Gili Shark Conservation

I enjoyed my time with Gili shark conservation; all the staff are really friendly and helpful, the activities were interesting and educational, and the accommodation was very clean and comfortable. You feel as though you are creating an impact with the work that you do and are contributing to conserving the local marine area. Doing the Scientific Diver and a Shark AWARE Diver specialty courses as part of the course gives you a sense of achievement and provides you with transferable skills that can be used in other conservation projects. Participating in local beach cleans and doing a Dive Against Debris every Friday allows you to have a direct impact on protecting the beautiful local environment. I would recommend this programme to anyone wanting to gain first hand experience in coral reef conservation and restoration, and to learn various sampling and data collection techniques whilst scuba diving.

Had a great time diving with Gili Shark conservation. I completed both my Scientific Diver and Shark AWARE courses, helping me further develop my diving skills while also contributing to the project's aims of collecting data on the coral reef in the Gilis and establishing a Shark nursery reserve. All the staff were really helpful and passionate, and made everything pretty simple when settling in, and when joining the scientific dives for the first time. Would definitely recommend the project if you're interested in conservation and/or diving, and if you want to dive with turtles (every day) and sharks and rays (usually every week), but my two weeks went very fast so its worth staying as long as you can (especially if you're doing a dive course too :) ). I did feel like there was scope for greater involvement in the local community, as we mainly worked/socialised with staff from Oceans5 resort and other dive shops. Some events with locals (e.g. even just involving them in the weekly beach clean) would help to make the project feel a little more involved in the community, and help spread some awareness of the project's aims.

I was with Gili Shark for 3 weeks and really loved it! Before coming I didn't have the clearest idea of what I'd be doing - partly due to the many pre-arrival manuals, which included some basic information on diving....which confused me since I'd opted not to do the next-level diving course and I was already a qualified diver. But anyway, everything turned out to be well organised! Not doing a course allowed me to start doing the research work straight away, which was great. The first afternoon was spent on orientation (survey methods, fish identification, etc.). Then the next 2-3 days were for practice surveys, and two PADI specialities: 1) Shark Awareness 2) Scientific Diver. And then the real job started! (because quite a few days have to be spent on orientation, PADI specialities, etc., I'd recommend staying at least 3 weeks, otherwise by the time you've familiarised yourself with the survey methods you'll already be leaving). On Tuesday-Thursday and Saturdays we dive 2 times in the morning. What we do ranges from roving surveys (recording indicator fish species we see in 30 mins of the dive), Coral Health Index, Reef Check, and coral restoration (not explaining here - too long!). In the afternoon we do "office work". The actual work is decided by Andre, the lead biologist, though it typically involves entering the data we've collected from our dives into the databases. On Fridays we do one dive - Dive Against Debris where we collect any rubbish seen during the dive, and in the afternoon we have a "Sharkquiz" (fun!) and Beach Cleanup. Sundays and Mondays are off, which I didn't think I'd need but ended up being much appreciated! Gili Air is a beautiful little island. There are plenty of nice cafes and beaches to chill on, and some good snorkelling spots too. You could also hop on a boat to Meno and T, or even trek Mt Rinjani on Lombok for these days off Basically...you won't get bored! Accommodation...they have 2 places - Villa Nangka and Oceans 5 roof top. I was put in Villa Nangka, and it was great! Beautiful high-ceiling en-suite cottage with 2 bunk beds and a lot of room to chill. The villa gets cleaned daily, and towels/sheets changed weekly. Oh, and there's also a cute cat that comes meowing at the villa doors every day. The people...everyone on the programme was lovely! The staff were not only super nice and helpful, but also very passionate about what they do; the locals friendly and kind; the people met on the programme awesome; and the island horses mega cute! All in all I had a great time and would recommend this programme :)