GVI Avis 

Lovely staff and participants, amazing opportunities, and such important work to be a part of. Would definitely love to return :]

Back in March 2025 I decided to take a big step and enrol myself in a project abroad. After weeks of searching I came across a Women’s Empowerment Project in Cape Town, South Africa, advertised and provided by GVI. I applied, had a video call interview, and then was accepted to the project. It was due to start in the September (2025) and I was advised that I would be contacted 2 weeks prior to the course beginning to partake in online training, as well as be added to a WhatsApp group with fellow participants in the project, though I was to arrange my own flights and travel vaccinations. Fast forward to 10 days before I was due to fly out - since I live in the UK I had booked a flight to depart the day before the project, which would have taken 11 hours - I received an email advising that the project had been cancelled.. this was the beginning of the nightmare to come. I had a telephone call, with the person who had originally enrolled me, advising me that they’d not had enough interest and due to that they were unable to effectively run the project and had made the decision to cancel. I was offered 2 options: enroll in a different project, or receive a refund. I would have been unable to partake in another project so took the option for refund and was provided the details and contact on how to proceed with that. It took 2 weeks for me to get my first response from the team, which directed me to complete a survey like application for my request. So I did that. Another 2 weeks later I received a response advising that they will process my refund and it would be received WITHIN 180 DAYS, AND THAT I WOULD BE CHARGED A $20 FEE. Since this meant it could be at up to 6 months until I would receive my money back, incur a fine, and lose out on the interest that I would have gained from that money being in my own account, I appealed and requested this be reviewed. Since that I have not had any response from the feedback team (that was 24th September 2025), and despite having sent countless emails asking for one. I emailed the person that had enrolled me and informed me the project had cancelled, but Jerome has still not replied to me either. Including flights, vaccinations, supplies and of course the project itself, in total I spent just under £5000. The cost of supplies and vaccines I have no expectation of getting back as those I can use again. But I would have expected at least some reimbursement for flights due to the fact that GVI cancelled the project, and only 11 days before the project was due to start, not even a full 2 weeks, however GVI have also refused the reimbursement of any cost for flights. I’m heartbroken that I did not get to experience the trip of a life time, as that was everything it was supposed to be and more. Instead I’ve been left £5000 out of pocket for a trip I never even got to experience. It’s taken me a long time to get to doing this review, as I felt that eventually someone from GVI would get in touch and make amends for the poor handlings of the situation, though now I feel like that will never come, not at least in the genuine and sincere way I would have hoped. So all I can now do is share my experience and hope that it may prevent anybody else having to go through the same thing. All I wanted was to give back and contribute to the world in some way. I suppose somehow this is still me doing that, in a bittersweet way.

Since writing thd above review on google (I now can’t seem to update or put a new review so I’m doing one here) GVI emailed me asking for details to issue a refund, I provided this, they assure my refund would be processed on the 23rd March, they have since not responded to me, they refuse to provide details for a human being, as they only sign ‘feedback team’ on emails, and I have still not received any money back. I’ve lost out on so much money because of this scamming/thieving/deceitful company, who’ve stolen my money and gained even more than my £5000 on the interest from holding my money. I am at a loss of what to do and how else to get my money back, other than going via action fraud. GVI you are a horrible company, with unlawful ways and have left the worse impression possible. I hope I get my money back soon and after that I hope to never have to ever deal with you again.

UPDATE April 2026: After 7 months of being ignored and GVI missing multiple refund deadlines, my bank (Monzo) successfully recovered my money via a formal dispute. GVI only attempted to offer installments once I escalated the matter legally. Proceed with caution.

impossible to stop getting spam emails!! i’ve reached out multiple times asking them to remove me from the mailing list, unsubscribed using the link at the bottom of their emails, nothing has worked! they have so many different emails to contact you from and the whole scheme anyway is insanely expensive. you’re paying a huge fee to volunteer, and you don’t get paid for it, so you’re just losing a ton of money even if you apply for their funding.
the most frustrating company with no customer service.
i’ve been getting emails for months, at least twice a week.

180 days to refund on a trip that GVI cancelled as they were unable to achieve enough participants to make the event worthwhile.

I question the stability of this company and would not recommend booking with them.

I signed up for a 6 months program in Costa Rica between September 2025-March 2026 to experience wildife conservation in Kekoldi and CloudBridge Nature Reserve.

Animal Abuse on Site
When you visit Kekoldi on the site, the local are not treating their dogs with respect. There are times, when dogs are tied up against the wall for number of days, leading in them getting vicious attack. There was also a turtle in the box, when I raised this concern with staff, not much was done about it. It lead to another volunteer I knew to leave and I wanted to leave also. What is the point of doing wildlife conservation, when you can't even respect your local animals and pets.

Miscommunication in regards to break.
When I signed up for this apprenticeship, on the guide it says Kekoldi has a 2 week holiday during Christmas, but it was not mentioned about the placement program, CloudBridge Nature Reserve.

The staff tried to LIE to me, saying that CloudBridge Nature Reserve also had a 2 week holiday period also, which was false and couldn't take the accountability of their mistake of not arranging for our stay over there at the placement sight.

Please be careful before signing up to these so called professional apprenticeship because 6 months is not even enough in conservation when i spoke to many of the staff at Kekoldi base.

The most unsafe and dehumanising company I’ve ever interacted with.
I did a 3 month marine conservation internship in Fiji. Before even leaving, the communication and organisation around visa forms was so poor that I ended up paying over £1500 extra just to get things sorted.
When I arrived, I found out there had been a bed bug infestation for 6 months that they were doing nothing about. It got so bad over Christmas when there were only two volunteers on site and I was alone in a cabin, that every time I got into bed I had to kill multiple bugs. I was being eaten alive to the point my legs became infected, and I was having extreme fevers.
I spent Christmas Day crying my eyes out. My bed was covered in bed bugs, I was ill from infection, completely exhausted, and I had nowhere safe to sleep. Every cabin was the same. I missed multiple dives, and it took them over a month to do anything about it.
In my second month, I helped with a rescue course. The instructor allowed students to surface me from behind three times. I ended up with decompression sickness and spent two weeks in hospital in Fiji undergoing chamber treatment. After that, I wasn’t allowed to dive for the remaining 5 weeks of my trip. For weeks afterwards I had neurological symptoms and I could barely feel my legs.
When I returned from hospital, the instructor became petty and started excluding me from other activities.
The insurance GVI recommended still hasn’t paid my medical bills after 2 months, and show no signs of doing so.
I’ve spent months trying to speak to an actual person in GVI. I’ve been redirected to feedback forms more times than I can count, and now I’m just being ignored. There’s been zero concern, zero empathy, and no attempt to resolve anything.
In the 3 months I was there, I personally knew 5 people who were treated for decompression sickness while diving with GVI over a 4-month period. Not once did I use a regulator that wasn’t faulty in some way.
With flights, visas, and the internship, I spent over £10,000. I maybe got 2–3 weeks of decent diving out of it. That was my entire experience.
They won’t refund me anything, and they won’t even give me the decency of a reply. It’s disgusting.

They mention they contacted me yesterday, but I haven't received a thing. I haven't been given a timeframe when this might be complete. The only responses I've gotten are automated ones directing me back to a feedback form. To be treated like this after everything I went though is dehumanising.

One of the best experiences of my life! I gained so many useful skills such as data collection. I highly recommend it to anyone. I did the Big Cat Conservation volunteering in Limpopo!!

I volunteered with GVI in the Elephant Conservation program in Chiang Mai Thailand.

I got to stay with a host family in the village of Huay Pakoot. The village residents were very kind and welcoming. They treated everyone like family.

The staff were amazing and very helpful while preparing for my trip and adjusting to life on the base. They were also very knowledgeable on the species native to the area.

How I spent the day would vary, but usually in the morning we would get to choose between an elephant hike, gibbon hike or assisting with teaching English at the local school.

Being able to witness semi-wild elephants in their natural habitat was such an incredible experience. On the elephant hike, we would monitor their foraging habits, behavior, physical health and how they interacted with their mahout.

Occasionally we would also conduct biodiversity surveys where we would record sightings of birds, reptiles, and other mammals in the area.

In the afternoons we had lessons where we learned how to speak Pakinyaw which was the primary spoken language in the village.

If you are interested in wildlife conservation, and are looking for a one-of-a-kind travel experience, I would highly recommend volunteering with GVI.

I hope I was able to leave a positive impact on elephant and gibbon conservation, but above all else I am thankful I got to experience a new culture, make new friends from different parts of the world, and create fun memories.

Had yet another great time volunteering with GVI.

GVI is an incredible company that allows you to travel to dream destinations while giving back to that country and the community. It is fulfilling and a satisfying experience letting you feel like an active member of the local community while on a holiday! I would highly recommend if you are into active holidays where you want to give back and meet people .

It’s hard to put into words just how much my time with GVI impacted me, but “life-changing” genuinely feels like the most accurate way to describe it.

I completed a six-week global health internship in Cambodia, teaching English to monk students, and running women’s health and empowerment sessions at schools and universities. Living in Cambodia was surreal — the people were endlessly kind, the culture vibrant, and the land completely unique. Every day felt like a mix of learning, reflection, and immersion that I’ll never forget.

I also spent time with GVI in Fiji, living in a remote fishing village on the mainland and travelling out to surrounding villages to support local district nurses and deliver community health education. Seeing the impact we could make firsthand, even in small ways, was incredibly rewarding and humbling.

The team on the ground in both countries were amazing — knowledgeable, supportive, and genuinely caring. They created a space where you felt welcomed, empowered, and challenged in all the right ways.

If you want to experience the world in its truest, rawest form, and actually make an impact, this is it. I’ve come home changed, with a new perspective, a lot of gratitude, and a strong desire to return. GVI doesn’t just give you an experience — it gives you a lens on life you can’t get anywhere else.

I worked with G.V.I Cambodia for ten weeks, Jan 17th to Mar 23rd. I had the most amazing experience of my life hands-down. I learnt so much about myself and gained so many new world perspectives. Teaching people brought such joy into my life I decided to follow TEFL as a teaching career! I got to eat so many delicious foods with such great company. I miss cambodia and the people so much already and I have intentions of coming back to Siem Reap.

I am writing this as a warning to other parents and volunteers. We booked the "Dolphin and Whale Conservation" program for my daughter for August 2025. In May 2025, GVI cancelled the program and promised a full refund of £2,136 within 180 days.
​It is now April 2026, nearly a year later, and I am still fighting to get our money back.
​Despite dozens of emails and repeated sincere apologies claiming my refund was a priority escalation or being discussed in Finance Director meetings, GVI has failed to return our funds. They have missed every self-imposed deadline they set. This is despite them acknowledging in writing that the delay is "unacceptable" and having our bank details for months.
​I have been forced to formally escalate this to the County Court via a Money Claim Online to recover the debt, plus statutory interest and court fees.
​GVI was quick to take our money but has proven incredibly difficult when it comes to returning it for a program they cancelled. If you are considering booking with them, be aware that "180 days" can easily turn into a year of broken promises.

Update:

After 11 months of broken promises, I have finally secured my refund, but only by taking GVI to court.

I was informed I was due a full refund in May 2025. By April 2026, I was still being ignored. It wasn't until I served them with a formal Money Claim Online (MCOL) and Requested Judgment that the money finally appeared.

Even after admitting the debt, they still attempted to dodge the court fees and interest they legally owe me. I have now successfully secured a Court Judgment against them for these outstanding costs.

My advice to anyone else waiting: Don't waste your time with their support emails. They are just stall tactics. File a court claim immediately. It is the only language they speak.

Relieved to finally have the court’s support and my money back.

While preparing for this program I received incredible help from Nikita, she always responded quickly to the many questions I had. The people in Huay Pakkoot were also super helpful and welcoming, I was sick for a couple days and my homestay checked in on me frequently and made me simple meals to ease my stomach. It’s easy to feel like an imposter while staying in someone else’s home, but I always felt well cared for and almost a part of the family.

During my time with GVI in Chiang Mai, there were a multitude of opportunities accessible to me that made my time during the program so worth it.

First of all, I became close with one of the staff members on base and he became a very important mentor to me in my life. Since this experience is something that I want to pursue, it was only natural that I found some to ask advice of.

Secondly, you get to meet likeminded people who become your friend almost instantly. I never knew that I would become friends with people all over the world ever in my life, this experience gave me that opportunity.

Lastly, you get to learn what it is like to do real rewarding work. Never in my life have I been so happy with working as I was in the village looking after elephants almost everyday.

I highly suggest working with GVI.

The Kèköldi indigenous reserve is an amazing place that I felt very lucky to visit. The staff were lovely, very knowledgeable and passionate. I learnt a lot from them and they were very kind and helpful. The other participants were also amazing with so many passionate and skilled people. The vibes on-site were great. However, the programme itself was not what I expected and I think what is advertised online is a bit misleading. I excepted to be conducting fieldwork all day, most days during my stay. This was not true and most of my stay I was dwindling my thumbs wondering what to do. Of course, the weather plays a major role in this and I acknowledge that this is obviously out of anyone’s control but I just think the website should be honest about this. Also, when we signed up to the programme it gave you the option to choose reptile and amphibians, mammals or bird conservation. We chose birds and up until we arrived on base, we had the impression that we would be conducting migratory raptor surveys. This was not true and while I thoroughly enjoyed the general biodiversity surveys that we ended up taking part in, I just think some transparency would have been great so that you know what to expect. What I expected from the experience based on what I signed up for and the information provided was not at all what I got. Again, I learnt a lot, the staff and participants were amazing and the reserve and wildlife was incredible but when people are paying so much money to be there, it would be great if what is advertised matches what is offered.

Hi! I participated in a two-week program in Mexico focused on diving. Although the duration was relatively short and I unfortunately arrived during a period of storms, my diving instructor (Ursula from Scuba Kraken) genuinely cared about my experience and tried really hard to get me as many dives as possible.

On the conservation side, we were educated on local fish species and learned about scientific conservation approaches in the area. We also had the opportunity to contribute to the cultivation of certain crab and reef species at a marine conservation ranch.

However, the overall structure of the program felt quite disorganized at times. The general goals and daily tasks can be unclear sometimes, and it seemed that a lot of pressure was placed on the local partner, Scuba Kraken, and the role and presence of GVI within the program were somewhat ambiguous.

Overall, this program could be a good option if you’re looking for a short, guided getaway or a first glimpse into marine conservation, especially if you don’t mind the cost.

The team where extremely kind and helpful especially when I was trying to decide if I would actually go on my adventure. Once there I was also supported and made some amazing friends while doing some good work.

Loved my time with GVI at the Seychelles, learned a lot about the beautiful marine life! Would definitely recommend, trustworthy!

GVI has amazing programs all over! I enjoyed being able to travel to amazing places but also do good while I was there. I connected with locals and schools on education in Costa Rica and Thailand. I visited community Gardens and soup kitchens in South Africa. I observed and studied marine wildlife in Greece and Spain. I wouldn’t have the chance for connections like these without GVI and World of Difference.