Volunteer Abroad Programs | GVI

Types of volunteer

abroad programs

If you feel a deep connection with nature and have an urge to help preserve our planet’s biodiversity – volunteering abroad with GVI is the way to go.

Whether you’d love to go on game drives tracking wild dogs in the African bush, hiking through lush jungles in search of rare endemic birds,or cleaning baby sea turtles on a tropical island, we’ve got you covered. 

GVI has a great selection of nature conservation programs for you to choose from, organised into three categories: wildlife conservation, marine conservation and volunteering with animals.

Our wildlife conservation programs will allow you to volunteer in nature, in ways that contribute to the conservation and survival of life on Earth. All our wildlife conservation programs are aligned to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 15: Life on Land, and you’ll contribute to this goal through surveys, observation, research and data collection. 

You can choose to participate in one of our wildlife conservation programs on Curieuse Island in Seychelles, Giannitsochori or Cahuita (a remote research base in Costa Rica’s Cahuita National Park). You could also travel to South Africa, where you’ll be based on a private nature and wildlife reserve in Limpopo, in the Greater Kruger National Park.

If you opt to volunteer abroad in Thailand, you’ll get the chance to work on our endangered Asian elephant forest reintegration project. This project is based in a small Karen culture village in the hills above Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Here, you’ll work with traditional elephant keepers to help reintegrate the elephants into their natural habitat and support the community with developing alternate sources of income. If you’d like to learn more about this topic, check out our article: How to ethically volunteer with elephants in Thailand.

Or maybe you’d prefer to venture to Phang Nga province in Southern Thailand, where our endangered green sea turtle nursery project is based. Here our volunteers work at a local turtle nursery supported by the Thai government. Volunteers help the nursery to raise endangered baby sea turtles to a size where they can fend for themselves and are more likely to survive in the wild. We also offer sea turtle volunteering programs in Costa Rica, Greece and Seychelles. 

For those looking to make a contribution to big-cat conservation, why not travel to sunny South Africa to work on our big cat volunteer program. On this program, volunteers help to track the movements and behaviour of lions and other predators like leopards, cheetahs and hyenas in Karongwe Private Game Reserve in the Greater Kruger National Park. Volunteers can also get involved in some of our other wildlife conservation projects in South Africa where they can support the conservation of rhinos, elephants, hyenas, cheetahs and other species. 

If the jungles of Costa Rica seem more appealing than the savannahs of South Africa, why not join our wildlife expedition in Costa Rica? Here, we work in Cahuita National Park to support the conservation of jaguars and other rainforest species like monkeys and tropical birds. 

GVI offers marine biology volunteering programs on the islands of Caqalai in Fiji, Mahe in Seychelles and in the beach town of Puerto Morelos in Mexico. On all of these programs, volunteers will be scuba diving abroad and gain professional diving certificates endorsed by PADI along the way. 

And if you volunteer on one of GVI’s marine conservation volunteer programs for longer than two weeks, you’ll earn the Coral Reef Research Diver Distinctive Specialty, a PADI qualification offered exclusively on GVI marine conservation programs.

But for volunteers who’d rather snorkel than scuba dive, we offer a seasonal coral research project in Southern Thailand. And as with all GVI marine conservation programs, volunteers will work to minimise marine plastic pollution and learn about the effects of climate change (specifically coral bleaching). This is an aspect of all our marine conservation volunteering programs abroad.

If you’re interested in whale and dolphin conservation, why not join one of our marine conservation programs in Tenerife? Here, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in activities such as ethical whale watching while you monitor and collect data on various types of marine life.

All GVI marine conservation volunteers can be confident that they’ll contribute to UN SDG 14: Life Below Water, as all our marine conservation projects are aligned to the objectives of this goal. And GVI marine conservation volunteers learn skills and gain valuable experience that could help them pursue a career in marine biology, oceanology or conservation. 

Are you someone who is fascinated by the intricate wonders of different creatures and their behaviours? Someone who is adamant about volunteering abroad to help protect vulnerable species?

At GVI, we’re with you. Our team, and our network of conservation partners all over the globe, are all passionate about protecting and caring for our magnificent animal kingdom.

Our programs that focus on volunteering abroad with animals will offer you the opportunity to get up close and personal with animal conservation efforts by partnering with local organisations on the ground in each location. 

From working with furry felines and powerful predators to scaly reptiles, tiny insects and sea creatures, GVI has an animal care volunteering program where you can lend a hand.

Animals live almost everywhere in nature – plants, air, forests, salt water, fresh water, springs, swamps, fungi, rocks and even on (or inside) other animals. Our range of volunteer programs will get you there – to be part of the rugged and real side of conservation efforts, helping animals in their unique ecosystems.

In fact, our bases have all been specifically chosen to be close to rich biodiverse locations, offering rare access to endangered and elusive animals.

Get the opportunity to help protect vulnerable animals like:

It’s important to note that we don’t support or encourage volunteers to interact directly with wild animals of any kind. Where animal handling is done, it must be necessary for the health of the animal, or strictly for legitimate scientific purposes and conducted ethically under the supervision of trained staff members or local experts. 

You can learn more about our stance on animal handling and captivity here and our health and safety operational guidelines here.

Community development programs

If you’re thinking, “yes, I like nature, but I’m more interested in the human side of things”, perhaps you’d be keen to check out our immersive social development volunteer abroad programs over at GVI People. 

Our community programs include the following types of volunteering: