- Overview
- Details
- Campus
- Placements
- Included
- Free time
- Dates and fees
-
Meet the
team - Testimonials
-
The Bushwise
difference
Bushwise Professional Field Guide Course
Info
Spend 23 or 50 weeks on the most comprehensive professional field guide training courses available.
Next start date 07 January 2024
Duration 23 or 50 weeks
Format On-campus, in-country
Accreditation FGASA & CATHSSETA
Age 18+ (We welcome individuals of all ages that can easily walk 3km)
Optional Extras FGASA Apprentice Trails Guide
Overview
Is this the Field Guide course for you?
Is your goal to become a safari guide or to work in the eco-tourism field? Do you want the most comprehensive and professional field guide course available with a 6-month work placement? Bushwise Field Guides offers all of the above and guarantees a job offer for South Africans (T & Cs apply). Earn your FGASA NQF2 qualification and become a certified Nature Site Guide (formerly Apprentice Field Guide or Level 1).
Overview of the course
The course develops highly skilled professionals in the field guiding industry through the FGASA Nature Site Guide (NQF2) (formerly Apprentice Field Guide) qualification and FGASA Nature Site Guide (NQF4) curriculum. This course provides a well-rounded and specialised field guide education, and is FGASA-endorsed and CATHSSETA-accredited. It is specifically developed to provide vocational skills and qualifications required by employers in Southern Africa.
This course takes place on the Bushwise campuses, which are based on private game reserves within a 60 km radius of Kruger National Park. Learn from our award-winning trainers, including Nico Brits who was awarded Best on Camera and Best in Hospitality at the Safari Guide of the Year 2022 competition.
The South African bushveld is known for its rich biodiversity and will offer you every challenge and opportunity to excel as a safari guide.
Bushwise has built a reputation as a leading training provider in the safari industry and offers the most comprehensive courses available. We strive to not only have a 100% pass rate, but also guarantee a permanent position for our South African graduates on the Bushwise Professional Field Guide Course.
After completing and passing the 6-month course, students have the opportunity to do a 6-month work placement with a selection of lodges and game reserves in South Africa, like Thornybush, Timbavati, Makalali Private Game Reserve and Kapama to name a few. Our graduates have worked around the world, in places like Patagonia, USA, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda. By getting experience in a luxury game lodge, animal rehab centre or at a wildlife research & monitoring centre, you can secure a permanent position as a safari guide, reserve management, or conservationist around the globe.
Bushwise is accredited by the Field Guide Association of Southern Africa (FGASA), the South Africa Qualifications Board, and the Culture Art Tourism Hospitality and Sports Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA). All students are taught by professional, qualified guides and instructors, some who even trained through Bushwise. All additional qualifications are also attained through accredited training providers.
This course is open to those 18 years and older. There are certain placement restrictions for under 21s, due to regulations in South Africa around professional driving permits (PrDp). See placements for more information.
Hear from our students and staff
Why choose us?
Because in 23 or 50 weeks, you’ll become a certified FGASA Nature Site Guide NQF2 (formerly Apprentice Field Guide or Level 1), ready to enter the safari guiding industry and begin your exciting new career.
Since 2012, 100% of all our South African students who graduated from the 50-week course were offered permanent positions.
We offer a 50% money-back guarantee*. If you don’t get a job offer within six months after graduating the 50-week course, 50% of your program fee will be returned to you.
Bushwise is a FGASA-endorsed delivery partner and CATHSSETA accredited training provider. Our Professional Field Guide students achieve high marks on all their FGASA and Bushwise exams.
At Bushwise, we prioritise the highest calibre of training, professionalism, and ethical guiding standards. We also provide a personalised, student-focused curriculum that goes above and beyond expectations – producing some of the most sought-after graduates in the industry.
Bushwise is a highly regarded and endorsed training provider, with many lodges contacting us to fill their field guiding vacancies. Students also have access to our private Bushwise Alumni Facebook page, where we regularly post job opportunities.
Bushwise students have been employed by the finest lodges and research bases – not only in Southern Africa but all over the world, including Patagonia, the United States, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda.
Students also have access to exclusive Bushwise online courses, including expert-led masterclasses. Our trainers combined have over 50 years’ experience working in the industry. Students can get up to nine certificates, and six of which are nationally recognised.
We make it easy for international students to obtain a Study Visa which allows them to get their SA driver’s license and then their PrPD. This allows you to be able to register as a guide, do a placement and maximise your chance of employment.
As featured in
Live from campus
@bushwise.sa
Info
Spend 23 or 50 weeks on the most comprehensive professional field guide training courses available.
Next start date 07 January 2024
Duration 23 or 50 weeks
Format On-campus, in-country
Accreditation FGASA & CATHSSETA
Age 18+ (We welcome individuals of all ages that can easily walk 3km)
Optional Extras FGASA Apprentice Trails Guide
Details
During the 23-week course (or during the first 23 weeks of the 50-week course) you’ll learn the essentials of field guiding theory, and ground this in practical experience.
As an added benefit in your course fee and at no additional cost to you, you have the opportunity to complete the FGASA Field Guiding online course prior to arriving on campus. This online component lays solid theoretical foundations to help you maximise your time in the field.
You will be introduced to theory in the classroom on campus. This will be followed up by safari drives and bush walks in the reserve where you can put theory to practice. Typically, you will have two training sessions a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, but this can vary depending on the stage of the course.
At the end of each week, you will be assessed on what you have learnt. At the end of 23 weeks, students on the 50-week course will begin their 6-month placement.
Course itinerary
The Bushwise Professional Field Guide course varies between classroom-based learning and practical sessions. The balance between these two will differ module to module. But an average day could look like this:
05:30–07:00
Meet in the Kitchen for coffee and a light breakfast, then depart for the morning activity, either a walk or a drive, or a lecture in the classroom
11:00
Brunch
12:00
Free time
15:00
Afternoon activity or lecture in the classroom
Bushwise Field Guides carries out its practical training and skills development in two locations. The first is the Greater Makalali Private Game Reserve, a vast 25,000-hectare nature reserve in the Lowveld that’s dedicated to wildlife conservation. The second is the Southern African Wildlife College (SAWC) Kempiana campus in the Greater Kruger National Park, where field guide students are trained in collaboration with SAWC. Both campuses are in reserves with significant plant and animal diversity, including the Big 5 animals.
Life on the course
Bushwise has a daily structure in place so that everyone gets into the routine of a working Safari Guide (waking up early is definitely part of the job!). We aim to give a balance of theory and practical training during each day, but we do allow for program requirements, seasonal changes and students’ needs.
Typically your day will start between 5:30am and 6am. Your weeks will consist of different modules, including mammals, birds, 4×4 skills and rifle handling skills, just to name a few. Bushwise follows the FGASA curriculum, and all training is conducted by professional qualified guides, registered trainers, and instructors.
In your practical sessions, which are typically bush walks or safari drives, you will concentrate on specific modules and put the theory you have learned in the classroom into practice. At the end of each week, all the students are tested on that weeks’ module before moving onto the next one.
Topics include
- Introduction to guiding in the natural environment
- Creating a guided nature experience
- Geology
- Astronomy
- Weather & climate
- Ecology
- Taxonomy
- Biomes of Southern Africa
- Botany – trees & grasses
- Arthropods
- Amphibians
- Reptiles
- Fish
- Birds
- Mammals
- Understanding animal behaviour
- Conservation management & historical habitation
- Vehicle Skills and basic mechanics
- 4 x 4 training
- Hospitality & hosting basics in a lodge environment
- Principles of anti-poaching
- Survival & navigation
- Rifles & rifle handling
- Bush first aid skills
- Tracking (Cybertrack Track and Sign)
- Wildlife photography
Live from campus
@bushwise.sa
Info
Spend 23 or 50 weeks on the most comprehensive professional field guide training courses available.
Next start date 07 January 2024
Duration 23 or 50 weeks
Format On-campus, in-country
Accreditation FGASA & CATHSSETA
Age 18+ (We welcome individuals of all ages that can easily walk 3km)
Optional Extras FGASA Apprentice Trails Guide
Bushwise campus
Welcome to your new home for the next six months. Add value to your training experience by sleeping in a comfortable room in the bushveld, with the sounds of hyenas, owls, jackals (and even lions) in the distance.
The Bushwise campuses are based about 60 kilometres from Hoedspruit, in Limpopo. Our Mahlahla campus is located opposite the Greater Makalali Private Game Reserve.
Our second campus is operated in collaboration with the Southern African Wildlife College at their Kempiana campus in the Greater Kruger National Park.
The South African bushveld is known for its rich biodiversity and will offer you every challenge and opportunity to excel as an apprentice field guide. There is no better place in the world to complete your field guiding training and become a qualified safari guide.
Campus tour
Join us on a virtual tour of the Mahlahla campus at Bushwise. Wouldn’t you love to call this home?
Facilities
Accommodation during your course is lodge-style housing and facilities, located in one of our safe fenced campuses.
Our campuses are safe from predators, so you are free to go for a walk or a run anywhere on campus. We have a large variety of bird species that are regular visitors to our campus water features, as well as secretive species such as bush babies, honey badgers and civets that are often seen.
In these surroundings, you can sharpen your practical skills by going on bush walks, spending time birding, and encountering the animals that roam the campus.
What an incredible way to spend your free time on campus!
Students will share a chalet or a room that accommodates two students. Bathrooms are either shared or communal. Laundry service is provided for clothes and linen (to a reasonable extent).
It’s just a short walk along forest paths through campus to get to your classroom, so you’ll remain immersed in the bush during training. The campus dining facilities and other buildings are all close by, so you never have to drive or travel far for anything during your stay. And for the hot summer afternoons between activities, there’s even a swimming pool.
Available on campus
-
Shared room (with fan)
-
Shared bathroom
-
Wifi
-
Juice, tea and coffee (available 24/7)
-
Swimming pool
-
Basic gym area
-
Gardening area
-
Braai and social area
-
Game vehicles
-
Library of field guiding texts
-
Classroom
-
Emergency support from staff
Live from campus
@bushwise.sa
Info
Spend 23 or 50 weeks on the most comprehensive professional field guide training courses available.
Next start date 07 January 2024
Duration 23 or 50 weeks
Format On-campus, in-country
Accreditation FGASA & CATHSSETA
Age 18+ (We welcome individuals of all ages that can easily walk 3km)
Optional Extras FGASA Apprentice Trails Guide
Placements
On the 50-week course field guide students have an opportunity to undertake a 6-month placement. The Bushwise head trainer will assess each and every student to see which placement suits them best, focussing on evaluating students based on performance, interest, and the students’ personality traits. That is why Bushwise has a 100% employment success rate for South African students.
This allows students to gain valuable ‘hands-on’ experience, and cement the knowledge and skills learnt during the course. It also provides a valuable foot-in-the-door to the safari tourism industry, wildlife careers, and conservation careers. Here are the two main placement options:
Placement career path options
Professional field guiding
Work and guide in 3* – 5* safari lodges. This includes exposure to working and guiding on a big five reserve with dangerous game such as lions, rhinos, elephants and hippo. Field guides interact with tourists visiting the private game reserves, and focus on sharing knowledge about nature and the environment. These guiding experiences are either conducted in a safari vehicle or on foot. Field guides act as interpreters between the environment and the guests, with the ultimate intention of promoting conservation and environmental protection.
Wildlife conservation or management
All students must pass both the FGASA and Bushwise course requirements before going to any placement. Graduates aged 18–20 can go on a placement but will not be able to guide in a vehicle until they are 21 years old, when they can legally apply for a professional driving permit (PrDp).
Africa on Foot conducts walking safaris in the Klaserie Private Nature Reserve, a Big Five game reserve within the Greater Kruger. Guests stay in one of five chalets, participating in guided walks or game drives in the morning and afternoon.
Thanda Safari is a private luxury game reserve in South Africa’s Kwa-Zulu Natal province, with three unique camps – from tented to villa. Thanda Safari offers Big Five experiences including game drives, conservation activities, and guided walks.
Located within the 50,000 hectare Balule Nature Reserve, Greenfire Game Lodge is open to the Greater Kruger landscape and Big Five are regularly on their doorstep. Greenfire Lodges are committed to conservation and enhancing the overall guest experience.
Established in 2004 to assist the Greater Makalali Game Reserve with wildlife monitoring, Siyafunda is a research, volunteer, and wildlife monitoring organisation. Their mission is to further knowledge and awareness by hosting researchers and supporting local communities.
Kapama is a network of four luxury lodges within 15,000 hectares of pristine bushveld in the Greater Kruger. Each camp is different from the next, but all offer world-class guided game drives and nature walks in Big Five territory.
Sibuya Game Reserve is a 4-star luxury tented camp and lodge located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, just over an hour from Port Elizabeth and East London. It’s location near the ocean makes it highly unique, with over 400 bird species, Big Five, and diverse flora and fauna.
Live from campus