Why do a 6- or 12-month field guide course?
- Bushwise
- May 2, 2023
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 10
We often hear this question from prospective students: “Which field guide course should I do?” At Bushwise, we offer multiple in-person courses, with our flagship being our 6- and 12-month Professional Safari Guide course. We also offer other professional courses ranging from 27 days to 3 months.
Why do you want to do a field guide course?
This is an essential question to answer for yourself. Are you hoping to enter the safari industry, work in conservation, or simply experience the African bush and learn more about wildlife?
Do you have plans to go back to your home country or job after you finish, or do you want to stick around and find a permanent guiding position?
If you want a career as a field guide, we highly recommend that you join our 6- or 12-month course. The reason? It’s a pivotal move in your career development as you earn essential qualifications and more (up to 8 certificates) and build a huge knowledge base. The 6-month work placement will set you up for success, as you gain real-world experience and develop your professional network. This program also comes with our employment guarantee (an industry exclusive for eligible graduates), access to our Bushwise recruitment program, and contacts through our alumni network.
If you want to get into conservation, you need an innate curiosity for our natural world and an ability to ask probing questions and find answers. Our 12-month conservation and IFGA guide course will help you develop a strong base of wildlife knowledge, and you'll gain real-world experience on a placement at a conservation organisation.
I just want an amazing wildlife experience. If you’re looking for a gap year experience, then this is definitely the best way to immerse yourself in wildlife. But if you want a shorter sabbatical or semester-long experience, it might be worth checking out our 60-day safari guide course. This short course runs multiple times throughout the year, making it a bit easier to fit into a busy schedule than our long course, which only has start dates in January and July.
Can you commit months or just weeks to training?
This might be the easiest question to answer – it really comes down to where you are in life, and whether this course is part of your career development or more of a sabbatical or gap year adventure.
If you have time and want to make the most of it, then the long course is the way to go. The extra months give you more qualifications, more practical experience, more skills, and more memories. Like any apprenticeship or college programme, the longer you commit, the better prepared and more confident you’ll be when starting your career as a field guide.
If your time is limited and two months is the most you can commit, then the 60-day short course is your best option. It’s a condensed, immersive programme where every day is packed with learning and hands-on experience. You’ll still come away with valuable skills and meaningful insights – and if you’re curious, you can read more in our article on why this course might be the perfect fit for you.
Sightings: what are you hoping to see?
Life in the bush is not static; it is not constant or predictable. It’s always changing, showing us something new and surprising around every turn. There are days when all you’ll see are birds and insects, but the unique observations you make that give you so insight into the wild world around you that you can’t help but feel in awe.
When you join a 6- or 12-month course, you’ll experience the full change of seasons in the bush. From witnessing the first growth of spring, to the arrival of baby impala and other herbivores, the denning of wild dogs, changes in the night sky from winter to summer, adaptation of species to shifting weather patterns, and much more. There’s something hugely profound to be said for witnessing nature change over the course of a year. If you have the time to commit, this is definitely the way to go for the most impactful observations.
What qualifications can you earn?
This is our longest and most intense training program, which provides you with the essential skills and qualifications you need to enter the industry and so much more. We believe in going “beyond the books” in our training, which means you’ll gain both practical and soft skills to make you the best guide you can be. If you really want to stand out from the crowd with a CV full of qualifications, backed by your personal experience and insight, this is the course for you.
On the Bushwise Professional Safari Guide course, you can earn:
CATHSSETA Nature Site Guide (NQF2)
Bushwise Professional Field Guide
Foundational Trails Guide knowledge (practical is an add-on)
SASSETA Firearm Proficiency
Advanced Rifle Handling certificate
Wilderness First Aid certificate
Reptile Handling certificate
CyberTracker Track & Sign and Trailing certifications
NQF4 knowledge
And much more
Don’t feel like you need all this? See why you should consider our 60-day course instead.
Other considerations
Your age when joining a course. If you’re over the age of 39 with family commitments, our 60-day course may be more attractive to you. On our 12-month course, work placements are not guaranteed for students over the age of 39 (due to restrictions in the industry). Older students also sometimes find the shorter course to be easier to fit into their lives, which may be more settled than our younger students who are more often fresh out of high school or college. That’s not to say we don’t have older students doing our long course! Anyone from 18 and above is welcome to apply.
The kind of visa you need. If you’re coming from abroad, this may be an important consideration. Our longer course requires a study visa for international students. On the 60-day course, for people coming from most countries, you’ll only need a visitor’s visa. This is typically received on arrival in South Africa for 90 days. Chat with our enrollment team to learn more.
It’s your choice! When it comes down to it, choosing the right course for you is really up to you. Take some time to read through the course descriptions, check out our FAQs, watch some testimonials, read some reviews, join a virtual or campus open day, and reach out to our enrolment team. The only person who can make this decision is you, but we’re here to help! No matter which course you choose, it’s going to be a life changing experience, and we can’t wait to meet you.
Learn more about our courses here, or sign up for our next Virtual Open Day to ask all your burning questions!
