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.
Activities: High ropes including Jacob’s ladder and trapeze, initiatives such as the Berlin wall and Limpopo swing, canoeing, sea kayaking, beach hikes, mountain expeditions, raft building, abseiling and rock climbing.
Accommodation: Tented camping, bunk houses sleeping 24 (12 a side), and a self-catering holiday home sleeping 5 with Wi-Fi at additional cost.
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: Canoeing, raft building, expedition hiking, rock climbing, abseiling and stargazing.
Accommodation: Tented camping with portable toilets.
Activities: Hiking, abseiling, rock climbing and swimming in the dam.
Accommodation: A hall for mattresses or bunk beds sleeping 10, a self-catering house for teachers sleeping 6, and communal bathrooms.
A registered biosphere reserve and a working example of sustainable development. Weather dependent, and very hot in the summer months.
Activities: Raft building, rock climbing, a 75m abseil down a waterfall, and hiking.
Accommodation: A rustic camping lodge beside a dam for teachers sleeping 6 to 7, the Rail 62 train lodge sleeping up to 50 at additional cost, and hiking tents.
Activities: Rock climbing, 25m and 50m abseils, canoeing on Sterkfontein Dam, raft building, rafting and hiking expeditions.
Accommodation: Tented camping, with four-star accommodation for teachers at the Quantami resort at additional cost.
Activities: Rafting on the Vaal River, rock climbing, abseiling, hiking and a swimming pool on site.
Accommodation: Dormitories sleeping eight each, for 80 or more participants, plus two self-catering chalets sleeping 4 and 3. The largest group capacity of any of our venues.
Activities: Abseiling beside the Orange River, rafting the rapids, low ropes and hiking.
Accommodation: Four log cabins of two rooms each, sleeping 8, with tented camping for participants.
A wilderness school inside a private reserve, and the strongest fit of our venues for environmental and conservation programmes.
Activities: Rock climbing, abseiling, hiking, rapid riding, game drives, and nature awareness and environmental education.
Accommodation: Wilderness School dormitories, with separate teacher accommodation.
How it works: Outward Bound South Africa is fully mobile. Instructors, tents, ropes, boats and safety equipment all travel with the team, so a course can run on your land, on community land or at a site we source nearby, anywhere in the country.
Transport: Where the terrain near a community will not carry the programme, we bus participants to ground that will, and build the transport into the quote.
Best for: schools, companies, municipalities and CSI partners who want the programme to run where their young people are.
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.
