Accreditations
FGASA
The Field Guides Association of Southern Africa (FGASA) has set and maintained the highest guiding standards for many years within the guiding industry. In conjunction with CATHSSETA within the South African National Qualifications Framework, FGASA promotes the standards for guiding throughout southern Africa in the form of:
A standard outcomes-based training syllabus
A code of ethics and a set of guiding principles
An assessment system based on high standards of competence
An effective training-course endorsement system
A valid recognised First Aid Certificate requirement
CyberTracker
CyberTracker has grown from a simple hypothesis: The art of tracking may have been the origin of science. Science may have evolved more than a hundred thousand years ago with the evolution of modern hunter-gatherers through persistence hunting which is one of the oldest forms of hunting, practiced long before humans invented bows and arrows.
Built on this foundation the CyberTracker Tracker Certification enables trackers to gain employment in ecotourism, as rangers in anti-poaching units, in wildlife monitoring and scientific research. The tracker certification has since 1994 resulted in increasing levels of tracking skills in Africa, USA and Europe, thereby reviving tracking as a modern profession.
CATHSSETA
CATHSSETA are the Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Sector Education and Training Authority who offer an accreditation service to certain persons or organisations that offer education, training and/or assessment in the tourism industry. FGASA is accredited through CATHSSETA to provide Nature Guide training.
Once you have completed your FGASA qualification, if you are planning on becoming a Field Guide in South Africa, your qualification and achievements will need to be uploaded onto the CATHSSETA database who will then issue you with a CATHSSETA certificate which allows you to register as a legal field guide with the National Department of Tourism.AFGA
The African Field Guides Association (AFGA) was established in 2010 when it was identified that there is a need for a minimum standard for the qualification and operation of field guides and trackers throughout the continent.
The purpose of the association is to represent field guides and trackers in all parts of Africa. Drawing upon the strength of existing guiding and tracker associations that have contributed toward establishing professional standards in various African regions, AFGA aims to create co-operation between these groups and facilitate a common minimum standard of qualification, for the benefit of all stakeholders in the eco-tourism industry.
