OUR DAILY LIFE
Are you curious how a day in our shark conservation team looks like? Get all the info here and see how you can make a difference! As a participant of Gili Shark Conservation, you spend 5 days a week from 8 AM till 4 PM with our research team. Our mornings are spent mostly exploring the magical underwater world and our afternoons are spent either in the office inputting and analyzing the data or in the field doing community work.
THE BEST WAY TO START THE DAY
Your accommodation is located in a hidden paradise called Villa Nangka, complete with open-air kitchen, hot water showers, and a huge swimming pool! With 4 people to a room we talk and laugh in the mornings before heading down to the dive center for a delicious breakfast. Pancakes, eggs, fresh fruit, and a strong coffee is the best way to start your day on a tropical island.
LET’S GO DIVING
After breakfast, we set up our equipment and load it onto the Gili Shark Conservation boat. With slates and t-sticks ready we jump into the water for our first survey dive. Actively seeking out sharks, rays, turtles, and indicator species. Jacques Cousteau once said: “The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish.” And we couldn’t agree more. There is no better feeling than to start the day with a dive; every time we jump into the ocean, it feels like going home.
Once we are back on the boat we transfer our data onto the sheets and get ready for our second dive. Our second dive is dedicated to dropping our baited underwater cameras and bringing our spare GoPro’s to take our photo ID pictures to track the population of sharks and turtles throughout the reserve. After washing and putting all of our equipment away and logging our dives we head back to Villa Nangka for lunch. We enjoy the local cuisine and fresh juice before we break into our teams to complete our tasks for the afternoon. Sometimes we are entering data, sometimes we are watching the video and counting sharks, and other times we spend time on personal projects. One thing for sure we are always busy!
OFFICE TIME
Office time doesn’t mean that you will be sitting in an office all day. The ocean and the whole island is our office (lucky us!) so we could literally be anywhere. We are a very ambitious organization with big dreams. To make sure we reach our goals, every day has a theme so you and the other members of the research team know exactly what to focus on.
Back to School on Sunday:
On Sundays, we focus on expanding your knowledge. We do this by giving presentations and workshops, playing different games and watching documentaries together.Become a Scientist on Monday & Tuesday:
On Mondays and Tuesdays it’s all about science and marine life conservation; watch the RUV, analyze & input data, and study the different methodologies we use. In our office no one gets teased for being a geek, science is the new rock & roll!Get in the Field on Wednesday:
On Wednesdays, we head out into the field to visit our community outreach projects. People who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that normally do. But to make the change you need go outside the office and sometimes even out of your comfort zone. We teach people why it’s so important to look after our ocean and give them the tools to keep our beautiful island green & clean.Spread Awareness on Thursdays:
On Thursdays we try to give something back to Gili Air and the wonderful community here; we call it Give Back Thursday. We organize beach clean ups, underwater clean ups, recycle workshops and activities for children at the primary school. We’re always trying to come up with new and creative ways to help the community and promote conservation efforts – working together to change the perception of sharks one person at a time.Feel free to share 
