GVI, Ethical Impact. Volunteer in Thailand

I absolutely loved my time in Chiang Mai with GVI. I spent a month volunteering, which involved elephant hikes, base activities, interacting with the local community, learning the local language, mornings at the nursery and so much more. The staff are so incredibly helpful, kind and caring and only care about your health, safety and enjoyment on the programme. I cannot recommend GVI enough and Chiang Mai is the perfect place for anyone looking for adventure, whether it’s solo or group travels. I will definitely be back in the future!

In October, I volunteered for a week with GVI Phang Nga, as part of Go Overseas' On the GO site visits perk for team members!

I spent half the week participating in the conservation project and the rest of the week with the community project, helping with English lessons. The staff on base are so knowledgable and passionate about what they do, and really care about the volunteers and the community.

1 week did not feel long enough for volunteering, so I do recommend staying longer if you can, to help make a more positive impact.

I will always cherish my time in Ban Nam Khem and miss getting Thai iced teas from the shop across from base :)

In September 2022 I volunteered with GVI Chiang Mai for 3 weeks. I got to experience so many incredible things and I made memories that will last a lifetime. Seeing elephants in their natural forest homes was awe inspiring and seeing their relationship with the local village and mahouts was eye opening. I really enjoyed living in a homestay and developing a close bond with my host family, teaching in the nursery became a weekly highlight and seeing Gibbons in the forest was truest special. I fell in love with the village and the project there and can’t wait to return to keep helping the project move forward. Would highly recommend to anyone who loves conservation and community work.

I spent 8 weeks in Thailand at the Phang Nga base doing marine conservation.

The staff are so welcoming and passionate, and i made some amazing friends through living with the other volunteers on base.

Getting to learn about and care for green seat turtles was amazing and definitely the highlight of my time. You can really see the positive impact you are having on their well-being.

I can honestly say you will not regret signing up to a GVI programme, Thailand was my first experience with GVI and i don’t intend for it to be my last!

Went with GVI to Thailand Phang Nga on the community program for 2 months and i absolutely loved it. I’m going again on another program in hopefully a few months. If you’re thinking about, definitely do it -you wouldn’t regret it!

The base is located in such a lovely community and the staff there is honestly amazing. The people i met in the two months i was there was so inspiring from locals to students to other volunteers. I can’t stress enough how this program has inspired me. Go for it, i have nothing bad to say!:)

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 absolutely fell in love with Huay Pakoot in the two weeks that I spent living in the village. From experiencing elephants in the wild, to living in the homestay of the local family and getting to experience their cultures - I learnt so much. As well as hiking with elephants daily, I also had the opportunity to learn their local language of Pakinyaw, and teach technology skills to one of the villagers from nearby. All of the volunteers were amazing, and I got to meet so many fantastic people that I will continue to see in the future.

I can't wait to take part in more GVI projects in the near future!