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Why Get IFGA Certified?

IFGA helps you stand out, with 92% of lodges preferring IFGA-certified guides, boosting your employability – all without the annual fees of other guiding associations.

 

We recognise exceptional guides for their expertise, passion and ability to deliver highly interpretive and immersive guest experiences. This certification can open doors to more prestigious opportunities and broaden your career prospects internationally.

Types of Certification

IFGA Certification comes in three levels: IFGA Guide, IFGA Lead Guide, and IFGA Pro Guide. The type of certification a guide is awarded depends on the cumulative grade they receive from a series of assessments covering guided experience, knowledge and technique. Certifications are also specific to a specialisation, such as Vehicle Guide or Trails Guide.

Should a student’s assessment grade fall between 40-59, they will receive the designation of “IFGA Trainee”. This allows them to demonstrate their affiliation with IFGA, while continuing their training and reassessment at a later stage to achieve full certification as an IFGA Guide, IFGA Lead Guide, and IFGA Pro Guide.

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Grade: 40-59

IFGA Trainee
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Grade: 60-75

IFGA Guide
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Grade: 76-85

IFGA Lead Guide
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Grade: 86-100

IFGA Pro Guide

Specialisations

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IFGA Vehicle Guide

This specialisation allows a guide to take guests in a game viewer or other vehicle on a safari or wildlife-based tour. It demonstrates their knowledge and skills in areas such as botany, track & sign, mammals, birding, reptiles, arthropods and more.

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IFGA Trails Guide

A Trails Guide can lead short nature walks without actively trailing or approaching dangerous game. In dangerous game areas they are still trainees, and can only lead guests with the supervision of an Advanced Trails Guide.

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IFGA Advanced Trails Guide (Dangerous Game)

The Advanced Trails Guide can legally walk as the first rifle (country dependent) to conduct extended trails walks in dangerous game areas, and to actively follow and view potentially dangerous animals.

IFGA specialisations allow a guide to demonstrate their world-class knowledge and skills in a specific guiding area. These specialisations include vehicle, trail and dangerous game. Additional specialisations will be added in the future.

IFGA Assessment

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Theory Assessment

The theory exam assesses a guide candidate's knowledge across topics like ecology, animal behaviour, species identification, and guiding principles. While the industry pass mark ranges from 50% to 75%, the IFGA requires a higher standard with a minimum pass mark of 80%.

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Practical Assessment

The IFGA practical assessment is divided into three categories: Guided Experience, Technique, and Knowledge, with each assessed separately. This structure ensures a comprehensive evaluation of a guide's skills and abilities across all key areas.

*There are additional requirements to become certified depending on the specialisation you choose, such as a driving assessment. These are detailed below.

Requirements: IFGA Vehicle Guide

For this specialisation, each component must be successfully completed, though there is no required order for achieving them. If any component is not met, a statement of results will be issued until all remaining requirements are fulfilled.

IFGA Theory Exam (Vehicle Guide): 80%
IFGA Practical Components: 85%
IFGA Driving Assessment: Required
National Guiding Certificate: Required (country specific)
Age: 21+
First Aid Certificate: Required

Requirements: IFGA
Trails Guide

As with Vehicle Guide, each component must be complete to fulfil this specialisation, but in no specific order. Exposure walks are led by other experienced and qualified guides to give the trainee encounters needed for this specialisation.

IFGA Theory Exam (Trails Guide): 80%
IFGA Advanced Rifle Handling: Required
CyberTracker Tracker: Level 1 required
Exposure Walks (Participant): 30 encounters required
Exposure Walks (2nd Rifle): 1 encounter per dangerous game species* required
Age: 21+
First Aid Certificate: Required
National Guiding Certificate (Walking): Required (country specific)

*In South Africa this includes elephant, rhino, buffalo and lion

Requirements: IFGA Advanced Trails Guide (Dangerous Game)

This is the advanced version of the Trails Guide specialisation, which allows the guide to lead walks in areas with dangerous game. The same expectations apply regarding fulfilling components to complete the specialisation.

IFGA Trails Guide: Required
IFGA Advanced Rifle Handling: Required
IFGA Graded Assessment: Required
CyberTracker Tracker: Level 3 required
Dangerous Game Encounters: 200* required
Age: 21+
First Aid Certificate: Required
National Guiding Certificate (Walking): Required (country specific)

*Not including encounters on Trails Guide exposure walks.

Where to Get Certified

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Africa

Training Provider: Bushwise

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Additional Regions

Americas, Asia, Europe, Australasia: Coming Soon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Anyone with a passion for nature and interest in guiding can apply to join a field guide course and work towards becoming a certified IFGA guide. While the minimum age requirement to join most field guide courses is 18, you must be 21 to become a certified IFGA guide. This is aligned with industry standards for professional driving permits and other requirements for professional guides. You can still earn your entry level guiding certification, country dependent, at 18 (ie. Cathsseta Nature Site Guide NQF2 in South Africa).

Who can become an IFGA Guide?

Our certified training providers, such as Bushwise in South Africa, host in-person training courses to give you the necessary skills and experience to take the IFGA Assessments. These assessments are then held by qualified assessors to determine your level of proficiency.

How can I get certified as an IFGA Guide?

On average, field guide courses take six months to complete, plus an optional additional six month work placement. These courses are designed to provide you with essential training, theory, soft skills and knowledge to excel as an IFGA guide.

How long is an IFGA training program?

IFGA offers three certification levels based on your graded performance: IFGA Guide (60-75%), IFGA Principal Guide (76-85%), and IFGA Master Guide (86+).  Each level is awarded based on the candidate’s performance in their assessment, which covers areas such as guided experience, technique, and knowledge.

What are the different levels of IFGA certification? 

IFGA certification allows you to specialise in areas like Vehicle Guide, where you lead wildlife tours in vehicles, or Trails Guide, where you can conduct nature walks. Advanced specialisations, such as the IFGA Advanced Trails Guide for Dangerous Game, enable you to lead extended walks in dangerous game areas.

What specialisations can I pursue with IFGA certification? 

IFGA assessments evaluate guides across three key areas: guided experience, technique, and knowledge. Each guide is graded on these areas, and their certification status is based on the overall score. Specialisation-specific assessments are also required, with the score for each specialisation appearing on the issued certificate.

How are IFGA assessments structured?
There are no annual fees to maintain IFGA Associate status.

Your IFGA training provider will provide you with their training and examination costs.

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Costs

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Certification
for Students

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