This comprehensive and unique ONE YEAR course has been designed to supply the safari industry with high calibre FGASA and THETA qualified professional Field Guides. This course is not only available to people wishing to enter the industry as field guides, but for anyone who wants to increase their knowledge of the African bush.

In this ONE YEAR course, a full 6 months of theoretical and practical training with our highly qualified instructors in which you will complete various separate certificate courses should get you well prepared for six months of actual nature guiding at lodges with guests. We will place you at these lodges so that you can work with experienced guides to learn from them and to learn on the job so that at the end of the year’s course, you are not only qualified but also experienced. By this time you will be a prime candidate and should be snapped up immediately by a lodge for a guiding job.

This lodge attachment component will give you the practical experience and enable you to apply the theory you learnt in the training at our camps. It also enables you to build up your 'guiding days' towards the one year of experience that is required by FGASA to be assessed for your FGASA Level 2 field guiding exams.

What qualifications could you graduate with?

THEORETICAL COMPONENT (Approx 6 months)

1. EcoTraining Level 1 exam
2. Field Guide FGASA Level 1 Theory (subject to 75% pass mark)
3. Field Guide FGASA Level 1 Practical assessment (subject to passing the theory and being deemed competent on a practical assessment)
4. SASSETA Competency Certificate – Rifle (qualification - rifle handling only)
5. Advanced Rifle Handling (Basic, Intermediate/back-up, Advanced/Lead)
6. FGASA Trails Guide Back-up
7. FGASA Level 2 Theory  - work book completed and exam written (75% pass mark)
8. Birding with Lawson’s Birding Academy
9. Tracking qualification (Level 1, 2 or 3) (optional)
10. Wilderness medicine (Level 1 and 2)Basic First Aid 

A few Subjects covered on this course  

The Introduction to Guiding in the Natural Environment
Creating a Guided Nature Experience.
Basic Bush and Survival Skills.
Geology
Basic Ecology
Basic Taxonomy
Mammals
Endomology
Reptiles
Fish
Birds
Animal Behaviour
Transfrontier Parks and Biosphere Reserves
Historical Human Habitation

In addition to these subjects, EcoTraining believes we shouldn't do any course without also doing the following modules from our own training manual:
 
• Introduction to Eco Tourism.
• Planning of Game Drives and Walks.
• Dealing with Guests.
• Tracks and Tracking.
• Approaching Dangerous Game Animals.
• The Game Drive Vehicle
• Off-Road and 4x4 Driving.
• Night Drives.

LODGE EXPERIENCE: (Approx 6 months)

As part of your year training, EcoTraining will assist in placing you at a lodge in Southern Africa for a period of approximately 6 months. During your lodge placement you will be expected to carry out a wide variety of duties which may or may not include the following:
• General Guiding Duties (can logged towards FGASA level 2 practical assessment)
• Assisting in the bar, serving drinks, undertaking stock takes
• Assist with meeting guest/s at meeting point/airport, carrying their luggage
• Housekeeping
• Maintenance
• Reception duties
• Food & Beverage duties

PLEASE NOTE:
1. Chances of getting a lodge placement will greatly improve if you pass with FGASA level 1 as a minimum.
2. EcoTraining reserves the right to refrain from placing a learner at a lodge for the work experience if the learner does not meet the necessary qualifying standards, or if he/she does not fulfil the required code of conduct based on reasonable and professional behaviour at the EcoTraining camps and lodges during attachment.
3. It is very important that you have a valid driver’s license when you attend the course, as driving makes up a large component of the course. EcoTraining reserves the right to stop a learner from driving if the instructor feels that he/she is endangering the lives of the other passengers.
4. Should the student not have a Professional Drivers Permit, EcoTraining will endeavour to place the student at a lodge where driving is not required.
5. During your lodge experience you become the responsibility of of the lodge, and are expected to adhere to the lodge’s management and policies.

Why choose EcoTraining's One Year Course?

• You will live and walk amidst the spectacular wildlife of the African bush for one year - for the first half of the year you will live and learn at our camps and for the remainder of the year you will work at a Safari Lodge as a trainee.
• Training at all 3 camps presents a constantly stimulating environment to learn in – you will be exposed to diverse ecological and geological terrains; landscapes; wildlife species; climates and more.
• Our instructors, having many years of guide training experience and time in the bush, each possess different ways of training and guiding and this will enhances your overall training experience.
• For parts of the course you will train in our Kruger Camp in the Makuleke concession which is a highlight for all our students. The Makuleke concession is not accessible to the ordinary tourist visiting the park. This area is certainly the wildest and most remote part of the Kruger National Park and offers varied vegetation, great wildlife viewing, the best birding in all of the Kruger National Park and is filled with folklore of the early explorers and ancient civilizations.

Certification and Accreditation of course

EcoTraining is a FGASA registered training provider and therefore is accredited by THETA. This means our courses adhere to THETA standards. THETA is the Tourism and Hospitality and Sport Education Training Authority of the South African government. These are the two bodies responsible for regulating standards within the guide training industry in southern Africa.  For this course only, we will assist you by registering you for FGASA, THETA and eventually DEAT. Additional info on website.

SASSETA – (Sector Education and Training Authority) - Due to the legal and professional requirements of being a Field Guide, there are certain steps that any student wishing to do firearms training is required to do. Additional info on website.

PDP – Public Drivers Permit – most lodges require that students have a PDP as this allows them to transport groups of people in a company vehicle. Additional info on website.

DEAT – Department of Education and TourismWe will assist with registering you for FGASA and once you have your Level 1, FGASA will automatically register you with THETA and we will assist with your DEAT registration.

Duration: One year
Cost: Please contact us for this course rate.
Venue: Kruger Park Makuleke, Karongwe and Selati Camps


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If this is your dream or passion, allow us to help you fulfill that dream. After all, there is no time like the present. Contact us.