Last week Friday the FGASA guides of the Eastern Cape for their Annual General Meeting and Awards Ceremony. The event covers the latest developments for guides in the region as well as recognising and celebrating guides in the Eastern Cape for their career dedication and development.
We’d like to extend a huge congratulations to all the guides who walked away with the coveted awards, the runners-up in each of the award categories and everyone who has shown commitment to furthering their guiding skills and continue to uphold FGASA’s standards of professionalism and guiding excellence.
The first award for the evening was the ‘Settlers Award’ which celebrates an acting guide that achieves the highest score in a single round during a FGASA Advanced Rifle Handing assessment. The year the award went to Marnus Osche from Samara Karoo Reserve.
The Settler’s Award trophy and medal
Next it was on to the ‘Albany Award.’ This award honours the guides that have achieved the highest results for the Eastern Cape Regional Birding Specialisation and/or who have gone over and above to promote birding in the Eastern Cape and across South Africa. We are extremely encouraged to see how the Regional Bird Learning Programme has gown over the last year with a total of 19 bird slide & sound and 5 regional birding assessments being conducted.
The overall winner for this year is Ashley Meintjes from Lalibela Game Reserve, Jessica Tyrer from Shamwari Game Reserve scored the highest for the core bird slide & sound exam and Ashley Meintjes, again, winning in the category for the highest regional bird slide & sound exam.
The Albany Award trophy and medal
It was then on to the ‘Addo Award’. This is awarded to the guide who has shown the greatest development as a guide in the region. It also recognises the exceptional efforts of guides who actively give back to their guiding community and assist others in the career development, by upholding and promoting the highest standards and values of FGASA. This year, Ashley Meintjes from Lalibela Game Reserve took it home!
Ashley Meintjes from Lalibela Game Reserve accepts the Addo Award trophy from FGASA Executive Committee member, Richard Pearse
In addition to the ‘Addo Award’ we also recognised the remarkable efforts of guides who have demonstrated unwavering commitment to their careers, the development of other guides through mentorship, their efforts in wildlife conservation as environmental officers and rhinoceros guardians and who have been nominated by their industry peers for the Addo medal award, these were awarded to:
Mount Camdeboo
David Parker – Reserve Manager, Professional Field Guide and NQF4 Trails Guide.
Kwandwe Private Game Reserve
Matthew Derry – Head Guide, Professional Field Guide and NQF4 Trails Guide, currently completing Regional Birding.
Jason Gipson – Senior Guide, Professional Field Guide and NQF4 Trails Guide and completing Regional Birding.
Brad Louwrens – Senior Guide, Professional Field Guide, NQF4 Trails Guide and Regional Birding.
Ryan Hillier – Senior Guide, and Mentor working towards achieving his Professional Field Guide.
The Addo Award medal
Shamwari Game Reserve
Jessica Tyrer – Senior Guide, development of Wildflower Manual and only guide currently to be working towards achieving SKS Wildflowers.
Patrick Kepe – Field Guide, who has progressed steadily through his mentorship having achieved the FGASA NQF4 Field Guide, completed the Advanced Astronomy certificate and in the processes of writing his Professional Field Guide.
Lalibela Game Reserve
Craig Wale – Senior Guide, Professional Field Guide, NQF4 Trails Guide and Regional Birding.
Samara Karoo Reserve
Ewert Hauptfleisch – Conservation Manager, Professional Field Guide, NQF4 Trails Guide.
Next up was the ‘Frontier Award’, given to the institution that has achieved the greatest level of improvement in the development of their guiding teams for the region and who have made significant contributions to guiding within the region. This year the award goes to Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, with Shamwari Game Reserve taking the runner-up spot.
The Frontier Award trophy and medal
We then moved on to the ‘Karoha Award’ which is given to the individual guide who has achieved the highest score on a Track & Sign and Trailing evaluation, the guide who has shown the greatest improvement in their Track & Sign and Trailing evaluations, and/or the guide who has achieved their Senior Track & Sign and Trailing level. This year the award goes to Jan Dykema as the overall winner achieving both the highest score for a Track & Sign evaluation and who achieved the Senior Tracker qualification. We’d also like to congratulate Shaun Watson for achieving the highest Trailing score in the last year for the region.
Jan Dykema accepts the Karoha Award from FGASA Executive Committee member, Richard Pearse
The awards portion of the evening was wrapped up with the Honoris Aloe Awards. This category consists of three different medals awarded to guide who have fulfilled the requirements of the associated medal categories.
The Honoris Aloe Award medals, gold, silver and bronze
For the bronze category guides need to have:
- 5 years of guiding experience and 1000 days actively guiding in the Eastern Cape
- Represent their company in the Eastern Cape FGASA forums and participate within their companies at a high standard promoting professional and ethical guiding within the region.
- Ensure FGASA’s standards, practices, ethics and level of professionalism within their company or other significant contributions that factor in sound conservation and ethics towards our flora and fauna.
Wonga Ndyawe – Kwandwe
Ivan Botha – Kwandwe
JJ Lamprecht – Gorah
Kevin Farrell – Gorah
Denise Schmidt – Pumba
Wesly Speranza – Pumba
Amber Tweedie – Kariega
Melissa Louw – Kariega
Lloyd Cowley – Kariega
Nicolas Mortley – Kariega
Tichaona Chuma – Lalibela
Jacques Crosby – Shamwari
Cleone Miller – Shamwari
For the silver category, guides need to have:
- Eight years of guiding experience with 1000 days actively guiding in the Eastern Cape along with the other requirements mentioned above in the bronze category.
This year the silver medal recipients are:
Ryno Steyn – Lalibela
Wayne Verster – Lalibela
Riaan Rall – Gorah
Reinhardt Visser – Gorah
Jessica Tyrer – Shamwari
Leon Strauss – Shamwari
Patrick Kepe – Shamwari
Dylan Van Aardt – Shamwari
Nicholas Mannion – Kwandwe
Byron Sullivan – Kwandwe
Phillip Gouza – Pumba
Marnus Osche – Samara
Finally for the gold category, as with silver and bronze categories, the requirements for your contributions to FGASA and guiding in the Eastern Cape remain the same, however a guide must have the following:
- 10 years of guiding experience and 1000 days of active guiding in the Eastern Cape.
This year, the gold medal recipients are:
David Parker – Mount Camdeboo
Matthew Derry – Kwandwe
Jason Gipson – Kwandwe
Ryan Hillier – Kwandwe
Jan Dykema – Shamwari
Jean Taute – Shamwari
Minolan Munien – Shamwari
Ewert Hauptfleisch – Samara
Cameron Schmidt – Pumba
Ashley Meintjes – Lalibela
Craig Wale – Lalibela
We’d like to extend a huge thank you and congratulations to the FGASA guides in the Eastern Cape. Your achievements and contributions to tourism, guiding, conservation and FGASA are truly remarkable, and we couldn’t be prouder of you! We’d also like to thank everyone who contributed to making the AGM and Awards Ceremony a success.
