Safari Guide Training Course, 1 year FGASA (with 6 month lodge placement) South Africa

This comprehensive and professional ONE YEAR safari guide course is recommended for those wishing to enter the industry or those who want to increase their knowledge of the African bush. Perfect for your gap year adventure too.

Train to be a safari guide for the experience or the qualification! Depending on which course you decide to join you will be living and learning on an African Bush camp with African wildlife surrounding you! These wilderness camps provides you with the practical and theoretical knowledge of the natural environment. Upon completion of the course, you will be capable of conducting game drives and interpreting the natural environment around you.

Field Guide courses consists of walks; one or two-daily lectures in our bush classrooms; game drives, as well as sleep-outs in the bush. Every minute of the day and night on this course is a learning experience, being constantly exposed to the bush. Our highly experienced instructors provide unique access to their vast knowledge and insight, making every lecture an inspiring experience. You will stay on a remote open African bush camps, mostly in large walk-in safari tents with two people sharing.

THEORETICAL COMPONENT

• (Approx 6 months) You can graduate with: EcoTraining Level 1 exam Field Guide FGASA
• Level 1 Theory (subject to 75% pass mark) Field Guide FGASA
• Level 1 Practical assessment (subject to passing the theory and being deemed competent on a practical assessment)
• SASSETA Competency Certificate – Rifle (qualification - rifle handling only)
• Advanced Rifle Handling (Basic, Intermediate/back-up, Advanced/Lead)
• FGASA Trails Guide Back-up Birding with Lawson’s Birding Academy
• Tracking qualification (Level 1, 2 or 3) (optional)
• Wilderness medicine (Level 1 and 2)

The course is endorsed by FGASA who have THETA accreditation. FGASA is the Field Guides Association of Southern Africa and 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.

Start Dates

• 04 January – 17 December
• 03 February – 22 December
• 02 August 2017 – 15 July
• 04 September 2017 – 26 August
• 02 October 2017 – 16 September

Costs / Benefits

You will get to see the African bush in a way like no other person will experience it and to top it all off you come away with a qualification having learned an incredible amount!

Requirements

• 18 years or older.
• Must be fit and healthy.
• Must have full manual driving license if intending to take the FGASA exams.
• Be comfortable with the fact that you are in the open bush.