Arnoud Quanjer Wildlife Photography

EcoTraining offers two different courses, a basic course (FGASA Level 1) and an advanced course (FGASA Level 2). To do the advanced course you must have successfully completed the basic course. The advanced course takes off where the basic course stopped. In the advanced course you'll learn a lot about bush survival, tracking, approaching dangerous game on foot, advanced rifle handling and much more. During the course you'll spend about 40% on game drive and 60% on foot. Especially the game walks are a pleasure in the Makuleke because of the stunning scenery. The game drives take you into an area to which virtually no tourist has access. During our course we drove on tracks that hadn't been used for at least four months which led us to incredibly beautiful vleis and viewpoints.

About the Makuleke contract park 

The Makuleke contract park is named after the people (the Makulekes) that were forcibly removed in 1969 to an area close to the western portion of the KNP when their land was confiscated and added to the Kruger National Park. Under the post-1994 land restitution program in South Africa they launched a land claim to regain their ancestral lands. In 1998 the Makulekes had their ancestral land restored to them; they own a substantial section of the park. The contractual park agreement between the Makuleke and the SANParks granted the community the right to co-manage (with the Kruger National Park) and commercialize their portion of the park for their own benefit. They have since started to exploit the Makuleke concession and have granted concessions to three companies; Wilderness Safaris (Pafuri Lodge), Outpost Lodge and EcoTraining. 

Wildlife and scenery 

General game in the Makuleke is abundant, on almost every drive you'll see kudu, nyala, impala, wharthog, etc. There are also large herds of elephants and buffalo around, we saw them on virtually every drive. More rare animals which you can to encounter are Eland, White Rhino, Honey Badger, Crested Guinea Fowl, Trumpeter Hornbill, African Crowned Eagle and if you're lucky Pel's Fishing Owl.