Bushwise
placements
Placements at prestigious lodges and reserves in South Africa
Bushwise Field Guides offers an optional job placement on your IFGA Professional Safari Guide course (6-12 months). Placements help you to get work experience and guidance by shadowing working field guides.
Practical experience in the field guide industry is vital to get a job. This six-month placement will help you to get a head start in the industry.
The Bushwise head trainer will assess each and every student to see which placement suits them best. They will evaluate you based on performance, interest and personality to make sure you get the most out of the experience.
This is why Bushwise has a 100% employment success rate for South African students.
Placement
locations
Placements are at a selection of prestigious lodges and game reserves in South Africa, like Africa on Foot, Thanda Portfolio, Greenfire Game Lodge, Siyafunda (Makalali), Kapama Private Game Reserve and Sibuya Game Reserve.
Placements often lead to permanent positions, both nationally and beyond our borders. Bushwise students have worked in Patagonia, the United States, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia and Rwanda.
By getting experience in a luxury game lodge, animal rehab centre or at a wildlife research and monitoring centre, you can secure a permanent position as a field guide, reserve management, or conservationist around the globe.
Hear from
our students and staff
Bushwise placements
Bundox Safari
Lodge
Limpopo
Bundox Safari Lodge & Retreat is an authentic safari getaway situated in a private nature reserve, located on the doorstep of South Africa’s most visited wildlife region, Kruger National Park, Panorama Route, and the Blyde River Canyon within arm’s reach.
Harnas Wildlife
Foundation
Limpopo
Harnas Wildlife Foundation is an experienced and active player in the conservation of Namibian wildlife, the protection of natural resources and is providing social, rational and physical education to those who seek the benefit thereof. But above all, Harnas Wildlife Foundation strives to give back to every living being what is relevant to its existence as far as our capabilities will allow.
Moholoholo Rehab
Centre
Limpopo
Situated at the base of the majestic North Eastern Lowveld Drakensberg mountain range in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, Moholoholo offers a unique experience to all nature enthusiasts. Here at Moholoholo “The Very Great One” we offer travellers a time to unwind, relax and enjoy our beautiful Lowveld region.
NYATI Safari Lodge
Limpopo
NYATI Safari offers world-class safari in our own exclusive safari lodge in South Africa. Our safari lodge is located in our private 10,000 ha “Big 5” wildlife reserve, which is part of South Africa’s famous Kruger National Park. Here we can guarantee that you will get close to Africa’s wildlife – and most likely “The Big 5”; The lion, the leopard, the rhino, the buffalo and the elephant. The Bushwise students we received from Bushwise thus far have all been very knowledgeable well trained and very eager to work with excitement in everything they do.
K9 Conservation
Limpopo
K9 Conservation specialises in anti-poaching services with the use of working dogs to ensure the protection of threatened wildlife and the conservation of their habitats. Bushwise students are the best-suited candidates for our placements. They have to be strong minded, dedicated and have a passion for wanting to protect rhinos and other animals from poaching. Bushwise does a great job of selecting those candidates for us and they have been a great addition to our anti-poaching field ranging teams. We would not hesitate to permanently employ Bushwise graduates.
GVI Limpopo
Limpopo
GVI Karongwe is a Wildlife Research hub based in the heart of Limpopo. We host international volunteers who aid us with tracking our focus animals, data collection, reserve management and community outreach. Our participants join GVI because they are passionate about making a tangible difference towards wildlife conservation and can use the skills they learn as a tool to further their tertiary studies or improve their employability. Our Bushwise interns are a valuable addition to the GVI house as they bring fresh knowledge and enthusiasm to the team. Those with an interest in science have assisted our science officer with various research projects on Karongwe and in some cases have been credited in scientific papers for their work. Several Bushwise students have been given a permanent position after their 6-month placement at GVI as we believe these work placements are key to understanding how an employee will fit into your organisation.
LEO Africa
Limpopo
LEO Africa is a wildlife monitoring, conservation and sustainable living volunteer project based on the Marataba Section of the Marakele National Park. Our work is vital for the park itself as we are the only monitoring and conservation team, so all the data that we collect each month through drives and camera traps is processed and written in the form of monthly report for the park management. Working at LEO Africa means to be part of a motivated conservation team, to learn to live sustainably, to be exposed to real wildlife monitoring in a pristine area and make a difference for the environment and its wildlife on a daily basis, with the help of dedicated volunteers who join us from all around the world. Bushwise has been sending us placement students for the past few years. We are very impressed by the quality of the preparation of the students who start their internship with LEO Africa and some of them were also offered a job after their internship. We highly recommend Bushwise as a training facility if guiding or conservation are your passions and you would like to work in the field and have a great preparation.
Garonga Safari Camp
Limpopo
Garonga offers a true Big Five safari experience, with expert guides and trackers who are knowledgeable about the wide variety of animals in our nature reserve. Track wildlife in the pre-dawn or enjoy traditional early morning and late afternoon game drives.
Rukiya Safari Camp
Limpopo
Bush breakfasts on the edge of the river, daily game drives, sundowners and expeditions into the neighbouring big five Balule reserve are just a few of things to expect while on safari with us.
Africa on Foot
Limpopo
Africa on Foot specialises in walking safaris in the big five Klaserie Private Nature Reserve; a wildlife rich region in the heart of the Greater Kruger. The Klaserie shares unfenced borders with the Kruger National Park which means predators and other wildlife roam freely throughout.
Kapama River Lodge
Limpopo
Nestled between the Blyde River Valley and Kruger National Park, Kapama’s four individually appointed and luxurious camps offer an escape for nature lovers from across the globe. This untouched part of Africa is home to some of our most endangered, beautiful and fascinating wild life.
Makalali Reserve
Limpopo
Bushwise have been traversing on The Greater Makalali Nature Reserve (GMPGR) since 2006. Bushwise offers Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (FGASA) field guide training courses amongst others which are run over 60 days. Over this period the guides are trained in all facets of field guiding and ultimately come through the course with skills that allow them to start a career in guiding. The GMPGR has a variation of commercial lodges, private lodges and volunteer organisations operating on the reserve. Many Bushwise students/guides have been placed within these operations over the years. Due to the high standard of training of field guides Bushwise have developed a good reputation as a professional training organisation. They are always willing and eager to assist with training field guides within other operations on the reserve and helping wherever they can. As the Warden of the GMPGR I have come to expect friendly and professional conduct and behaviour from the Bushwise management, trainers and guides.
Siyafunda
Limpopo
“To Learn and To Teach” (“Siyafunda” in Zulu) are the objectives on which Siyafunda Wildlife and Conservation is founded and the basic principles that drive our projects. Our aim is to obtain a greater understanding of wildlife and the environment in which it thrives and to teach our knowledge to all who assist us at our Siyafunda projects.
