Raising professional standards.

 

We have a passion for growing people and our  multifaceted backgrounds allow us to do this well. We are committed to high standards and our client references reflect this. 

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We are a FGASA accredited specialist training provider.

 

Within the conservation and guiding industries we offer:​ 

 

• trails guide mentorship [accredited] that includes logging hours and encounters, working in remote areas, wilderness experience, bush craft, leaving-no-trace and conservation. Choose between backpacking safaris, from a trails camp or as sleep outs with watch.

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• wilderness backpacking mentorship that includes preparation, planning, skill, principles and ethics.

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• working safely in areas with potentially dangerous wildlife workshop.  Combining theory and practical, we build capability. 

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• introduction to conservation practice and challenges workshop.

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• guiding skill development workshops for teams building their capability.

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• FGASA and CATHSSETA accredited guide assessments. 

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Lutz Otto, our founding director, understands the process of learning. He is a highly experienced facilitator, coach and a registered assessor. Across various disciplines, he has worked with teams and individuals for a large chunk of his professional life.

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Walking/ trails guides.

 

Guiding is a profession and it should be dealt with as such.  Particularly with regards leading walking safaris, we cannot reiterate enough that there should be no short-cut to gaining experience. Within this context:

 

• passing the initial trails guide examinations sets the base platform to start of the journey towards building capability [knowledge + skill] and experience [capability and experience are not the same].

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• newly qualified back-up guides enter a very important apprenticeship period prior their been assessed for the full qualification.  

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• ​you should spend time walking in different environments, with different lead guides and in different situations. 

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• walking with clients, is different on many levels, to training constructs.

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• mentorship plays a crucial part in professional growth - Who you work with is very important in your development.​

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• leading trails is different to vehicle based guiding. It requires additional skills, different exposure and a different mindset.

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• until properly tested, under stress, in a real situation,  guides can be blase' about the associated responsibilities.  A deeper respect builds, when the environment has uncomfortably challenged us.

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• time in exposure does not necessarily equate to an equal amount of experience - Experience is an outcome of a conscious facilitation process.  6 years of exposure could equal 2 years of experience. ​

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• there is a marked difference between undertaking short walks with close at hand lodge support versus been comfortable in multi-day unassisted wilderness experiences.