Learn Safari & Wildlife Guiding in Greater Kruger / Makuleke Concession

Honest level: Beginner -> Professional Field Guide / Trails Guide — ask the school exactly how far that goes in the time you have.

55-day Field Guide Course

An immersive, residential 55-day course split between at least two remote bush camps, including Greater Kruger and the Makuleke Concession. Students live in camp and learn the full field-guide syllabus: planning and leading game drives and walks, navigation, radio procedure, ecology, geology, weather, and identification of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, with daily practical guiding. On enrolment you are registered with FGASA and CATHSSETA. It leads to the EcoTraining/FGASA Nature Site Guide (NQF2) qualification, the entry credential for a professional field guide; a follow-on Trails Guide course adds the on-foot dangerous-game endorsement.

Next sessions: 2026-07-03 · 2026-08-05 · 2026-09-14 · 2026-10-12

Fully residential, weeks-long, community camp life learning to guide at the source in Greater Kruger, leading to a recognized FGASA credential.

Why EcoTraining

EcoTraining runs FGASA-accredited field and safari guide courses out of unfenced bush camps and, at Makuleke, places students in the Greater Kruger's remotest, most biodiverse concession between the Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers; it has operated for roughly 27 years and trained over 11,000 guides from 33 countries.

Schools in Greater Kruger / Makuleke Concession

Checked by hand against each school's own course pages. No school paid to be listed.

• EcoTraining
  55-day Field Guide Course
  An immersive, residential 55-day course split between at least two remote bush camps, including Greater Kruger and the Makuleke Concession.
  https://www.ecotraining.co.za/courses-experiences/55-day-field-guide-course/
• Bhejane Nature Training
  1-Year Professional Nature Guide Career Development Programme
  A FGASA-endorsed training provider in northern KwaZulu-Natal running a residential one-year Professional Nature Guide programme that bundles the FGASA NQF2 Field Guide qualification with the Apprentice Trails Guide course across multiple wilderness camps.
  https://www.bhejanenaturetraining.com/
• Nature Guide Training (NGT)
  FGASA Field Guide (NQF2) Course
  A FGASA-accredited provider running a 60-day residential Field Guide course in the Greater Kruger area that delivers the FGASA Apprentice Field Guide / NQF2 qualification plus a CyberTracker Track and Sign certificate.
  https://www.natureguidetraining.com/our-courses/fgasa-field-guide-nqf2-course/

The credential

FGASA Professional Field Guide (NQF2) + Apprentice Trails Guide · Certifying body: FGASA (Field Guides Association of Southern Africa) / CATHSSETA; KPSGA in East Africa

A recognised qualification an outside body stands behind is not the same as a certificate a school prints itself. We name which it is — you should ask the school the same.

Also for Safari & Wildlife Guiding

What I check before I send you anywhere

I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.

• The craft is actually alive there. A working scene, with people who do this every day — not a demo put on for visitors.
• There's a real teacher behind it. Named, still practising, and certified where the craft has certificates.
• The credential is what it claims to be. A state diploma and a certificate a school prints itself are not the same thing. I check which, and I say which.
• I tell you how sure I am. Most pages here are verified by hand. A few say "still checking" — I'd rather admit that than pretend.
• Nobody pays to be here. No commission, no selling the trip. The order on this map is the strength of the community, never the size of the wallet.
• If I wouldn't send a friend, it isn't on the map.