BY: Spencer Gallant
Camp manager blogs are written by our students who each get a chance to lead and manage a group (of their fellow students) for a period of one week.
I was excited to be the camp manager and get the chance to show my leadership skills. I’ve always seen myself as someone who leads by example, and I was ready to show that in my new role.
We spent the week split into two groups. One group went off to Track and Sign training and the other group, which I was in, tried out rifle handling. Since we spent the majority of the week studying two different subjects, the students remained divided into their groups even while we were all on camp. This meant we didn’t get to spend much time together as one big group, but I still had fun as the camp manager.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, my group went to the shooting range in Tzaneen to get our rifle competency training. I was very nervous because I had never shot a gun in my life, and was more focused on the shooting than being the camp manager!
Photo by: Carl Louis Steenkamp
This image was taken pre-COVID-19.
I loved heading out of camp and getting a change of scenery, but Friday was the best day of the week. We went to practise shooting the rifles ourselves at a private farm nearby. And, even as someone who has never used a firearm before, my nerves quickly turned to excitement as the day went on. When it was my turn to shoot, the nerves were completely gone and I was very accurate!
The energy and positivity everyone had at the range was so great that it became one of my favourite days of the entire course. I had so much fun.
On Saturday, we had a mock bird assessment to test our knowledge. Birds have gone from being a topic I wasn’t much interested in at the beginning of the course, to a hearty passion of mine as soon as I learned more about them. It was great to see how I’ve progressed since I started the course.
I did well in the test, and got another chance to lead by helping my fellow students with their bird knowledge.
All in all, this week went by smoothly. Even though I only got to be the camp manager for one week and didn’t get to do as much as I would have liked to, I did the best I could with the time I had and that’s all anyone can do!
Do you want to practise your leadership skills out in the safari too? Join a course now.
