What are Educational Safaris? – ESA uses the wildlife research and guiding experience of its directors to offer a specialised product to a niche market of customers and to pass on our skills and experience to international school pupils and university students. These skills are passed on and taught while on safari in the African wilderness.

We can base our teaching on a pre-designed syllabus or on a more flexible approach. Safaris can last from one week to one month and take place across the diverse ecosystems within Botswana. We can take safaris from the depths of Okavango Delta, travelling by boat to inaccessible islands to look at the hydrological system of the delta, or use quad bikes to explore the depths of the Makgadikgadi salt pans and investigate the amazing physiological adaptations of desert dwelling animals. Through our dealings with working with human-wildlife conflict, we have long-standing associations with local communities from across Botswana and can visit them to discuss relevant,  topical issues about conservation and human wildlife conflict that is pertinent to them at this point in time.

Our objective at ESA is for our safari to enhance the general education and classroom teaching of those students studying ecology, zoology, biology, botany, geography and / or the cultural sciences in Universities and high schools.

Our Service - We offer a unique, personalised service that has been developed to enhance the practical, scientific and cultural knowledge of our guests. We can provide a structured safari that is tailor made to suit each student, or educational body, offering a range of possibilities from a month long cultural and ecological educational safari, down to a weeks practical field research experience based in the bush.

We can design the structure and educational topics discussed within each safari to suit the syllabus of the respective school or University.

Itineraries and syllabus available 

• People and nature – human-wildlife conflict, CBNRBs, local strategies to alleviate and mitigate conflict and improve local perceptions and attitudes towards wildlife, how local communities can benefit from their surround natural environment. This syllabus can run over a 2 week or 2 month period, with subsequent variations in the itinerary, which will include working with and learning about CBNRMs with local communities along the Okavango River Pan Handle, to visiting the san people near Ghanzi. The trip will include a safari within Moremi Game Reserve. For more information contact us.
• Ecosystem Dynamics – Staying at locations across the Okavango Delta and within the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, learn about the general ecology of the region, the importance of biodiversity and conservation, applied, adaptive management techniques and natural resource management. This can be a 2 week or 2 month course and a safari within the Moremi Game reserve at the end of the trip. For more information contact us.
• Wildlife management & field research - Learn about the right approach to first establish and then conduct a field research project. Staying in the bush in rustic camps in the Okavango and then in the Makgadikgadi, learn about the best field research techniques to answer different types of ecological questions and how to address different conservation issues. This course is specifically designed for those people who wish to move onto and conduct post graduate field research. We cover all aspects of field research design, from applying for funding to analyzing data and about the bush skills required to collect those data. This is a 2 week or one month course. For more information contact us.

You can make use of and stay at our camp close to Maun, on the outskirts of the Okavango Delta, where we hold educational talks from some of the best local experts on subjects ranging from the conservation of endangered birds to predator research or the adaptive physiology of desert species.

Download a PDF brochure detailing all of the Educational safari syllabuses and itineraries available from ESA.