Our outdoor education venues put groups into real country, not a conference room. South Africa’s inspiring and varied natural landscapes are our campus. We run from eight fixed venues across five provinces – and because instructors, gear and the whole programme travel, we can run a course almost anywhere else in the country, bussing participants in where that works better.
Outward Bound does not run its programmes in a conference room with a view. Courses are journey-based: the group carries what it needs and moves on foot, by raft or by rope through real country, making camp somewhere new each night. The mountain, the river and the coast are not scenery behind the learning. They are what does the teaching.
That is why each of our eight venues was chosen for the country around it rather than the buildings on it – a nature reserve in the Hottentots Holland, a farm under the Cederberg, a stretch of the Orange River, a wilderness school in Limpopo. Accommodation runs from tented camps to bunk houses and dormitories, with separate quarters for accompanying teachers at most sites.
The eight are a starting point rather than a boundary. Where a school, funder or community needs a course run somewhere else, we bring the whole programme to them. See our school camps and courses and Summer Adventure Camp for the programmes we run at these venues.
“Without the instinct for adventure, any civilization, however enlightened; any state, however well-ordered, will wilt and wither.”
Kurt Hahn, founder
Outward Bound South Africa is mobile. Instructors, tents, ropes, boats and safety equipment all travel with the team, which means a course does not have to happen where we are. It can happen where your people are.
For a mining house, a municipality or a foundation, that is the point. The programme runs in the host community, the young people who benefit are the ones who live there, and the spend stays local. Where the ground near a community will not carry the programme, we bus participants to terrain that will, and build the transport into the quote.
Mobile Unit
Anywhere in SA
Transport Arranged
Eight fixed venues across five provinces, with the home base at Willow Point in Sedgefield. These are where we run most often, and they are not the limit of where we can work.
Eight Venues
Five Provinces
Plus Mobile
Partners often have land of their own, or access to it, and want to know whether a course can run there. The requirements are simpler than most expect, because the group is self-sufficient and carries its own shelter and food. We assess any proposed site before a programme is confirmed.
Self-Sufficient Groups
Site Assessed First
Safety Managed
Every outdoor education venue below is one we already run from, each chosen for the terrain around it rather than the buildings on it. Accommodation ranges from tented camps to bunk houses and dormitories, and most sites have separate accommodation for accompanying teachers. And if none of them suits you, our mobile unit brings the whole programme to you.
Our home base on the Garden Route, where lagoon, ocean, forest and mountain are all within reach. It carries the widest range of activities of any of our venues.
Activities
Accommodation
Rocky mountains, bright wildflowers and still natural pools, ranging from 500m to 1 590m in altitude. Summers are hot and dry; winters are cold, with rainfall as high as 3 300mm on the Dwarsberg plateau.
Activities
Accommodation
A farm venue near Citrusdal with rock faces for climbing and a dam on site. A smaller, quieter base that suits compact groups.
Activities
Accommodation
A registered biosphere reserve and a working example of sustainable development. Weather dependent, and very hot in the summer months.
Activities
Accommodation
A Free State venue near the Drakensberg, with Sterkfontein Dam on hand for the water-based programme.
Activities
Accommodation
On the Vaal River at Venterskroon, with the largest group capacity of any of our venues.
Activities
Accommodation
A hunting lodge on the Orange River, where the river itself sets the programme.
Activities
Accommodation
A wilderness school inside a private reserve, and the strongest fit of our venues for environmental and conservation programmes.
Activities
Accommodation
Outward Bound South Africa is fully mobile. Instructors, tents, ropes, boats and safety equipment all travel with the team, so the programme can run anywhere in the country.
How it works
Transport
Best for
If you have a site in mind, we will assess it. If you do not, we will find one – or bring the programme to your community and handle the transport. Course length, group size and content are set with you, and costs are quoted per programme rather than off a price list.
We are a registered non-profit with Section 18A status, so corporate and CSI partners receive the documentation their reporting requires. Every one of our outdoor education venues is run to the safety standards of Outward Bound International.
