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"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity ... and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the man of imagination, nature is imagination itself." (William Blake)
Green, green, green – the bush is alive and well and
kicking! The end of 2012 is fast approaching and everybody is looking forward
to some down time… The call of the African wilderness is also louder than ever
and EcoTraining is ready with an array of courses to suit all preferences –
from the more serious that wish to enter the guiding industry on a full time
basis to discerning nature lovers. Have a look what is coming up, courses on
offer, what we’ve been up to so far and other interesting snippets.
HOT STUFF
If you’re passionate about wildlife and photography, and have
always wanted some guidance to get that perfect shot, this giveaway is for you!
Win one spot on the acclaimed EcoTraining Wildlife
Photography Course (in conjunction with Premier Magazine & Lounges) that
aims to reveal more behind what is required, when pursuing that perfect
wildlife composition. The winner will have the opportunity to put these skills
into action, under the guidance of an experienced wildlife photographer, while
out in the field in the Karongwe Game Reserve. To enter simply visit www.ecotraining.co.za
and send in an enquiry for photography or LIKE the Facebook fan page: EcoTraining – Ecotourism Specials. And
while you are at it, add some of your favourite wildlife images that you
captured to the album WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE COMPETITION (WITH PREMIER
MAGAZINE). Competition closes on the 29th of November 2012; winners
will be contacted via the fan page. Terms and conditions apply.
WHAT’S COMING UP
If you have
the urge to make a break and head for the bush, get yourself a place on one of
the following EcoTraining short courses on offer in the next couple of months.
Come on, you won’t regret it:
23 November – 20 December: 28 day Safari
Guide – Makuleke: Imagine 28 days of living and learning in nature
at our wilderness camps and then using this knowledge to give your safari and
bush holidays a whole new meaning. Whether it is your dream or your passion,
allow us to help you fulfil that dream!
26 November – 2
December: Tracking – Mashatu: To unravel the
mysteries of nature even further, book a place on a unique seven day tracking
course with EcoTraining and some of the most highly qualified trackers and
trainers in South Africa. It is fun. It is hands on. It is life changing!
3 – 16 December:
EcoQuest – Mashatu: Attend this course if you are a student testing the
waters for a career in this field or if you are an adventurous spirit wanting
to gain a greater understanding of nature and the environment whilst
experiencing the excitement of the bush.
9 – 15 December:
Birding – Karongwe: For all the
birding enthusiasts, this is a very practical course, designed to broaden and
enrich your knowledge and skills by educating you about the fascinating world
of birds and the interdependent relationships between them and other life
forms.
LATEST NEWS
Camps: Every minute on one of our courses
in our camps in South Africa, Botswana and Kenya is a learning experience,
being constantly exposed to the bush. See what the guys and girls have been up
to in the past month!
Makuleke:
A taste of life at EcoTraining’s wilderness camp in the Makuleke concession in
the northern Kruger National Park, through the artistic eyes of Candice
Wagener, a one year professional field guide student... The ARH (advance rifle handling) and trails guide part of the course was held in this amazingly diverse area. It form but 1 % of Kruger, but holds about 75 % of the biodiversity of this natural treasure.
THE ARTIST'S VISION
Is this how it’s really meant to be?
Just want to try help them break free
How much must one take
The truth, it seems so fake
A simple movement with the brush
The artist has no time to rush
You walk by, stop and look
Caught hanging on his hook
A line here and there
The canvas fills with tender care
Still watching as the picture begins to form
All you can make out is a horn
The background comes into play
His creation on display
In the street he paints
The audience grows as they all
Decided stay
The last stroke of his brush
He stands and his painting, now in full view
A mother and her child
At ease in the wild
The sun setting behind the mountain
As they drink from the natural fountain
Their horns look firm and strong
Without them, it just seems wrong
One day it’ll be too late
So why must we wait?
Mashatu (Botswana):
With
a keen interest in wildlife, nature and photography, the duo of Brian Rhode and
Chantelle Venter has been roaming the wilds of Southern Africa for the last 15+
years. Running lodges, guiding and training lodge staff in South Africa and
Botswana has all been in a day’s work for this team. They have worked in
numerous well-knows lodges in local areas such as the Kruger National Park,
Timbavati Game Reserve, Welgevonden Game Reserve and across the border in
Botswana in Linyanti, Savuti, the Central Kalahari and the Okavango Delta.
For the last year or so, Brian and Chantelle have been calling the
EcoTraining wilderness camp in Mashatu, Botswana home where they are the senior
instructors. And this place with these two at the helm is fast becoming
a firm favourite with all that dare to cross the Limpopo River via cable-car
and step into the unknown.
Just read one of Brian’s diary entries, it will take you
right there…
“…
On each walk we encountered numerous animals including
warthog, baboons, kudu, eland, impala, rock hyrax, klipspringer and steenbok.
There have literally been animals all over the place. Even the lions made an
appearance and we were fortunate enough to see a large male lion on two
separate occasions near the Motloutse River. On one of the walks we even found
tracks of a lioness with tiny little cubs. We were also very lucky with leopard
sightings and bumped into them on at least three occasions in our concession.
…
Then, as we were walking silently through the thicket
searching the area ahead of us, Chantelle heard a branch breaking to our right.
We decided to head in that direction to check it out, our eyes straining for
the big grey beast that were expecting ahead of us.
As we came up to the area where Chantelle had heard the
branch crack we bent down to peer under the low canopy. Approximately 40 m
ahead was a small clearing in the bushes – and there we saw it: a leopard! The
spotted cat saw us immediately and quickly ran into the thicket on the other
side of the clearing…
We decided not to follow after the leopard as it had entered
very thick vegetation. Carefully we exited the thicket and headed to the
Amphitheatre where we climbed up one of the sandstone ridges and sat on top
watching the view of Tukwi Plains below us.
Everyone was happy and relieved that we had gotten the
encounter. We watched as the sun was setting over the hills and Bjorn arrived
for our arranged pickup and we headed back to camp, with smiles on our faces.
It had been another great day of walking in Tuli in Botswana…”
Segera (Kenya): “The journey of a thousand miles begins with
a single step.”
It was in 1993 when
EcoTraining took the first steps on the mission to up the standards of guiding
throughout Africa, when the first courses were held in the Sabi Sands Reserve. And
nearly 20 years later, the company has stayed on the dedicated path with scores
of prospective field guides and nature lovers unearthing vast amounts of
interesting facts about all things wild and wonderful.
From Mpumalanga
training grounds have since been established throughout the rest of South
Africa (Selati, Karongwe, Makuleke, Pongola), Botswana (Mashatu) and Kenya
(Lewa Wildlife Conservancy).
And now EcoTraining
has joined the Wilderness Collection (Wilderness Safaris) to give guests at
Segera in Laikipia, Kenya the best possible guided experience.
For the last couple
of weeks, six local guides have been undergoing training in all aspects of
field guiding under the tutelage of EcoTraining’s highly experienced instructors.
This process is on-going.
Instructor Mark
Gunn found some time in between the theoretical lectures and practical
exercises and used the bush telegraph to send through the following update:
“The training of
the guides here at Segera is going on as per the schedule. The daily rain at
about 13h00 is doing its best to put a damper on us, but we just adjust and get
on with it. The normal daily schedule is therefore not always applicable. The
roads are black cotton soil, so we cannot use them for fear of destroying it. A
normal day begins with a drive and then a lecture. If rain threatens, then the
lecture goes to the late afternoon slot and the drives are done in the early
and late morning. The wind seems to have died down a bit; it is not cold but
irritating. Even though Segera is home to a vast array of animal, bird and
plant life, game is a bit scarce at the moment. However, that which we do see
is utilized to the utmost.”
Taking hands –
Conservation education across the globe: For the last two years EcoTraining
and Tetra Tech, an American consultancy firm for the Jordan government and NGO
in charge of the national parks in Jordan, has been working to transform the
conservation and guiding sectors in Jordan. The result being four promising
Jordanians sent to South Africa for the first phase of a long term program.
These students are currently following the one year professional field guide
course (full scholarship) offered at EcoTraining’s wilderness camps in Southern
Africa.
Once certified under EcoTraining and FGASA, they will return
to Jordan where they will practice as guides and trainers in their own right.
Nadia Alalul is one of the Jordanian students on whose
shoulders a huge responsibility rests when she eventually returns home to help
shape the guiding industry in that part of the world. The foursome has just
been placed at various Wilderness Safari outfits for their lodge placement
portion of the one year course.
What they are trying to accomplish, is a serious affair, but
Nadia says despite the importance of it all, it is the adventure of a lifetime.
She shares some of her experiences so far.
“It has been an amazing experience, beyond belief. We have had
the privilege of living in an environment that few people nowadays get to
experience, living among wild animals in their natural environment, and being
able to study and observe from only a short distance away.
My most exhilarating experience was walking on foot through
the bush and coming face to face with lions that were so well camouflaged in
the long grass that we couldn’t even see them but we could sure as hell hear
them! The sound of that first low growl
and then a louder warning, felt like a sound system on full blast that went
right through you. Our tracker was armed with a rifle and we moved slowly
around him and started to back away. My heart was pumping so fast I couldn’t
hear much else, those lions were only about 20 meters away.
I have an appreciation and deep respect for all creatures
like I have never had before. I wouldn’t have realized all this if it weren’t
for those special people we have had the honour and great privilege to meet
along the way. The dedication and knowledge of these highly experienced
instructors in promoting conservation and helping to educate others on why our
environment and everything in it is so important, has made a big impression.”
Sam Ryan’s diary: A Brit by birth, but with a heart belonging
to Africa… That in a nutshell sums up the 28 year old Sam Ryan. Earlier in the
year Sam attended an EcoTraining 55 day Level One Field Guide course at our
wilderness camp in Makuleke in the Kruger National Park and another camp in
Pongola in KwaZulu-Natal. He describes it as an adventure of a lifetime, beyond
his wildest dreams.
He diligently
kept a diary of his experiences with his fellow students. The read starts here
and is continuing on a weekly base on Facebook (EcoTraining – Ecotourism specials):
Day 1: I arrived at Emerald guest house to finally begin what I came to this
country to do many years ago. Initially I was very nervous but soon got into my
stride, meeting some of the people on my course… So I got on the bush bus and
tried to sit back and enjoy the eight hour facing us… We arrived at the gate
to Makuleke, our home for the next
month. After loading suitcases onto the Landy, we set off to the camp… We
arrived at the camp and met camp instructor Bruce Lawson and our instructor for
the month, Mark Gunn, funny but serious... We got an introduction to the camp
course and what was expected of us. We had dinner (chicken and salad), exactly
what I felt like, fresh food! As dinner finished we all had tea around the camp
fire, told a few stories and called it a night. As Casper and I were walking
back to the room, we saw eyes through our headlamps, only impala, but it got
the blood pumping. And then heard a hyena outside our tent, no more than 50
meters away! The adventure has started…
The life of a nature guide through the eyes of Lex Hes: For the
past 36 years, Lex Hes has been involved in the world of wildlife as a
naturalist and wildlife photographer. He leads tours all over Africa, presently spending most of his time in
Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Madagascar and South Africa. He has also led trips
to the Central African Republic, Gabon, Kenya and Mali. In addition he has been
involved with biological work on the sub-Antarctic islands of Amsterdam and
Marion.
When he is not away
travelling, Lex is very busy co-managing EcoTraining with the goal of raising
and maintaining the standard of nature guiding in Africa. He describes one of
the most interesting wildlife moments he has had in his illustrious career:
“Walking
guests to their room one night in Botswana, we came across a leopard lying on
the boardwalk at the door of their tent! The leopard would not move, so we
had to take the guests to my tent. I moved my luggage out, gave them
toothbrushes and they were to spend the night there without their
luggage. I went back to their tent to find blood on the boardwalk at the
door. I looked up into tree to see a red lechwe calf hanging over a
branch directly above their door. By this time the leopard had jumped off
the boardwalk, so I was able to move my luggage in and get their luggage.
I spent the night trying to sleep with the leopard regularly feeding on kill a
couple of metres from my head!”
“MEET YOU IN THE BUSH”
For almost two decades now EcoTraining has been training
field guides, starting way back in 1993 with the first batch of eager students
attending the inaugural course in the Sabi Sands reserve in Mpumalanga. Since
then a great number has gone on to make their mark in the industry and are continuing
to do great work all over the world. We want to hear
from you, email liryndej@hotmail.com with your
stories!
CONTACT INFORMATION
Go and like our official fan page on Facebook at EcoTraining
– Ecotourism specials.
Also visit us on www.ecotraining.co.za
and if you have any questions or queries, send an email to enquiries@ecotraining.co.za.
(Thank you to everybody who
contributed with photos and information!)
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