Prof John Carroll has been coming to Africa and bringing university students to do EcoTraining courses for over 20 years. He’s the Director of the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and his ‘ out-of-the-box thinking during Covid enabled some of his students to incorporate EcoTraining’s Online Field Guiding course into their university degree.
Being off the grid, Makuleke Camp runs on solar power and gas, with backup generator power for days like today. It’s heavily overcast and drizzling today, so the generator is buzzing reassuringly in the background. The camp is in a beautifully remote northern Kruger National Park, unfenced and off the cellphone reception grid. It’s a world of its own.
German backup Felix Hesse finished high school in 2021 and wasn’t clear about what he wanted to study. It was his parents who suggested he do a course with EcoTraining. Felix went camping with his parents in France. Other than that, he hadn’t done much in the great outdoors. Everything quickly changed when he arrived in South Africa in September of last year to do the 1-year Field Guide course.
Life as a backup at Pridelands couldn’t be more different than the one Jule Friehs was living in Germany just a year ago. Jule was working as a biological laboratory assistant. Then she came to South Africa on a volunteering trip, which changed everything for her.
Before arriving in remote northern Kruger National Park at Makuleke Camp, first-year student Bella Villaveva had never left the state of Nebraska. “Everything is exciting here,” she says with resounding enthusiasm, “because I had only ever been in the mid-west. I was a little scared as I didn’t know anything about what I was coming to, but it wasn’t for long because the instructors created a base for us, and our common interests united us.
Katie Campbell – study abroad student from the University of Nebraska Lincoln and completed the online Field Guide course via Zoom in August 2021. Now she’s happily on the ground at the remote Makuleke Camp.
“TK is simpler for foreigners to pronounce,” smiles Pridelands’ cook, Tsakani Masango. She’s happily been with EcoTraining since 2012 and is the permanent cook at Selati camp, but she also travels between camps when needed. “I love the bush, I love nature,” says vibrant TK, “and I love meeting people from so many different places in the world. It is very amazing.”
In this third blog in our series, we are following David Ullmann, from Germany, who is embarking on his dream of becoming a field guide. From deciding to become a field guide to touching down in South Africa to start with EcoTraining.
“When I arrived here in 2010, I wasn’t a bush person,” admits Vicky Maluleke, laughing out loud, “but it didn’t take long to become one, and I still love it here.” Camp Co-ordinator at EcoTraining’s Makuleke Camp in northern Kruger, Vicky, is from the local Makuleke village and has an exciting story.
In February, Liam Mueenuddin got the last spot on the 2022 Trails Guiding course. He was packed and on the ground, ready to start within two weeks. “I am loving the course with all my heart,” he says sincerely. “Wildlife has always been a passion of mine. I have wanted to work in the bush since I was ten years old, actually as long as I can remember.”
EcoTraining Senior Instructor, Craig Beaton, has worked in the bush – one way or another – for over 35 years. Starting as a Trails Guide in the Kruger National Park in 1986, he has come full circle to be an instructor on the current Trails Guiding course in progress at Pridelands.
The rhino story of South Africa is like a roller coaster ride of emotions. There are ups and downs, challenges, and triumphs. But at the crux of it, it’s the story of a species’ resilience and humanity’s ability to work together for great good.
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