Travelteer - Nottingham

Alicia Davies

I had a wonderful time in Sri Lanka and don't want to discourage anyone from volunteering abroad because you get to meet the best people and experience the local culture.

However, I advise against using Travelteer. It was immediately clear that this company's primary concern is making money the moment I paid the membership fee. Everything in Sri Lanka is done on the cheap, including accommodation, volunteering, tours, etc.

The information in the booklet is utterly outdated; for instance, the AC costs nearly twice as much as it does in the brochure, and Lizzie responded that there had been a 300% rise in bills when I questioned this. If they knew this, though, why didn't they inform us before leaving? Additionally, I'm not sure if the funds obtained actually go back into the programme. For instance, in the marine programme, everything is already established, and their outgoings are little, so where does the remaining funding go? Even little things like on the tour, while it says in the guidebook that all meals are included in the tour, we had to pay for two meals ourselves the water is not provided. Don't fall for the airport transfer, which is another huge scam. They charged me £70 for a private transfer (that wasn't private) when locals in the area (not PickMe) charge £35 and when I used for a transfer to Colombo it was on time and felt extremely safe. It's disappointing that travellers use something like a transfer to make money because first-time travellers would undoubtedly fall for this. The in-house lady who does the washing is really expensive and no where near the same price than if you go to the local laundrette.

After all the hidden costs, the living environment is still a major problem. The beds in my room were almost all rusted, broken, and inappropriate for an adult. There is only a little blanket; no suitable sheet is present. When there are five people living there, the cleaning staff that is supposed to be there every day only cleans our room once a week. It was filthy. It's difficult to eat when there are so many flies in the dining room that nobody is doing anything to control the problem. In addition, there were rats scurrying around the kitchen and maggots in the food. In addition, there is not enough cutlery for the entire house.

Inoma was a fantastic programme leader, but my expectations were totally out of line with the reality. I was startled to see that the majority of the turtles were kept in captive in tiny tanks and would not be released any time soon. I wouldn't have gone if I had known this because it goes directly against my ethical principles. People would be less shocked and more eager to work if they were informed in advance and had an expectoration before leaving. Although Anoma did a wonderful job and gave it his all, I think it would be difficult for him to effect real change.

My fifth week in Sri Lanka, I was informed that my emergency contact insurance, fundraising materials, and risk acknowledgement forms had never been received. It was unsettling to consider that they had likely violated GDPR by losing my information and that I had gone five weeks without a contact in case of emergency. Another worrying thing is they ask you to lie on visa and put holiday when there is an option for volunteering I’m unsure the reason for this.

To sum up, the company's UK headquarters is to fault for overselling and refusing to hear complaints (of which there are undoubtedly many). It does not do any good for Rouchi to apologise on my fifth week and claim that Travelteer failed us and that they will make changes for the next group of volunteers. All those there before August, in my opinion, deserve an apology and compensation.

Tony Woolf

Just a remarkable seven days. Organisation was second to none. These guys had a large group to deal with and they handled everything seamlessly. Cannot speak highly enough of them.

Pippa Scheijde

I worked as a representative for Travelteer at at a university fair, and unfortunately, my experience has been quite negative. They have not compensated me for my work as promised and my attempts to reach out for clarification have just been ignored. This lack of communication and professionalism is extremely frustrating. I would recommend avoiding this organisation

Reply to your reply: I have contacted the team, I did several times since I worked on the 27/09/24 and I was repeatedly ignored and I have only just received an email back today! I was told over the over phone to get there earlier and leave when the other vistors left so again highlights Travelteers poor organisation.

Chris Edwards

Thrilling Sri Lanka Tuk Tuk Challenge with Travelteer and CAFT
Embarking on the Sri Lanka Tuk Tuk Challenge, a 400km journey across stunning landscapes and vibrant communities, was an adventure of a lifetime. This incredible challenge, organized in collaboration with CAFT and Travelteer, was not just a journey but a revelation of culture, camaraderie, and challenge.

Leading the pack were the two Laurences from Travelteer. Their dedication, genuine care, and tireless efforts ensured every aspect of our journey was flawless. These guys really set the bar high for what an adventure should be like.

And Ruchi, the man in charge of our support crew, was nothing short of amazing. His cool demeanor, constant support, and ability to keep everything running smoothly made him an indispensable part of our experience. He wasn’t just part of the crew; he was a cornerstone of the entire adventure.

Witnessing firsthand the positive impact that Travelteer is making in Sri Lanka was awe-inspiring. This challenge was more than a road trip; it was a journey with purpose and heart.

Would I recommend Travelteer?
Without a doubt! For an adventure that’s as exciting as it is impactful, this is the one you need to check out.

Jayne Worrall

An incredible adventure with Travelteer & CAFT! What a way to see Sri Lanka! Thanks to the whole Travelteer team for keeping us all safe; for your incredible organisation and support! Would have liked longer in most of the hotels; but overall we made so many amazing memories!

Oliver T

Incredibly organised and professional experience with Travelteer. Felt really safe under their guidance and can't wait to go back to Sri Lanka!

Gina Radford

Travelteer have been amazing from start to finish. I spent 4 weeks on the Marine & Wildlife programme and did the coast 2 coast tour. The tour was amazing and such good value for money, literally saw all the best bits of Sri Lanka in one week. The volunteering was so much fun, and I actually felt like I made a real difference to the community. Accommodation is awesome - it’s on the beach in a cool surf town. Shout out to Laurence, Noah, Ruchi and the rest of the team for organising such an unforgettable experience.
Would 100% recommend !!!

Em

DO NOT GO WITH THIS COMPANY! - read thoroughly before going.
I went for the programme in Costa Rica as it had always been my dream and travelteer made the experience awful.

I did a 1 week tour first to which all volunteers has issues within the first day.
- The majority of meals had to be paid for my us even though we got told they were included, some days we only ate one meal as anything else was "out of budget" which is disgusting, especially considering the budget they gave us was only a few dollars for each meal.
-The itinerary kept changing because even though the tour was booked ages in advance, the staff only decided to book activities days before so things sold out, which means what wed paid for was not what we got.

arrived at camp 2 days before the tour was meant to end so even though we paid for 7 days we had to spend 2 of those nights in camp accommodation?
- When in camp we had a meeting as soon as us from the tour arrived to discuss the issues all other volunteers at the camp were having.
- Despite the programme being “turtle conservation” hardly any of the time spent was for turtle conservation. The majority of time was spent doing chores e.g. cleaning bedrooms, bathrooms, showers, kitchen, cooking for others at meal times. People complained they only saw a turtle once a week. Travelteer told me there would be so much work with turtles hands on when there was nothing. WE DID NOT PAY TO DO CHORES WE PAID TO DO TURTLE CONSERVATION!
- After chores, the majority of the day was free but no activities were ever organised. Sometimes a jungle walk would be organised for example but always cancelled, so everyone in camp had to sit around and do nothing for most of their time at camp. You were not allowed to venture away from camp and explore yourself because of safety.
- There were no lights at camp, and it went dark around 5pm. All the beds were separate and a walk to the showers and toilets which had no lights to get to. Considering the camp is based in Corcovado national park this is a major safety issue.
- The safety was awful, it was never explained to us. There were never any communicated safety protocols or tips on what to do if anything bad happened, e.g. a puma, jaguar or snakes which were common around camp and venomous. No antivenom was kept nor was there any communication from anyone regarding dangerous wildlife encounters and what to do.
- We had to sign a waiver as soon as we got to camp which was never mentioned before travel. This waiver included terms such as: if I become ill or die it is not travelteers responsibility etc
- A lot of lies were told to a lot of people before travel. E.g: don’t need to bring much sun cream or pharmaceuticals as there are shops nearby, when the nearest shop is 2 hours away and is 80 dollars in a taxi. Travelteer said your weekends are free when you had to work in camp on Saturdays, but we couldn’t even go anywhere as you couldn’t walk outside the camp plus there was nothing nearby, the pictures on travelteers socials are nothing like the programme. Laurence is the owner of Travelteer and just misleads and lies about the whole programme.
- The nearest hospital was 6 hours away by boat, which is another thing that I feel is a necessity to communicate to volunteers before they travel. If anything serious happened its very unlikely someone would’ve made it to hospital. (this explains why the no lights around camp is so dangerous)
- We would do “night patrols” on the beach which was a 10-15 minute walk from camp in pitch black. No safety was ever explained. We only got told that poachers and Narcos (drug trafficking) could be on the beach and are dangerous, we saw poachers on the night patrol.
Travelteer are very convincing but use another company! so so many people had all these issues when I went, I booked a flight home nearly 2 weeks earlier than planned because I couldn't stay there any longer and I wasn't the only one. I want to add the staff at the camp were separate to Travelteer and did a wonderful job, Isa especially was lovely.