program - Mexico, Puerto Morelos.
I love travelling and exploring the world, so after I finished my Bachelor and worked in the hotel industry for a year, I wanted to go travelling for a few months before doing my Master. I looked in some magazines of a travel agency for some inspirations and there I saw the project.
I didn´t have any experience with marine conservation, but I already had a big interest for the environmental conservation in general (I would like to make a career in the eco-tourism industry). And because I love travelling, taking care of the environment, the marine world, I thought that this would be a lot of fun. And of course I was right!

It was indeed such an amazing experience, so I’m happy if I can help others to also experience it!
 
This is a summary of a day on base to give a good overview of life as a volunteer in GVI:
 
The day usually ‪starts at 7am‬ with morning duties. There are four different duty groups (Kitchen, Communal, Grounds and Boats). In each group, you have to do different tasks, like preparing breakfast, cleaning or preparing diving equipment. Those duty groups change every day and every group has about five people in it. 
‪At 7:30am‬ after finishing your morning duties you can get breakfast (eggs, cereals, pancake or porridge).
‪At 8am‬ you sometimes have some presentations. Those are usually about some training for your target species (fish, coral or invert) or something about the reef.
‪At 9:30am‬ starts kit-up for wave one (the boat leaves three times a day for some diving expeditions, but you only have one or two dives per day). Once you complete buddy-checks, you’re good to go and can enjoy your dive. When you´re back from the dive it´s usually shortly before lunch time. After lunch you may be on coral lab (coral lab will be once or twice a week). The coral lab is also on the base but is not run by gvi. Although they often need our help for cleaning the corals, feeding the corals or sometimes just some maintenance at the lab. But there are also some invertebrates, which you get to work with. (You sometimes participate to Algae’s grab dive to feed the crabs at the lab). After coral lab you may be on wave three or just have some time off. At your time off you can relax, take a nap in the hammock, study your target species or (what you do mostly) spend some time with the other volunteers. The most popular thing on base is normally playing cards, but there are also many different board games, dice, etc.. And of course there is WiFi at base for social media or if you want to chat with your family & friends. 
‪At 6pm‬ dinner is served. After dinner it´s time for announcements. The staff presents the schedule for the next day, gives out shout-outs or walk-of-shames (very funny). After finishing your evening duties (same as in the morning) your work day is over and you can spend the rest of your day as you like. Usually, together with the other volunteers, you do a movie-night, a games-night, relax or just get some beers or ice cream in Puerto Morelos. You just have to take care that you´re back before ‪11pm‬ (as there is a curfew) and don´t drink too much when you dive the next day.  
 
All weekdays are basically the same, just your duty groups, tasks, etc. change a bit.
 
Normally you don´t spend the weekend on base, but go on roadtrips, cenote diving, explore the night-life in the surrounding cities, etc. with other volunteers. The Yucatán is a wonderful region and there are so many things to do & discover!
 
Honestly the volunteers and the staff were super chill, it was so much fun and such a nice atmosphere. The staff is so passionated and dedicated to their job.

I hope I gave a good impression about the program. 
It was indeed such an amazing experience for me so I hope it will inspire others to do the same and go on this crazy adventure!

I lived in the heart of Tortuguero National Park for 10 weeks! It was the most amazing experience I have ever had. I learned about biodiversity and wildlife conservation. I stayed on the Jalova base helping with Forest surveys and beach surveys to gather information for the national park and the CJC. I 100% recommend volunteering through GVI, especially in Costa Rica. My favorite thing in Jalova was learning about sea turtles because I have a passion for reptiles. They are amazing creatures and we get to work up close with them.

I volunteered at the GVI Limpopo (South Africa) base at Karongwe Private Game Reserve.

I had a phenomenal wildlife experience, made lifelong friends, felt that the organisation exceeded my expectations in terms of learning opportunities and was impressed with the well-oiled machine that is GVI. The unpaid interns are your biggest source of knowledge here - they are remarkable in their knowledge and willingness to share this knowledge.

Unfortunately, two fundamental events lead me not to ultimately recommend GVI Limpopo (South Africa):
1. GVI Limpopo actively promotes trophy hunting as a revenue source for conservation. If this promotion was based on data, facts and figures I could accept this. GVI certainly tells you it is. After doing independent research (including requesting sources from GVI Limpopo for the basis for their promotion), the data, facts and figures do not support trophy hunting, quite the opposite. My research demonstrated that GVI Limpopo benefit indirectly financially from this promotion and I am severely disappointed that this organisation has put its financial interests ahead of genuine conservation. To me, this automatically loses credibility.
2. The staff struggled to adequately deal with a complaint of a sexual nature. A complaint was bought to their attention and it took 3 further people raising the issue for the Base Coordinator to implement the right procedures.

If GVI Limpopo could address these two points I would be very comfortable recommending them.

My experience with GVI in Mexico was completely unforgettable. I started doing the women's empowerment volunteering program but the project closed during my first two weeks which was a bit concerning at first. However, the staff on base really made a difference, they were super helpful, optimistic and positive and they helped me set up a new project where I was really happy. I truly felt like we were making a difference with the women in this new community where we did activities, presentations, english lessons... GVI really cares about making a positive and long-term impact in the communities where they work which was really important to me.
The experience as a whole was amazing, the accomodation was way better than expected, Puerto Morelos is a quiet but beautiful seaside town to live in, the lifestyle on base was great and I met so many people from different countries that I hope I stay in contact with for a long time. Hopefully I'll be able to come back in the future.

I signed up with GVI Ghana for two weeks, over two months later I am still here volunteering in this amazing country. From day one I have felt a part of this community, making relations with the local people and getting great insight to life in Ghana. I felt safe during my whole time here, especially during a pandemic. I have been part of community projects that I will remember forever, and have made friends that I will have forever. I cannot recommend GVI Ghana enough to people, it has been the greatest experience of my life.

I went out to GVI Ghana in Spring 2021, it was by far the best thing I have ever done with my life. The base is in Kokrobite which is a town full of really welcoming people who are grateful for your time and efforts. I went out to do the Women's empowerment project, but also got really involved with the education side of it, and loved every minute. I have never experienced anything as fulfilling as the past 6 weeks of my life. I was only meant to be there for 4 weeks, but I very quickly decided this would not be enough time to spend there, especially when I had such an amazing opportunity. The connections and relationships you build up with your students (any age) and fellow volunteers is amazing, it's a bond you can't replicate. I love to be outdoors, meeting new people and trying new things, so this program was perfect for me.

I am a serial GVI volunteer, having done stints on marine conservation programmes in Mexico, Fiji and the Seychelles since 2018. This year, I decided to try a terrestrial programme instead and chose the Costa Rica wildlife conservation programme at Jalova in Tortuguero national park.

I’m so glad I did - I had a fantastic, action-packed and soul-enriching time.

In common with other GVI bases, the staff were passionate and eager to share their knowledge while also ensuring we volunteers had fun.

The work was so rewarding - I did the 28km jagwalk: the programme’s key data gathering exercise, which looks for evidence of jaguar predation on sea turtles and also the distribution of the big cats in Tortuguero national park, one of the densest populations of the wild felids in the world. I learned so much about camera-trapping and jaguar behaviour.

I also loved learning to ID the target birds, not just visually but by their calls too, so forest surveys - in flooded swamps to dense forests to night trails - were eye- and ear-opening, even if the mosquitos and swarms of other bugs were sometimes a challenge. ;-) I also went on night turtle patrols and morning nest checks - green turtle season hadn't quite started, but one morning last week, we did a leatherback nest excavation (to check on hatching success) after spotting little tracks left by hatchlings - only to find a live baby turtle which was just a little slower than the others. So we had to dig a little trench on the side and bury it so it could continue to strengthen its flippers as it clambered out for the battles ahead with the waves, and also to allow it to imprint on the location and get its internal GPS aligned with the Earth's magnetic field. Utterly magic!