School Leadership Journeys are grade camps and leadership expeditions that build school leadership outside the classroom. Learners take on real challenges in the outdoors, and every journey is shaped around the outcomes your school is working towards.
Outward Bound South Africa has run school programmes for over 30 years. We are part of Outward Bound International, the world’s largest non-profit experiential education network.
Our courses take learners out of their comfort zone and into real challenges in the outdoors: a steep climb, a river to cross, a group decision that matters. With the support of qualified instructors and each other, they build confidence, resilience, independence and a stronger connection to their grade.
Every School Leadership Journey is designed around your school’s goals, so what learners discover on the course carries back into the classroom, onto the sports field and into the life of the school.
Learners take the lead, make real decisions and learn from the result.
Groups learn to plan, communicate and succeed together.
Learners grow in self-awareness and in care for the people around them.
Learners push through challenge and discover they can cope.
Senior learners mentor and support learners in younger grades.
Programmes run from 2 to 7 days, for groups of 15 to 75+ learners.
Tell us about your grade, your group and what you want learners to take home.
We shape the programme around your grade, group size and outcomes.
Choose one of our venues, or a site near your school, on dates that suit your calendar.
Qualified Outward Bound instructors run every activity, with safety managed at every step.
Learners reflect on what they learned, and your school receives a feedback report.
We run school leadership journeys from eight established venues across five provinces. OBSA is also fully mobile: our instructors and equipment can travel to you, so we can run a programme anywhere in the country, close to your school.
Five Venues
Fully Mobile
Nationwide
Each programme combines outdoor activities chosen for your learners’ age, fitness and goals, with time after every challenge to reflect on what it means.
2 to 7 Days
15 to 75+ Learners
Grades 6-12
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
Independent and private schools across South Africa bring their grades to Outward Bound for school leadership journeys, including:
Somerset College
Bridge House
Oakhill
Veritas College
St Cyprian’s
ISSA
St Andrew’s
Greenwood Bay College
Seabridge
Safety sits at the heart of every Outward Bound course. OBSA follows Outward Bound International’s safety standards, with trained and assessed instructors and documented risk management and emergency procedures for every programme.
In 2025, North-West University’s COMPRES Service Delivery Division independently evaluated an OBSA programme. Participants showed meaningful growth in courage and confidence, persistence, teamwork, responsibility and practical independence, with concrete plans to apply it at home, at school and in their communities.
Every course runs to Outward Bound International's safety standards.
Trained and assessed instructors lead every activity.
Documented risk management and emergency procedures for each programme.
Programme outcomes evaluated by North-West University in 2025.
Founder & Creator (1886-1974)
Tell us about your grade, your group size and the school leadership outcomes you have in mind. We will design a programme around them and come back to you with venue options, dates and a proposal.
