Even our CEO Joss Kent was once a guide, not to mention a Harvard MBA graduate, pilot and Lieutenant in the British Army (how’s that for some CEO envy!). Many of our rangers have gone on to become well-respected ranger trainers (did you know the combined guiding experience of our current ranger training team is an impressive 86 years?), highly specialised private guides, as well as &Beyond Directors. Some rangers’ journeys are short-lived and they eventually leave the bush in order to start a family, whereas many &Beyond guides have created highly successful, long-term guiding careers for themselves. However, the one overall driving factor for all aspiring &Beyond guides is an overwhelming passion and respect for wildlife and conservation. Some guides are on a deeper, more emotional personal journey of soul-searching and self-discovery. Many of our guides grew up spending time in the bush with their families, while others actually discovered &Beyond through the Conservation Lessons that our teams regularly give to the local communities to educate them about the preservation and protection of wildlife. Their individual reasons for becoming an &Beyond guide differ greatly too. Yet they have all persevered and taken the initiative to expand their knowledge and enrich their own personal development. Some have never driven a car before, some are university graduates while others have never been to school, some support countless family members back in their respective communities and, for some, English is far from being the first language. Some guides have never held a job before, some are boldly stepping away from their current careers, while others are already employed at our &Beyond lodges (from butlers, security guards and trackers, to receptionists and safari hosts) and are looking to further develop their career paths. Men and women, both young and young at heart, have successfully completed this gruelling education, some of them hailing from local Maasai, Shangaan and Zulu communities, while others have joined us from the big cities (and other continents too!). Among our almost 200 expert guides, there are friends, couples, siblings and relatives, not to mention two sets of twins, one of them a father and twin sons trio. &Beyond rangers come from all walks of life and the reasons behind their career choice differ. We also run a mobile ranger training school that moves regularly between our safari lodges and camps in Botswana. We operate two permanent schools: &Beyond Inkwazi Ranger Training School, which is based on &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa, and &Beyond Mwewe Ranger Training School, which is based at &Beyond Klein’s Camp in Tanzania’s Serengeti National Park. Do you have what it takes?ĭid you know that &Beyond has three ranger training schools? That’s right, we take guiding seriously and it’s no mean feat for these enthusiastic wildlife-lovers to merit the hard-earned reputation of being among the industry’s finest guides. Not only is it a dramatic change of scenery and career, this inspiring journey is also, undoubtedly, a complete change in mindset too. Not many of us are such risk-takers, but that’s what the majority of determined young men and women do in order to embark on the challenging, yet truly rewarding, journey of becoming a fully-qualified &Beyond guide. Would you ever consider quitting your job in order to enrol in a gruelling (both emotionally and physically) survivor boot camp of sorts, even if there was no guarantee of actually making it through the entire course? Luxury African Safaris,South America & South Asia Tours|andBeyond Award-winning experts in luxury safaris and tours, in the iconic destinations of Africa, South America and South Asia