Sea Turtle Conservation Volunteer Project, Greece

Best experience ever! My daughter went on the Greece turtle experience. First time travelling by herself and first time doing voluntary work abroad. She loved every second of it. The leaders were amazing , the group all of it . For us parents it’s always scary to let them go, but Vicky helped us and made me trust that all was gonna be fine. She’s already planning another one !

I have just had an amazing two weeks in Kefalonia. I learnt a lot and even though I was volunteering I feel like the work we were doing was worthwhile and gave me a good insight into turtle conservation and the impact of microplastics on the marine environment. We took part in harbour surveys, beach surveys, beach profile recording and night shifts sleeping on the beach! And we had fun exploring parts of the island in our days off. All the staff were informative, great fun and really lovely! I would recommend the programme to anyone and would love to go back again.

The experience of spending time with turtles in Greece was very rewarding. The leadership Team are ferociously dedicated and committed to making a difference. The project is well organised & well structured.  It’s very “egalitarian” with everyone expected to take a turn at each of the tasks across the roster. I was considerably older than everyone else but it never became an issue albeit that I chose to sit out some of the evening social events. The split between work and downtime was well optimised with the weekly rosters.  In addition to the field experience, this was supplemented by some excellent & educational classroom sessions. Kefalonia and the nearest town Argostoli were great to explore.

My only regret is that had it been possible (to be away from home)  I would have stayed for longer.   I would give this 5 stars!

I’m just getting in touch to say that my son had a fantastic time in Greece on the Turtles project. He said that he learned lots about conservation techniques, which should be useful for his university course next year.

Also, it sounded like it was a great group that was out there – I think the group really gelled and he’s going to see a two or three of them for a reunion weekend in the coming weeks.

A really successful trip

Our time with the Sea Turtle Conservation Volunteer Project, Greece, was a mini adventure and we left with huge admiration for the leadership and guidance of the founders Chanel and Nikos, and the amazing full time support from Marine & Turtle specialists Annya and Josh together cajoling 46 further volunteers, together creating another incredible and humbling experience that gives one hope that our future generations are in good hands!!

With an influx of volunteer supporters every 2 weeks, longer term team leaders and assistants from around the world, this is an amazing well oiled machine that makes a mockery of the impression’ The Apprentice’ gives on how new teams interact, work together and respond to leadership. We witnessed a large, youthful, dynamic group of worldly people, many with no similar experience, getting involved, being supportive, leading initiatives and working as a team while being supportive, passionate, professional and thoughtful.

Within hours of everyone checking in, there was team inductions, a well organised rota for all 50 attendees, covering, day l’ship, task l’ship, drivers, equipment organisers, bike allocation, covering multiple daily tasks, with shifts starting at 05.00 and ending in the evening. Covering activities such as tracking the many beaches for new nests, turtle health checks and tagging, harbour patrol with tourist education, and various training programs.

Within the 1st 2 days, we were involved in rescuing 2 young turtles with long line fishing hooks, that went so deep, they needed to be transported to Athens for an operation. One of these was a newly identified turtle and I was given the honour of naming him…so the world now has a turtle called ‘Booster’!

We loved our time with the team and are in awe of their dedication, professionalism and passion they show all year round to keep these majestic creatures’ futures safe. We have also met and have left with many new volunteer friends that made our experience even more special.

My time in Kefalonia was absolutely amazing. I was so nervous before going that I wouldn’t enjoy it but as soon as I got there and was greeted by a leader there I knew that this was going to be amazing. Throughout the project I did a range of different things such as night shifts, where we slept on the beach overnight to keep an eye on the nests, harbour patrol where we had to keep an eye on the adult turtles. The best part of the trip was being able to help the hatchlings get to sea. It was the most surreal experience ever and I will never ever forget it. One evening during the trip I was very lucky to be able to help 140 hatchlings overall get to the sea.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone thinking about a trip like this. I had the best time ever and I met the most amazing group of people that I am still in contact with now!! The company and leaders were so lovely and helpful and I owe so much to them for making my trip so memorable.

I overall really enjoyed the two weeks and was eventually sad to leave at the end. I loved working hands on with the turtles and especially loved night surveys sleeping on the beach, protecting the turtles and seeing them off to sea.

I think the accommodation was good and really convenient as it’s only a 2 min walk to the main square of Lixouri. The leaders were really welcoming and generally you could talk to them if you’re worried about something.

I thought the cycling was quite hard at the beginning but I found myself enjoying it and improving quickly by the second week. I really miss the warm weather now and I made a lot of friends that I now miss. I would definitely recommend this to my friends/anyone with an interest in protecting turtles!

I loved my experience there, and would highly recommend it to others! My favourite activities was watching sea turtles around the harbour and helping with tagging events and health checks of turtles. It’s a great project and I’d love to return to it again.

The project I volunteered on in July was an amazing experience for me. So much better than I expected, the people, the accommodation and the work. I really enjoyed the cycling and walking we did every day, waking up early and seeing the sunrise.

In terms of physical exercise it was just perfect, not too much under the heat but still quite active. I learned loads and I’m very grateful to all the people that made my stay there possible. The educative talks the first days were interesting, but maybe a bit long if we had many the same day, but it didn’t really bother me. I was surprised by how much i got to learn and very pleased to be able to put everything in practice on field. The people there, Sophie, Anya, Josh, Ellie, Holly, Luke, Simon, they were sooo nice and easy going. English not being my native language, I’m not always comfortable talking, but I really didn’t feel any shyness with the group. The other volunteers as well were amazing people i will certainly won’t loose contact with.

What surprised me the most was the organisation. It was simply perfect. There was no pressure, no stress, no shouts or fights, and still i knew what I had to do when, could talk to Holly to ask to change this or that, get a good amount of rest and nap everyday. We nearly were 40 people there and still everything remained clean, we ate good food with at least a hot meal per day, got a day off. I really couldn’t ask for more.

The amount of time I had to volunteer per day was very reasonable. Overall this trip was one of the best experiences of my life so far. Being only seventeen and never having spend 2 weeks with complete strangers, I really didn’t know what to expect. It turned out to be an unforgettable experience I’ll probably want to do again. Thank you so much!

I had a FANTASTIC experience volunteering with the Sea Turtle Conservation project in Kefalonia. They are a hard-working group who work, with passion, for the survival of the endangered sea turtles. The leaders informed and trained us voluntary field researchers every step of the way. I was impressed by their dedication to detail and duty. They deserve to be supported every which way for the benefit of their cause.

You certainly paved the way too to something I had never ever imagined would be so worthwhile and memorable. Despite being the eldest member of the team, I felt entirely at ease as the organisers and volunteers were all so welcoming. We had lots of fun and happy times together. Your organisational skills with the run-up to my experience were impeccable too. Thank you so much for this great experience.

I arrived 2/3 days prior to the project starting and so stayed in a hotel near Argostoli, I then got a taxi to the accommodation, which was easy enough. The field leader/assistants were there to pick up any volunteers from the airport on the day they arrived. Orientation was in the evening and all the next day, explaining some basic loggerhead turtle facts and about all of the scenarios that we might encounter.

Sleeping was a mixture of bunk beds or single beds on their own, they had mosquito net hooks which you could attach your own mosquito net onto. The main kitchen was a floor lower which had everything you could need for cooking and 2 large fridge/freezers. There is a food kitty, which if you participate in you are required to cook with 2 others for the rest of the group, normally at least once a week, the food kitty is 20 euros a week depending how many volunteers are there. I, however, preferred to cook for myself, getting my ingredients after harbour shift or when they travelled in the minibus to get the food kitty stock.

Would highly recommend, it was an amazing experience and one of my coursemates has just booked her volunteer position for this summer!

I would most definitely recommend the project to other volunteers! I loved it so much the first time that I came back the next year for a longer stay. The staff are great, the people you meet are wonderful, and you are involved with so many different activities. My advice would be to throw yourself at everything you do in your time there – the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. Seeing hatchlings swim away in the sunlight on my final morning was something I’ll never forget.