GVI: Volunteer in Greece

I had the best time in Greece working with GVI at the turtle conservation program. It was amazing to experience the nesting and hatching season and to learn how to collect the data. In total I’ve been at the program for 8 weeks and I have learned so much about sea turtles, conservation and GVI. I have met so many new people from all over the world and have made friends for life here. I had the best summer and I will definitely do another program with GVI. will highly recommend this program and GVI in general.

I had an amazing time learning about bad working with sea turtles and their nests in Greece. The program was 2 weeks long; and throughout the experience I learned so much about how much good people can do for the environment and local animals. While I was there, I helped protect nests from predators, observe the tagging of mother sea turtles, and meet some amazing volunteers from around the world that I intend to keep in touch with. Overall, I had a great time and I highly recommend this GVI program.

I volunteered with GVI as part of the U18s program in Greece for two weeks. During the weekdays, we would have morning surveys where we would find and protect turtle nests, and night surveys where we would assist in tagging mother turtles. All the staff were amazing and so kind! I also made such great friends with the other participants. We all especially enjoyed the cultural trips at the weekend where we visited the local cities of Kalamata and Olympia. I would 100% recommend this trip to Greece with GVI!

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.

I travelled to Greece in June 2018 and had the best two weeks of my life.

Despite a rocky start of being refused boarding onto the airplane, from the moment I landed I felt both welcome and appreciated. Arriving many hours late, a GVI staff member waited for me all day in the airport and then sorted us accommodation in Athens, having missed our bus earlier! The warmth I felt from this lovely woman was immediate and continued for the whole trip...

Once we had finally arrived at the campsite the next day I was introduced to the rest of the staff as well as the other volunteers and within a few seconds made friends that, even though they live far away from me, are still part of my life now.

We stayed at a campsite on the most beautiful beach, surrounded by sand dunes and with stunning sunsets every single night. And this was the beach where our daily surveys took place. Each day we ventured out to locate and protect the turtle nests that had been dug the previous evening. Seeing the tracks they leave in the sand, and coming to understand them really makes you feel special!

By the end of the two week experience a significant goal had been reached. Over the summer the GVI team, along with Archelon (a neighbouring turtle conservation charity) had helped to protect over 1000 turtle nests, ensuring the hatchlings had the best chance of survival. There aren’t words to explain how rewarding it is to be involved in work like this. The celebration that evening was one to remember.

Volunteering for GVI was such an incredible experience. The scenery is reason enough to go to the area, but meeting new friends who also care about conserving nature, and knowing that we’d done some good for the turtles was the highlight of this fabulous trip. I cannot wait to get back!

In June of 2019, I volunteered with GVI in Greece, Giannitsochori, for two weeks on their turtle program - but I wish I had stayed longer! It was an incredible experience and your work really does make a difference to the conservation of turtle populations. The accommodation is in a tent, about a 2 minute walk away from the beach. The GVI staff were always around and happy to help with any queries or issues and I felt incredibly safe on this program. I would recommend to anyone with a passion for marine conservation, those who wish to make a difference/sustainable impact, or anyone who loves the outdoors!

I had originally signed up to go on this trip to do something more with my summer than just a normal vacation. What I got was so much more than I thought I would from this experience. I got to meet some amazing people and I had a blast. If I had been told beforehand that I would be waking up at 5 AM, I would have thought that I wouldn't be able to wake up, but the opposite was true, I found it so easy to wake up as I was going to go on a survey that was crazy cool. Finding the turtle nests was surreal. I still marvel at how turtles can nest in the way that they do. It was so peaceful walking down the beach in the early mornings. I would go back in a heartbeat and do it again. The staff was amazing. The campsite was really cool as well, being only a few minutes from the taverna and the beach. This trip was eye-opening to so much more than I thought it would be. We did some beach cleans as well as learning about the different effects that we have on the environment. It is an experience that I will never forget and that I highly recommend to anyone thinking about doing something similar.

I did 2 weeks of turtle conservation in Greece in August of 2019 and it was a genuinely life changing fortnight. I had never done anything thing like this before and had never travelled alone before either but I'm so glad I did because at the end of my time I felt like I had done something fulfilling and meaningful with my summer, and I had! So I had signed up for 2 weeks abroad doing wildlife conservation and didn't really know what to expect, but it was brilliant, every day I would get up early,(just before 6) and get ready to start my day witha morning survey, this is where you patrol a section of the beach with a small team from your camp and see what overnight activity had occurred. It was really exciting because you never knew what you were going to see. Tracks from hatchling throughout the night, live hatchling, fresh nests and predated nest were some of what I got to see. On my first day I was lucky enough to watch 7 hatchling head down the beach into the sea and it really was an amazing heartwarming moment, watching them take their first steps towards the vast ocean and you're their watching it... Very priveldiging. It really made it feel like you were doing something good, helping this species and making a genuine impact, which truth be told you were! But there was more to it than that, whilst i were there I met some amazing people and made some life long memories, the atmosphere of base camp was just amazing. No bad memories from it, everyone who was there, was there for a similar reason. You all had something in common because you'd all chose to be there and to help turtles so getting along with everyone was really easy. There was always someone or something going on at camp as well and it was just a really happy, relaxing place to be. Midday and evenings were filled with things like be ah clean, public awareness walks or shading turtle nests from light pollution. No matter where you were or what you were doing, there was always a nice vibe and whoever you were with was worth talking to and a good laugh. My biggest regret from the whole trip is not going for longer... 2 weeks isn't long enough! And the hardest part was leaving and saying goodbye. It was a special 2 weeks and has genuinely changed my life. I encourage anyone to do the same, life's to short, go for it!