Entabeni Communications | Expeditions and Outdoor Centre | Drakensburg

Entabeni Education Centre

Entabeni is the venue of choice for school excursions, geography & biology field trips, and leadership camps.  The centre was originally established by the then SA Crane Foundation in 1993 with a focus on catchment and wetland education.  Since those humble beginnings we have grown into a place of fond memories for over 65 000 school children.

Underlying Big Ideas

It’s obvious that environmental problems are becoming increasingly complex, far-reaching and difficult to solve.  In order to deal with these problems future adults are going to need some serious tools.  We believe these tools include:

Ecoliteracy: This relatively new term is expressed as the understanding of the principles of organization that ecosystems have developed to sustain the web of life. In addition, ecoliteracy education attempts to foster a deep, personal appreciation of nature and our place in it.

Group and Interpersonal Skills:  People must work together in order to solve big problems.  It’s a “no brainer”…

Desire for change:  This is the hard bit…the part that social scientists and educators from all fields would prefer to gloss over or simply ignore. What makes people change their behaviour?  It would be arrogant (& lying) to claim that we know but we have a strong feeling that positive experiences in natural places with special people have an impact.

Programmes and courses

All of our programmes are designed specifically for each client.  However, there are general themes around which we can work:

Syllabus support

Experiencing a concept first-hand in the outdoors makes it easier to deal with in the classroom.  We can grapple with ecology, biology & natural science, geography (landscape, mapwork, climatology, rivers, settlement, development issues) & history (Nguni migration, San & hunter gatherers, local effects of colonialism).  Our syllabus-support courses are normally cross curricular & are tailored as closely as possible to what is being done in class.

Life skills

The ability to work as teams, groups, communities and societies is a key part of being able to take environmental & social action in an environment at risk.  Entabeni can assist with leader- & leadership development, group functioning, strategic planning & problem-solving for groups of all ages & levels.

General environmental awareness

This broad term relates to courses that do not necessarily link to a specific syllabus or curriculum but are more thematic in approach with a focus on ecoliteracy.

Specialised courses

We have access to area specialists of most natural & social sciences.  We will collaborate on programme design & content in all disciplines ranging form botany to developmental studies.

Training & development

We have developed a unique set of skills in the course of our 17 year history as environmental educators.  Skills in environmental & nature interpretation, environmental & outdoor learning programme design & development, effective environmental communications, and good problem-solving skills to name a few.  From time-to-time we offer course & workshops in these areas.  Have a look at our Projects page for details.

Please email, call, fax or send us a smoke-signal & we will arrange a visit to your school or organisation to show you in detail what we do & provide you with a quote.

Facilities

Entabeni is not the Hilton Hotel.  The centre is situated on an old cattle farm and still retains the rural, farming atmosphere.  We promise a clean, comfortable (some may say rustic) facility with seriously yummy food.  Some have said our chocolate cake is the best in the world.  Our facilities include:

Dormitory accommodation for 100 plus people on bunk beds with a fitted sheet.  Guests are expected to bring their own pillow & sleeping bag/bed roll,

A 100-seater dining hall catering for all dietary needs.  We focus on tasty, plentiful and nutritious food.  We minimize artificial ingredients and try to supply as much produce as possible from our own organic Permaculture garden.  The hall can also be used for the screening of AV presentations.

A separate cottage for teachers or group organisers.  KwaMfundisi Cottage accommodates 5 people in 3 bedrooms and all linen, cutlery etc is provided.

Activities:

We offer all that the ‘Berg can provide; ecosystem studies in forests, wetlands, grasslands, fire refuge sites, cliff lines & human settlements; obstacle & group dynamics courses; and adventure activities such as abseiling & wall climbing.  More importantly we offer wide open spaces, a well-trained & enthusiastic staff keen on sharing nature experiences, a safe environment & in Aldo Leopold’s words, “a blank spot on the map”.

Safety:

All of Entabeni’s safety protocols, risk assessments & emergency procedures are internationally benchmarked. We pride ourselves on an impeccable record & work hard to make sure this record is sustained.  Please contact us for details of risk assessments & protocols for all activities.

Entabeni Explore!

Although it covers only about 1 % of the world’s land surface area South Africa is home to 10% of the world’s species of plants and animals.  From dune desert to sub-tropical forests, from snow-capped mountains to golden beaches, South Africa has it all!  This tip of Africa has one of the longest and most interesting human histories of any country on the planet, from the first human beings to Apartheid and a miraculous liberation.  Add to this 11 official languages, twenty-something ethnic groups, the most democratic and humanitarian Constitution in the world and a reputation for being a seriously friendly place, a visit to South Africa is never forgotten.

Explore the natural and cultural diversity of South Africa with energetic, enthusiastic and knowledgeable Entabeni guides.  Entabeni Explore offers fun-filled, adventure-packed voyages of discovery of this many-coloured land from the Fairest Cape to the Zulu Kingdom.  Entabeni Explore is exclusively for 15 – 20 year old adventurers.

Entabeni Explore aims to broaden horizons by exposing explorers to real situations, with real people.  Although the focus is educational, there is ample fun & adventure.  We don’t lecture – we do!

Entabeni is a registered Tour Operator and has world-class safety standards.