GVI Recensioni 1.071

I wrote a bad review on this company a few months ago and it has been deleted! I tried to acknowledge the nice people in the programme I was apart of whilst trying to get my missing money acknowledged. I am owed £500, recorded in our email exchanges from an experience in 2024. I was told over a year ago if receive this money but proceeded to be ignored. When I made a 2nd complaint I was finally contacted about receiving the money but was again ignored after this! It’s been so ridiculous they clearly are scamming me and only respond to deal with public complaints! Be wary.

By far the worst company I have ever dealt with, would give 0 stars if possible. I booked onto the South Africa Limpopo volunteering course back in February 2025 with a start date of the 5th July the same year, after receiving little to no communication bar one 5 minute call about my trip I was called to say it had been cancelled just 7 days before I was flying out to South Africa (so obviously flights had been booked and payed for) I was then offered a full refund which I accepted, I then heard nothing from the company about my refund for over 6 months and it was only after threatening legal action that I received the money back from my cancelled trip over 6 1/2 months after my trip was cancelled and I obviously lost a substantial amount of the money I put towards the trip. The customer service is absolutely abysmal and the company as a whole was an utter nightmare to deal with, please take great care when choosing to proceed with GVI and don’t make the same mistakes I did.

During my GVI experience, I engaged in meaningful volunteer work that allowed me to contribute to important conservation and community development projects. I built lasting relationships with fellow volunteers and local community members. The program provided a perfect balance of structured activities and free time to explore the local culture and environment. Overall, my GVI experience was educational, rewarding, and unforgettable.

I volunteered in Limpopo, South Africa with GVI for 6 weeks in 2025 and had best time, I made great friends, helped collect important research and got to see so many animals in the wild! It was amazing and I will be planning a return trip :)

Great experiencie. Staff very professional and kind. Safety as first command. Training complete and support at every duty.

This was my third volunteering project with GVI - Seychelles, Costa Rica and this time Madagascar! Another incredible experience, with wildlife right on your doorstep (literally) and the beautiful island of Nosy Be. The locals on base were fantastic and it was amazing to feel like even a small part of the community and culture. Would love to go back!

I had the most amazing experience with GVI on base in Limpopo - South Africa. I was there as a volunteer for 6 weeks and I learnt so much from the most amazing, welcoming and knowledgeable GVI staff. The base was absolutely stunning and I managed to see everything I’d ever imagined in my wildest dreams. I couldn’t recommend this program with GVI enough. Next on my list is Madagascar.

Teaching English to the Khmer people with GVI Cambodia was an incredible experience. I absolutely fell in love with the people and culture.

I travelled to Tenerife with GVI to carry out marine conservation work for a month. I had an amazing time, and loved working with and being so close to the dolphins, whales and other marine life. Thank you!

I had an incredible experience with GVI Mexico. The team here is outstanding — from day one, they train you with so much care, patience, and precision. I arrived with zero diving experience, and in just two months I left feeling like a truly confident diver, even exploring narrow cenote passages by the end of my program.

The reef is spectacular and full of life, and being able to see firsthand how much our oceans need protection deeply impacted me. The program focuses not just on diving, but on understanding marine life and being part of conservation in a meaningful way. We learned about different species, ethical diving practices, how to conduct surveys, and how to collect valuable data that contributes to real research.

What makes this program truly special is the staff — they make you feel like part of a family. They take care of you, support you, and ensure you grow personally as well as technically. I would recommend GVI Mexico to anyone considering marine conservation. It’s an unforgettable, transformative journey.

DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILDREN ON ANY GVI COURSES.
Total lack of communication.
People are left to their own devices with the bare minimum of activities. Pointless waste of money as you could do so much more and better just doing it yourself.
Dreadful dreadful organistion.

If I could give no stars I would. Avoid this company at all costs. After mis-selling a trip to my daughter (18) and taking an extra £205 deposit over the amount stated, I have had to fight for over a year to get this amount back. Numerous phone calls and emails were ignored. It seems once they have your money they disappear. The advisor we first spoke to (after trying to call numerous times) had little knowledge of the trip my daughter was interested in and just wanted her to sign up and pay the money. Please look for another company who will deliver what they offer and offer more support.

GVI Ghana was amazing!

Base was like home from home after the initial settling in, staff was friendly, professional and always ready to help. Based in Kokrobite, they told everything we needed to know safety, food, culture, how to be respectful and where we could and couldnt go.

Clean and safe base with running water (cold) and full kitchen for use. Plenty of storage for personal items, we where took to the mall once a week to buy anything we needed.

The dianamics between staff and intern/volunteers where relaxed and friendly which meant there was no staff/boss nerves when it came to projects. This also meant staff where always open to editing and switching projects around to see if trying something different would work better.

Trips on our weekends where fun and well planned by Faye who was amazing. She did everything from booking the stay and organising travel we just had to pay her our share.

Everything from start to finish was excellent, they helped me with anything I needed. Including accommodated my disabilities and let me work at my own pace. I loved Ghana and would go back.

The GVI project in Tenerife is much more than a marine and terrestrial conservation initiative. After months of participation, my daughter Angelica (Angie to her friends) returned home enthusiastic and enriched with strong new values. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to GVI, and especially to Ale, the Project Manager who leads the project. She oversees all activities with passion, great expertise, and professionalism, teaching volunteers respect for nature and the environment. She is wonderfully supported by Pierre and Matti, who work tirelessly alongside her every day. On behalf of Angie, and myself as well, a heartfelt thank you for what you do and how you do it.
Happy Christmas to all of you.

Just to write a quick review

My program, Journeys in Cambodia, was a good place to start as I had no prior volunteering experience. I felt assured when I arrived of what I would be doing. It was easy to get on with the staff and other volunteers. I feel I have made an impact in the local community and have played a part in improving their education.

I truly feel like all expectations were met. The exact idea and aspirations I had for the experience were aligned and I enjoyed my time so much. Diving, making long-lasting friendships, and learning so much.

I had an amazing time in Mexico with GVI! I was nervous to meet everyone, but was overwhelmed with how welcoming the staff and participants were. Even though we had to move base/accommodations unexpectedly half way through, Miguel and the team at Scuba Kraken (Ursula & Alan) were incredibly helpful and handled it really well- making it a memorable experience :) I'm definitely going to miss it and would love to return again!

I was an intern in Dawasamu, Fiji for marine conservation for 6 weeks. Overall, I'm grateful I had this experience, I met amazing people and the staff were great (particularly Mark, Jim, and the Fijians, Ilaisa, Tai, Cama, Balu, Waise, Mary, etc). The diving is good, the surveys are fun.. But there is a LOT of false advertising. One of the programs in Dawasamu is Shark, Turtle, Dolphin conservation, and they do a lot of advertising on the marine megafauna and beautiful sharks they have there, but in reality, it is relatively rare to see sharks (or they're all juvenile), and I only saw one turtle the entire 6 weeks I was there. Additionally, the PADI Marine Megafauna Certification that they say you will receive on their website, you will not get. The guy who gives the certification has not worked there for 5 years, but I didn't know this until I actually got to base and was told by one of the staff. If you're expecting to go there and see crazy megafauna, unfortunately you probably will not, or very rarely.

The accommodation is also very basic, which I expected, but they seemed to not care much about certain issues, especially the fact that we had a bed bug infestation. They bought the natural bed bug spray but it did not work, I had to sleep with bed bugs basically for my entire 6 weeks and just "accept" the fact that they were there. The program seems quite unorganized as well, when one of the main marine team staff went away for 10 days, the program kind of fell apart. A lot of the time I felt bored, especially because I couldn't dive after getting an ear infection, and I felt unsafe because there were bed bugs both in my bed as well as the common area.

The wifi is bad but still works most of the time, when nobody is on base it works better. Down at the beach you get pretty much full bars of service though (~5-7 min walk).

Overall, I was disappointed in the program, I felt like I didn't get what I wanted to get, never really felt safe in my own space because of the living conditions, no privacy at all, but I met amazing people and made great memories.

I was greatly disappointed with the misleading and inaccurate advertisement of this program given to me by GVI.
‘Volunteer with Turtles in Greece’ is not an appropriate title and whilst I greatly appreciate the conservation work being done here the programme does not match with what I was lead to think I was paying for.
This same project is also sold to volunteers by a organisation called ‘The Mighty Roar’ who accurately described the program and charged hundreds of pounds less.
The fee was supposed to cover suitable accommodation and ‘fresh Mediterranean produce’. We were given processed ready meals in plastic tubs and all the air con machines were “broken” meaning no respite from the heat or mosquitoes.

My experience of GVI is that they purposely mislead participants into paying for program that is in no way delivered as advertised.

I recommend seeking out a more honest volunteer program provider.

GVI’s customer service team will dismiss you as soon as you have paid in full so any issues upon arrival will be dismissed.