Fiji Marine - Great project, shame about Frontier!

Frontier (Conservation, Education, Exploration) www.frontier.ac.uk
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Guest's review of Frontier (Conservation, Education, Exploration) www.frontier.ac.uk

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“Fiji Marine - Great project, shame about Frontier!”

Written on: 06/09/2011

I can not recommend Frontier. However, i did have the time of my life in Fiji, but i can't help but feel that i could have had just as great a time, with a lot less stress involved had i organised it myself and just headed out to Fiji without it being part of one of their projects.

Frontier claim on their website that they offer 24 hour in country support. But in my case it was far from what i experienced. When i encountered issues which were not my fault and beyond my control and regarded Frontier staffing, Frontier was all to quick to bury their head in the sand and leave me to literally foot the bill. I paid for 28 days on the island, and i was only able to spend 17 as their was no dive officer on the island so i had to stay in Suva to get my PADI before being deployed to the island. Frontier would only subsidise my stay on the island, and gave me 10 FJD - £4 to live off a day for lunch and dinner. Phone calls with London were completely unproductive. The island was amazing, and i had a fantastic time there. However, again i don't feel it was made clear about the cost of getting to the island and that the boat to the island isn't operated by a company but a villager so you have to take into account 'Fiji Time'. The kit list that Frontier make available is very comprehensive, lots of the equipment that i bought that was very expensive i didn't use as it was already on the island or i simply didn't need it. Once on the island i specialised in Benthic, which took about 10 days to learn and also to learn how to survey, which meant i only managed to do one transect of one survey dive in my whole 17 days there. I was pretty gutted.

In a nutshell, would i recommend Frontier? No. Not at all. personally i think they are overpriced and i'm not sure how much actually goes on your project as the conditions on the island are very basic, which i knew, but for the amount we paid it just doesn't add up.

This was my experience and judging by the other reviews here i wouldn't say that it appears indicative of Frontiers operations around the world. My first review was removed, which i was told in an email was because Frontier got in touch with this website. Another volunteer that i know also had her negative review removed from this website, again in the email it said because Frontier had been in contact.

Other volunteers i spoke to whilst in Fiji all said they would not use Frontier, or recommend them.

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Frontier Coordinator's Comment

Written on: 16/09/2011

Thanks so much for taking the time to review your experiences with Frontier. We are pleased to hear that you had such a fantastic time on our Fiji Marine Conservation & Diving project, and that you had the time of your life on the island- we think it is amazing too!

Frontier's HQ works closely with our field staff to ensure volunteers have a thoroughly enjoyable experience on all our projects, and that they receive the service they hoped for when they initially approached Frontier. Occasionally, as is the nature of working in remote locations, problems do arise that our out of our control. If this is the case, then Frontier works hard to resolve any issues as soon as possible, with minimum disruption to the project itself. We encourage all our volunteers to independently review their experiences with Frontier, as we believe this is the fairest way for future participants to evaluate our successes and weaknesses prior to joining us.

Each project budget is carefully allocated based on previous staff and volunteer recommendations and the local way of life. The daily food and accommodation allowances were based on Frontier’s staff expenditures, who are based permanently in Suva. The budget allocated was more than a Fijian local would be expected to spend, and was based on the fact that more food would be required due to the demanding training schedule planned to ensure you gained your PADI scuba diving qualifications.

We work hard to make our kit lists as useful and suitable as possible for each project, taking into consideration feedback from field staff and previous volunteers. A number of items are on our kit list legally to comply with health and safety regulations, and I am sure you would agree that not having to use these items is to the credit of our field staff for their high level of safety on the project. At no point would we wish our volunteers to find themselves in a situation where they do not have the necessary equipment to participate in their project or keep themselves safe if a dangerous situation did arise. We appreciate any feedback volunteers provide, and if you have any suggestions for the kit list we would love it if you could get in contact and let us know.

We work hard to keep our prices as competitive and affordable for our volunteers as we are of course very conscious of volunteers' budgets. As a not-for-profit organisation, all money received from volunteer contributions is reinvested back into our organisation at all levels to support our many excellent projects and partners around the world. If you can find the same project for less anywhere else then we would love to hear about it.

Any review content in breach of the Terms and Conditions of Review Centre is subject to assessment by the host website.

We would like to thank you again for taking the time to talk about your project, and reiterate that we are pleased to hear that you felt your time in Fiji was so enjoyable. If you would like to discuss your experiences with Frontier further then please address them to us directly, or arrange a date to come into our office for a chat.

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Frontierfijimarinecoordinator's Comment

Written on: 23/09/2011

It’s always great for field staff and London staff alike to see our volunteers speaking highly of the projects operated in various places worldwide. It was unfortunate that due to unforeseen circumstances arising out of our control that there was no dive officer available for the second half of your phase, however it was great to note on your feedback form that you rated the services of the diving instructor that Frontier sourced in Suva at short notice as “Excellent”. Nevertheless your experience on our marine project appears echoed in your feedback comment that you “wish [you] had longer” and that the overall experience had also been “Excellent”.

We feel that the project website and the field brief provided one month prior to your departure are clear with respect to the costs associated with getting to and from the island outside the official project start and end dates, however we would be happy to consider any suitable amendments that you may like to suggest. Our mode of transport to and from the island is preferentially one of the large service ships that supply the local communities, for both comfort and speed, although in the event that staff or volunteers need to travel when no such ship is scheduled then we privately charter an independent and fully surveyed vessel operated by a licensed Boat Master. Once again, this is stipulated in your pre-departure field brief.

It was certainly unfortunate that you were unable to take part in as much survey work as you had hoped. Clearly it takes some time for our survey teams to become familiar with the science programme, hone their identification skills and then reach a level of competence in our survey techniques that are conducive to accurate and effective data collection. It is seldom the case that our Research Assistants are able to achieve all the aforementioned skills in fewer than three weeks so the fact that you were able to do so is testament to your abilities. We were still pleased that you were able to complete seven fun dives during your 17 days, in addition to the training dives, and were even in a position to decide not to take advantage of the three open dive deck days that were made available to you.

Once again, we are so pleased that you had such an excellent experience on the project and wish you all the very best for your future endeavours, whether they lie in Fiji or elsewhere, but of course should you wish to discuss anything further then please do not hesitate to contact us.

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