Placement Lodges
One year Bushwise students have the opportunity to be placed at a lodge or research placement for their six month work experience period. A few of these placement lodges/research centres are listed below. Please remember, the allocation is based on performance, interest and personality as determined by the head trainer and all students MUST pass both the FGASA and Bushwise course requirements before being placed at any placement.
1. Nkambeni Tented Camp
Situated at the Numbi gate of Kruger National Park, guides take guests on whole day or half day game drives into KNP. The concession is open to the KNP and is in a great game viewing area of KNP. All guides who have gone there have had a great experience. It is a great lodge to work at if you enjoy KNP (which we all do) and are interested in getting a lot of sighting experience. The lodge takes quite a few guides, usually for a placement period of at least 6 months.
2. Makalali Private Game Lodge
Situated on the GMPGR the lodge normally takes 2 guides for the placement period. The reserve is 26000Ha and has the Big 5 even though the Buffalo are not yet free roaming. You would do game drives in the morning and afternoon with guests who stay for at least 2 days. You would be their guide for their entire period of stay. Fantastic experience in sightings as well as guest interaction is gained here. You will be given the opportunity to show your guests a reserve which has come a far way from cattle farm back into a huge Wildlife protected area.
3. Bonamanzi Game lodge
This lodge is situated in one of the world's renowned birding hotspots, so if you like birds and the most amazing scenery, then this is for you. Bonamanzi is situated next to the Hluhluwe Game Reserve in Kwa-Zulu Natal. Other projects this lodge is involve with includes bird ringing and crocodile monitoring. They also have the occasional children group coming around for a wildlife experience, as well as quite a few well known Birders with the aim of topping up on there birding books/guides which they are busy researching/writing.
4. GVI Karongwe and Venetia - Research Placement
If you enjoy more of the research side of things, then these two bases are where you will want to be placed. Both bases are involved in predator research and have daily drives whereby they track collared animals with the volunteers. GVI Karongwe is situated on the 9000ha Karongwe Private Reserve and Venetia is situated on the 34000ha De Beers owned game reserve were the Brown Hyena is prolific and wild dog tracking and monitoring is done daily. Venetia is very close to the Botswana border.
5. Leo Africa - Research Placement
Another one for the research lovers. This project takes place on the Selati Game reserve, which is 30 000Ha in size. This placement offers an exciting combination of predator research and wildlife management and conservation. Your placement will be involved in researching a single pride of collared lion on the reserve, recording and monitoring the movements, behaviour, numbers, kills, as well as habituation of leopards, cheetah, elephant, and white rhino. Your clientele would be volunteers from all over the world.
6. Siyafunda - Research Placement
Siyafunda is on the 26000Ha Makalali Private Game Reserve and focuses on many research projects such as monitoring the elephants or monitoring the Ground Hornbill population etc. You, as a guide, would take the volunteers out on data collecting drives for all the big 5 and smaller animals. You may also be able to take part in a Lion darting exercise or some type of animal relocation or release opportunity. If you like research / guiding and not having the pressure of finding Big 5 everyday, then this is a great place for an awesome experience.
