Includes: meals, all training activities and learning materials
Excludes: all drinks
Activities: training activities offered include tracking wildlife, wildlife and plant identification, weapons handling, 4-wheel driving in game drive vehicles, wilderness walks, seasonal motorboat excursions and poling in mokoros (dug-out canoes) and bush survival skills. Stargazing and astronomy as well as bush sleep outs are also included, weather permitting.
Okavango Guiding School, with its main base in Maun, has been family owned and operated for many years and was the first private guiding facility of its kind in Botswana. It is accredited to both the Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) as well as the Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (FGASA). Whilst full training course are offered for those wishing to pursue a career as a safari guide, the Okavango Guiding School also offers shorter courses for visitors to Botswana wishing to experience a sojourn into the behind-the-scenes world of what it takes to become a fully-fledged guide. The focus is on bringing a very practical, hands-on and holistic educational bush experience to spirited adventure travellers. Each course includes a very comprehensive training manual thus minimising time in the classroom and maximizing time in the great outdoors of the Okavango Delta.
In keeping with their social responsibility program, the school sponsors one local Botswana citizen to participate in every course (with 4 or more participants). This initiative has proved to be highly successful not only for the sponsored learners, but for trainees interacting with a fellow student who can provide great insight into the history, culture and traditions of Botswana.
Training courses are held at Kwapa Training Camp in the exceptionally scenic and richly diverse habitat of the southern Okavango Delta with its bountiful wildlife. Recently refurbished, the camp now offers new, more spacious tents complete with comfy beds, LED lighting and open-air en-suite bathrooms. The central camp area is comprised of a communal tent where lectures are held and meals are served (unless dining al fresco), as well as a kitchen tent in which genuine bush meals are prepared. Being an authentic training facility, creature comforts remain very basic. It must therefore be emphasized that potential course participants should expect this level of accommodation, meals and service with “no frills” added!
The Bush Skills Course is suited to adventure travellers seeking out a deeper understanding of many of the key and most interesting facts relating to the practical facets of safari guiding. Topics covered include the ecology and geography of the Okavango, conducting game drives and walking safaris, seasonal boat excursions and mokoro (dug-out canoe) expeditions, weapons handling, tracking skills, wildlife and plant identification and bush survival skills. Stargazing and astronomy as well as bush sleep outs are offered weather permitting.
Airport Transfer Time: 2 hours
