My name is Phoebe. I’m originally from a dairy farm in Cheshire, England, however, I’ve been living in South Africa for a few years. After graduating from university in the UK in 2009, I started a career in research ecology. I travelled all over the world but when I got to South Africa I knew I had found my home. I became more and more fascinated by the bush until I decided that I had better do my FGASA Field Guide course. I spent a lot of time researching the different companies that offer the courses and spoke to a lot of people. I always got the same answer “EcoTraining is the best, go with them” – and how right they were!!
Whilst on my Field Guide course I grew to love walking in the bush, so of course I had to do my FGASA backup trails qualification. In addition to this, I became passionate about tracking and completed an EcoTracker course with EcoTraining followed by an Advanced Birding qualification at the end of last year.
Thanks to EcoTraining I have made memories that I will treasure forever and gained qualifications which have changed my career forever. Not only did I learn so much in the courses, but I also met some incredibly inspirational people and made lifelong friends. And because of the courses I completed, I have now gone on to start an MSc in Conservation Biology at the University of Cape Town. Once I have finished the course I hope to return to the bush to continue walking as a backup Trails guide and hopefully get my lead qualification. I also hope to combine my guiding skills with my conservation research skills to establish long-term research projects which will bolster our knowledge of all aspects of the bush and in turn, help educate future guides.
To put it simply… EcoTraining has changed my life and I can’t thank them enough for that!
