The Mighty Roar (TMR) Reviews 2.032

I took part in the teaching programme with the Mighty Roar team in Sri Lanka. Some positives of my experience was that I was able to meet and teach some lovely students who I bonded with over our 3 week experience. The leaders of the volunteering were very kind and lovely people who cared about our experience. However, I found the accommodation quite shocking. We had seen photos online but our room did not meet those standards. The room shown online was much better quality and our room did not live up to those standards. We were in an 8 bed dorm room with an en-suite bathroom. There was no storage for bags so the narrow space between the bunk beds was used for our bags which meant there was no space on the floor. It felt cramped and dirty. The bathroom had a sewage issue which is understandable as we knew it wasn’t a 5* resort, however it was not nice smelling sewage everyday. Our room had bugs and the air con was broken. They came to fix the air con when we made a complaint, however it kept breaking down after. Onto the teaching, we felt the programmes were very over subscribed to, to the point where we felt unhelpful. We only had around 2 hours of teaching time 4 days a week. We were told we could take part in other volunteering activities, however those were super full and they were also not the activities we paid to take part in. I would have happily stayed here for a week, however 3 weeks was too long for us due to the standards. I want to thank the lovely team at the mighty roar as they were the highlight of our experience.

I volunteered for two weeks at Harnas through the mighty roar.
Applying, getting in touch with the company is all very simple.
I had the most amazing few weeks making lifelong memories and friends.
The accomodation is perfect for the hot weather with outdoor sheltered toilets and showers.
The staff were incredible, so kind, caring and always helpful.
Worth every penny.

I had an amazing 2 weeks in Sri Lanka with the Mighty Roar. The people I met were incredible and the staff were amazing as well, and it was nice that you were able to help out with the other programs as well. I did Childcare and Dogs, and I loved them equally: the kids were so sweet and Chamo was a great leader, as well as Kavi and the dogs.

Had an amazing time volunteering in Bali. The local team is great and very helpful. I would recommend using TMR

Absolutely amazing couldn’t recommend it anymore best 5 weeks

I had a great 4 weeks at TMR Sri Lanka as part of my medical elective. The team especially Thilini, Chamo, Kavi and Tharu were amazing - the friendliest girls who were always happy to help.

The team put in so much effort to make sure you have a great experience - Celebrating New Year was especially special!

I would rate my volunteer experience with The Mighty Roar in Sri Lanka 4 stars overall. From the moment I arrived, I felt very welcomed and appreciated having time to settle in and meet my roommates. I started on the dog program in my first week, where I learned the daily tasks, met the dogs, and was supported by Kavi, our course leader, who was friendly and approachable. I felt comfortable getting involved and sharing ideas.

The program runs Monday to Friday with afternoons free, which was a nice balance, though I would have liked more hands-on time with the dogs to really build on the experience. I shared some suggestions for improvement when I left, particularly around increasing volunteer involvement. In my second week, I also helped with the turtle program, which was another highlight.

The accommodation was great and I was lucky to have really good roommates, which made the experience even more enjoyable. Having three meals a day included was convenient, although it would have been better if meals were provided on weekends too, especially as part of a paid program.

While I had a meaningful experience, met lovely people, and feel like I made a difference. Overall, a really rewarding experience with a few areas that could be improved.

As soon as I was picked up from the airport I immediately felt safe and looked after. The sea turtle conservation programme is one of the best things I have ever done. Tharu is one of the kindest people you will ever meet, explains everything to you and shows passion about what she is talking about, which is infectious for you and everyone around.

Tharu is so dedicated to her conservation work with the turtles! I learnt so so much from her and it's truly inspiring. Also the conservation work with the turtles is ethical and they really consider the turtles and what they need all the time.
I had a great time with TMR. Met some amazing people and had lots of fun on the weekend trips. Also ended up on Sri Lankan national news because of the celebrations we did for the new year!! Highly recommend.

Had the most amazing 2 weeks at The Mighty Roar Sri Lanka. All the staff members are very welcoming and friendly. I was volunteering with the street dogs, Kavi was amazing so friendly. I definitely have loved every moment with the dogs,whether it was preparing there food,walking them,feeding the street dogs and of course giving them lots of love and attention. This has definitely been very rewarding and also eye opening to see. I'm so happy that I decided to come and volunteer,definitely something I wont forget.

My daughter (11) and I had a brilliant experience volunteering for the turtle programme with Mighty Roar! Not only were we part of a meaningful and ethical programme, but we also worked and were guided by well informed and hardworking staff, lead by our multi talented Tharu ☺️. Everyone is so helpful and kind, you are in the safest hands and they do so much to make guests feel welcome, from fun activities to giving valuable tips about the local sightseeing…and more… we will miss you all, but hope to be back! Thank you so much for all you do! 🥰

The Mighty Roar was an absolutely incredible experience. Not only do you get to help the local community and wildlife, you get an insight into the culture of the country. Whilst I was at The Mighty Roar, it was the singhalese new year and the volunteers provided us with our own celebration day in which we could experience what Sri Lankans do during their new year celebrations. I, myself did the turtle programme which included checking the hatchery for baby turtles, then releasing them, burying eggs we find from the beach and daily beach cleans. I found this an interesting and inspiring experience where you feel as though you’re making an impact on the community you’re surrounded by. Tharu, the person in charge of the turtle programme was extremely helpful and kind in my time at The Mighty Roar and make the experience that much better. Personally, I would recommend any of The Mighty Roar’s programmes to anyone, especially the turtles. It’s an affordable but amazing way to experience new country’s and feel as though you’re helping the community too.

Amazing experience in the Namibia!

I spent 4 weeks in Sri Lanka with The Mighty Roar doing the medical programme for my medical elective placement. I really enjoyed the variety of placements seen during my time here and experiencing both western medicine and Ayurvedic traditional medicine. The placements were all organised efficiently by the team and our transport to and from placement was included in our trip. I have been able to go on a couple of weekend trips to visit different places across Sri Lanka including Galle, Hiriketiya and Kandy. I have had a great time and the whole team here are very friendly and accommodating especially Thillini who is the medical programme coordinator.

I recently spent 4 months in Sri Lanka doing the dog program and then the turtle for 1 month , the local team are so welcoming and supportive in anything you need and make the experience 100 times better for you , I have loved working on both programs but the dog program was very special to me as it made my time there even better getting to look after and help all the strays dogs , I do recommend doing the dog program as it’s not one of the most popular programs but can do with helping giving all the doggys a better life . But what made the dog program even better was thanks to kavi who is in charge of the dog program, she was really amazing and hardworking with the dogs and the volunteers.
An amazing experience, and such a beautiful country and community

We came as a family (mum and 2 daughters) and did the childcare project. We had the best time during our stay. The staff were so friendly and welcoming. They allowed us to get involved with other projects including street dogs amd turtles and my kids loved doing this. The accommodation was clean and cool with air con and very safe and secure. I would bring my family again and recommend to other families.
Overall the experience was very humbling and incredible. We loved it. Thank you TMR

If you are considering booking, read the Terms & Conditions carefully and compare them against the Volunteer Handbook rather than relying on the handbook alone.

I booked a volunteer programme with The Mighty Roar and later had to ask to postpone due to an emergency. I made that request 23 days before the start date, but it was refused and treated as a cancellation.

What bothered me most was how confusing the information was. The Volunteer Handbook gave the impression that programme changes could be made for a £39 administration fee, including changes to the start date and duration. But when I asked to postpone, I was told that no changes were allowed within 60 days and that my case would instead be treated as a cancellation.

That difference was not clear to me at the time, especially because the handbook was presented as the main guide for preparing for the trip.

I was not asking to cancel. I was asking to postpone because of an emergency. In the end, there was no flexibility, no partial refund and no meaningful resolution.

⸻

Update: I have edited this review for accuracy after revisiting the documents and correspondence.

My concern remains the same: the handbook and the Terms & Conditions were not clear enough in relation to each other and that caused confusion in my case.

After many months of trying to resolve this privately, I am sharing my experience publicly.

There were some really positive aspects to my time on the India medical programme. The medical experience itself was generally good, in particular a senior doctor at one of the hospitals got myself and another student involved and taught us a lot. The accommodation was nice with kitchen facilities, a water filter, and a lovely rooftop terrace. There was hot water and the wifi was good. The food was great, very tasty and generous quantities. The local team were good at quickly sorting out any maintenance issues in the accommodation.
Unfortunately there were also some negative aspects, which I hope can be improved for future volunteers.
- A lot of information in the pre-departure handbook is inaccurate. It named a specific hospital where we’d mainly be based but when I arrived I was told we’d mostly be somewhere else. I had to email my university to inform them of this change. It also says that the day after arrival you will get a ‘full orientation’ and ‘taken to get a local sim card and exchange cash,’ but none of this happened. I had an orientation about a week after arriving but it was not very useful. The handbook also says that the local team would help us get required paperwork completed – I needed a clinician in India to sign off my elective and I asked one of the local team 3 times about this but he was not very helpful and just told me to ask anyone at the hospital. Ultimately I found someone to do it, but the uncertainty was stressful
- There was a lot less support from the local team than I anticipated. I thought someone would live with us at the accommodation, which was an assumption on my part as the handbook doesn’t explicitly state this, but I think the handbook is ambiguous and should make it completely clear that support from the local team is mostly via whatsapp, not in-person
- One member of the local team was supposedly responsible for managing the accommodation and food, etc. Unfortunately I did not find her to be very competent at this and communicating with her was very difficult because she spoke only minimal English. I had no expectation that everyone in India would speak English, but it was difficult receiving messages from her and having no idea what she meant, and speaking to her was also challenging, as she would just say ‘yes’ to everything even if she hadn’t understood. She was also responsible for ordering us food for breakfast, but she would often only get us half the items we’d asked for, and sometimes very small quantities such as 1L of milk for 7 of us (though this improved with time). The evening meal would often arrive very late, around 8:30pm, and she was meant to be sorting this out but it didn’t change while I was there. A couple of times we had to get beds ready for new arrivals because she hadn’t done it
- I went on a weekend trip and had some great experiences, and it was mostly well-organised but communication wasn’t great – for example on day 1 the plan changed multiple times and this was barely communicated to us, causing confusion. It says the fee includes ‘three meals a day’ but what it actually included was breakfast at the hotel and a contribution towards lunch and dinner – the contribution however was not nearly enough for 2 meals so we ended up buying most of our own food on the trip
- The UK team say that if we have any issues we should contact them, however in my first week we got a passive aggressive message from the local team asking us not to contact the UK team with issues because ultimately it would be the local team sorting things out. I see the logic here, but the mixed messages were not ideal and it made me reluctant to contact the UK team because I didn’t want to annoy the people I was having to interact with for several weeks
Overall, I think the India programme has the makings of a great experience but several aspects could be improved and the handbook needs updating so that it accurately reflects the experience

I spend 5 weeks in Namibia and had the best time ever. TMR made it easy to book and provided lots of information and when you had questions, were very quick to respond to them. I would recommend this experience to anyone, it was incredible.

I’ve had the most amazing 3 weeks at the Mighty Roar doing the Mental Health programme. The staff were so friendly and I had the best time!