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A journey of a thousand miles begins with one single step – Lao Izu

In the last couple of weeks, our in-house students have sure shown us that they are willing to give their all to achieve their dreams. Read on to hear all about it…..

How to explain my journey up until today. What words should I use to describe to you this extraordinary experience?

Let’s start at the beginning, in the same way, that I will end with words: THANK YOU. Thank you to my grandfather who lived in Port Elizabeth for almost 50 years, this man who was the start of my passion for animals, for nature, for this very different lifestyle. Because of him, I had the opportunity to come to South Africa many times and, as always we used to do many game drives and discoveries of all sorts. Thanks to my grandmother, who left recently and who scolded my grandfather until he finally let me do what I had wanted to do for so long but which seemed unattainable. Without her, I wouldn’t be here today. They both look down on me from above and watch over me. Thanks to my family who support me in this experience, especially my father who made it all possible. I am completely grateful to them.
Thanks to Schalk, Pieter, Candice, Jacques, and Tatum without whom this would not have been possible either. Their passion, knowledge, dedication, food, and investment in my personal development are immense. This setting they offer me is just impossible to improve as everything seems so perfect.
Even though I only arrived a fortnight ago, I feel like I have been living here for years, so much I have learned and still learning every day. These skills and knowledge are so special and yet so logical, I wish that every Belgian, European, all those people who do not know Africa and its nature would have the guts to come and experience real life. 
Between all the knowledge and skills I have learned, the most important is that everything is connected. Nature is so beautiful as it is, as long as humans do not change it. Every little beetle has its role in the circle of the ecosystem. Every plant, every animal, every bird, every fish has its importance. But it goes even further! Every region, every soil, every rock, every wind, every ocean current, EVERYTHING is linked and generates consequences that make our world so beautiful, this nature is perfect. I would like everyone to understand this, and once this training is over, my mission will be to explain it as well as possible, in my own way, to all those who will have the ear to listen to me.
The pace of this training is fast, the amount of knowledge to be ingested and understood is, it must be said, very great. At the same time, once this knowledge is learned, I will be able to take you on safari and I will do so with great pleasure! But for that, you have to come. You have to come! As soon as you can! Come and taste the real thing! And only when you see it with your own eyes, feel it, touch it, listen to it, will you understand. Once this is done, I am sure you will contact Candice to sign up for these amazing courses.
Want to learn more – Versatile Guide Course
For those who have already thought about it but are afraid of the unknown, of loneliness, or simply of the comfort of life, stop. I am writing this text next to students playing cards, laughing, coffee or tea in hand, in the game room (in which there is even a pool table). And as for comfort, let me be clear: my room is incredible and the food is much better than in Belgium.
I think I’ve explained my feelings well enough. Once again, thank you to all the people who made my dream come true. Honestly, you won’t be disappointed.
See you soon at Ulovane Environmental Training!

  • Nicolas

No one can actually believe that our first 2 weeks as apprentice trails guides (in training) is already done and dusted… It feels like we just started, and just like this, a quarter of the course is already gone!

We got eased into the course with some amazing walks we got to join as there was a previous student doing his assessment walk (lucky us!). On the first day already, we got to experience what we were about to undertake ourselves. Beautiful, quiet walks to start learning the ropes for the moments to come. Not a lot of encounters yet, but these will most definitely come over the next couple of weeks.
After these walks, it was our turn to get into the saddle and start learning our new skills and collect more knowledge.
First up were the PFTC exams. This is to make sure we are all competent to handle firearms and no accidents happen in the first week of the course, which we all nailed of course.
After the air rifle practices for the PFTC, we could only go up in rifle size, which we did: from air gun to .22 and .308 for the PFTC exams to .375 for our ARH, and this is where the real fun began!
From Tuesday morning in the second week, we found ourselves on the shooting range with our Guide, Range Officer, and Mentor – Pieter.
Find out more about what we experience during these 7 weeks – Apprentice Trails Guide Course
In these 2 weeks, we realized how much fun it actually is to shoot these rifles. Of course, we all know it is in a controlled environment and that real-life situations will be completely different (which we all hope none of us gets into one of those real-life moments), but the more we shoot, the more fun it becomes. We started putting more and more holes in the targets as we grew better each day on the range.
Matthijs even went out with a BANG and became the first one in our group to pass his ARH assessment. The rest of us are preparing ourselves to join him on the podium on Monday when we get our final assessment chances.
Fingers Crossed everyone!

  • Roy

Meaning of “A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step” This Chinese proverb means that a person must begin his or her journey to reach their goal or destination. … This proverb applies to a wide range of different circumstances where action needs to be taken for the completion of a task.