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Volunteer Teaching in Kenya

Participating with GVI not only allows you to work on programs assisting disadvantaged communities or endangered ecosystems but it also offers wonderful opportunities to travel in the local area in your down time or further afield either before or after your program. Below is some information on trips and travel options in Kenya.

Included Side Trips

During their project volunteers will be based either at Mkwiro or Shimoni villages and will undertake one of the two following village tours accordingly:

• the Mwauzi Tumbe village tour of Mkwiro, a community-based tourism initiative that GVI have been working to develop with the villagers of Mkwiro, being shown around the village and aspects of daily life here, the tour finishing with the legend of Mwauzi Tumbe a Persian princess who is said to have betrayed her people to Wasini village at the other end of the island, in a battle in which the famous wooden drums of Mkwiro were stolen. Or;
• the community-based eco-tourism Slave Cave Tour in Shimoni village, exploring the natural caves that are currently home to bat colonies but over the years have served as a refuge for local people during tribal clashes, a slave holding pen on the way to markets in Zanzibar and more recently a kaya shrine.

Optional Included side Trips

During the programme volunteers have the option to experience the following additional side trips. These are not included in the programme and must be paid for separately:

• A weekend trip to nearby Funzi Island, where a community-based Turtle Conservation Group under our partner Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee, are establishing eco-tourism to support their conservation work and sustainable development, supported by GVI. The trip includes a home-stay with traditional local food provided and a tour of the village and their conservation work; depending on the season volunteers may have the opportunity to join the group on night time beach patrols to look for nesting turtles or hatchlings. There is also the option to take a boat ride amongst the mangroves of the Ramisi river in search of crocodiles.
• The Three Sisters Cave at Tswaka, about half an hour drive from Shimoni is a community eco-tourism project where you can be guided on a half day trip through a network of 3 large natural underground limestone caves.
• An overnight trip to Shimba Hills National Reserve, home to African elephants, buffalo, giraffe, warthog and the country’s only breeding population of sable antelope. As well as game drives, you can take a walk to Sheldrick Falls to cool off in the plunge pool below. Shimba Hills is about 2 hours drive from Shimoni, from where the tour can pick you up and drop you.
• A day trip to Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary, a community reserve in the hills near Shimba where game drives will bring you close to herds of protected African elephant protected and revenue is used to support community development. You can also see how the community turn elephant dung into recycled paper products for sale to tourists. The sanctuary is about a 2 hour drive from Shimoni and tours can be arranged to collect and drop you from here, or from Diani, our nearest tourist beach resort.
• Closer to home, volunteers can support eco-tourism initiatives in the communities we are working with, such as traditional fishing trips with the Mkwiro fishermen in their dug-out canoes and Swahili cooking classes with the women of the village.

Volunteers can also organise their own trips during time off. Over a weekend, a popular destination is the lively tourist beach resort of Diani, about one and a half hours drive away, accessible on public minibuses, or the quieter, more tranquil Tiwi beach where a further 20 minutes by taxi from Diani. Mombasa city can also be visited over a weekend, about 2 and a half hours on public minibuses, combining both the historic old town and traditional Swahili culture, with modern city life, restaurants, bars and clubs. As well as Mombasa’s beautiful beaches, Haller Park is an ecological restoration project that offers opportunities to get close to giraffe, hippopotamus, buffalo, waterbuck, crocodile and giant Aldabra tortoise.

Further Travel Opportunities

Kenya is a large and extremely diverse country in terms of both culture and nature. Over three to four days you can undertake a safari that takes in the vast Tsavo East and West National Parks and famous Amboseli National Park, home to lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, elephant, rhino, hippo and numerous antelope species as well as incredible bird life. Safaris can be arranged to start and end from Shimoni, Diani or Mombasa. Safari’s to the world famous Maasai Mara can also be arranged, flying from Diani or Mombasa. Over the duration, you can journey further up Kenya’s coastline to visit Watamu and Malindi with the Gedi Ruins and Arabuko Sokoke Forest National Park or Lamu Island, a tranquil getaway, steeped in Swahili history, tradition and culture.

With a week or more, volunteers can visit further afield in Kenya including Lakes Naivasha and Victoria and national parks such as Nakuru, Hell’s Gate and Samburu or treks on My Kenya. Our bases lie close to the Tanzanian border and onward travel here offers some of Africa’s most famous names; the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Mt Kilimanjaro and the Zanzibar Islands.