Choosing a marine conservation volunteer project is not like choosing a holiday. The destination matters. The science matters. The research team matters. And the question of whether your time in the field produces outcomes that last beyond your placement matters most of all.
Marine Impact runs structured, long-term marine research and conservation programmes across three of the Indian Ocean’s most ecologically significant environments. Each is distinct in its focus, its species, and the kind of experience it offers. Here is an honest guide to what each one involves and who it suits.
1. Dolphin Research and Marine Conservation, Zanzibar
The Zanzibar dolphin research programme is Marine Impact’s flagship and longest-running project. Based in Kizimkazi within the Menai Bay Conservation Area, it has been operating continuously since 2013 in partnership with the University of Dar es Salaam. The research focuses on monitoring the resident spinner and bottlenose dolphin populations, tracking behaviour, group size, and human-dolphin interactions, with findings feeding directly into tourism policy decisions that affect how dolphins are managed across the bay.
Alongside dolphin surveys, volunteers conduct snorkel-based coral reef health assessments, contribute to coral bleaching monitoring, and participate in community education with local schools and fishing communities. No diving certification is required. New cohorts begin every two weeks, year-round. This is the best starting point for volunteers who want breadth of fieldwork, strong community context, and one of the most biodiverse marine environments in East Africa.
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2. Marine Research and Conservation, Mozambique
The Mozambique programme is based at Africa’s first permanent marine observatory in Tofo, on the Inhambane Peninsula. The research is long-term, time-series in methodology, and focused on some of the most extraordinary marine megafauna in the Indian Ocean: whale sharks, manta rays, sea turtles, dolphins, and humpback whales (seasonally). Over 850 individual whale sharks and 1,000 manta rays have been identified and catalogued in the Inhambane area alone.
Fieldwork includes ocean safari expeditions snorkelling with whale sharks for photo-ID data collection, scuba research dives at manta ray cleaning stations, reef transect surveys, estuary monitoring, and microplastic beach surveys. A PADI Open Water certification is required for the full diving programme, though snorkel-based whale shark work is available without one. This is the right project for volunteers who want intensive megafauna research experience in one of Africa’s most biodiverse coastal environments.
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3. Great White Shark Conservation, South Africa
The South Africa shark conservation programme is the most specialist of the three, focused tightly on great white shark population monitoring in Gansbaai, widely regarded as one of the most significant great white habitats in the world. Walker Bay’s cold, nutrient-rich waters support one of the largest remaining accessible populations of this globally vulnerable species, and our research partner has been building a photo-ID population database on these animals for years.
Research methodology includes boat-based surface surveys, cage diving for close-range observation and individual ID photography, and reef monitoring. No scuba certification is required for cage diving. This programme suits volunteers with a specific interest in shark biology and conservation, and those who want to contribute to research on a species under sustained global pressure from fishing, finning, and habitat loss.
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How to choose the right project
The best project is the one that matches your background, your available time, and what you genuinely want to contribute to, not the one with the most dramatic wildlife marketing.
If you want year-round availability, no diving requirement, and the broadest range of daily fieldwork, Zanzibar is the starting point. If you want the most diverse megafauna encounters and a full scuba diving research programme, Mozambique is the right choice. If sharks are your primary interest and specialist species research is what you are after, South Africa is where you should be.
All three programmes are built around long-term research objectives. All three are supervised by qualified marine scientists. All three produce data that matters beyond the duration of any individual volunteer’s time in the field.
Browse all volunteer programmes or get in touch and we will help you find the right fit for your dates and goals.
