The start of a long, exciting journey

The best way to show everyone how good my experience with GVI Jalova was is to state some facts. When I signed up for the program, I was doubting to go for 2 or 3 months. Eventually I signed up for 4. I ended up sticking around for more than 2 years. I gained many skills in wildlife identification (camera trapping, use of binoculars, using the behavior of the animals). Perhaps more important are all the opportunities up for grabs in Jalova. I managed to become an EFR instructur, Leader of a long term monitoring project, intern manager and alumni coördinator within 6 months. Granted, this is what i wanted to achieve and I was fully commited to this, but i'm just trying to show it IS possible with GVI. Thanks to this experience I now feel ready for the next step in my conservation career, and I have the references and certifications to back it up with! The living conditions have sometimes been hard, but it made the experience complete. With a positive attitude and open mind you can accomplish great things for yourself and the national park here. I believe this is the best place in the world for a volunteer to truly experience wild nature. I have encountered incredible wildlife on a daily basis, finding new species almost weekly even after spending 2 years there. The educational and fun atmosphere created by the people in base can almost be described as magical. I learned incredibly much and never had so much fun doing so.