I Want to Work Outdoors — But What Jobs Actually Exist?
“I just know I don’t want to sit behind a desk all day.”
If that sounds familiar, you’re definitely not alone.
For some people, choosing what to do after school seems relatively straightforward. They want to study engineering, become an accountant, go into medicine or follow another career with a fairly obvious route from school to qualification to job.
But what if the thing you know isn’t a job title?
What if you simply know that you want a life that involves being outdoors, working with nature, travelling, wildlife, adventure or doing something that feels real and hands-on?
That’s a perfectly good place to start.
Because there are far more careers built around the outdoors than most matriculants realise.
First: “I Love Wildlife” Isn’t a Career Choice
And that’s okay.
You don’t need to have your entire career mapped out at 17 or 18.
In fact, “I want to work with wildlife” or “I want to work outdoors” can lead in dozens of different directions.
Some people discover that they love working with animals. Others become fascinated by ecosystems, research or conservation. Some thrive when they’re teaching people. Some want adventure and travel. Others discover that they’re excellent hosts, photographers, guides, managers or storytellers.
The first step is understanding what kinds of outdoor work actually exist.
Here are just some of the possibilities.
Nature and Safari Guiding
This is probably one of the better-known outdoor careers in South Africa, but even guiding is much broader than many people realise.
Nature guides work in lodges, reserves, private game farms and tourism destinations across Southern Africa and beyond.
And the job isn’t simply driving people around looking for animals.
Great guides need to understand ecology, animal behaviour, plants, birds, geology and conservation — but they also need excellent people skills.
You’re part naturalist, part teacher, part storyteller, part host and occasionally part problem-solver.
For people who love both nature and people, it can be an extraordinary career.
Trails and Wilderness Guiding
Some guides specialise in experiencing wilderness on foot.
Trails guides lead guests through natural areas where awareness, interpretation, animal behaviour, tracking, navigation and safety become especially important.
It’s a very different experience from guiding from a vehicle and can develop into a highly specialised field.
Marine and Coastal Careers
If your idea of a good working day involves boots, a backpack and several kilometres of wilderness, this might be worth investigating.
Not every nature career happens in the bush.
South Africa has an enormous coastline and an equally fascinating marine environment.
Marine and coastal guides may work around beaches, rocky shores, estuaries, reefs, marine reserves, turtle programmes, whale-watching operations and coastal tourism.
Beyond guiding, marine environments offer opportunities in research, conservation, education, diving, wildlife monitoring and tourism.
If you’re more excited by the ocean than elephants, there is an entire outdoor world to explore.
Wildlife Research and Monitoring
Not everyone working on a wildlife research project is a scientist with a university degree.
There is an enormous amount of practical fieldwork behind conservation research and monitoring, and people with strong field skills can play an important role in making that work happen.
Field monitors and research assistants may spend their days identifying individual animals, locating and tracking wildlife, checking camera traps, recording sightings, conducting counts, collecting field data or assisting researchers with long-term monitoring projects.
There are also roles that involve managing field teams, coordinating volunteers, maintaining equipment and vehicles, organising field activities and helping research projects operate successfully on the ground.
Some guides move into positions with conservation and research organisations because the skills developed through guiding — observation, species identification, tracking, bush competence, communication and the ability to work safely and independently in the field — transfer particularly well into this kind of work.
Other areas of conservation research, such as scientific analysis, GIS mapping and specialist ecological research, may require university qualifications or further technical training. But you don’t necessarily have to become a scientist to work alongside scientists and contribute meaningfully to conservation research.
For someone who loves wildlife, enjoys practical fieldwork and is fascinated by understanding what animals are doing and why, research and monitoring can open up an entirely different outdoor career path.
Environmental Education
Maybe your superpower is explaining things.
Environmental educators work with children, communities, tourists and sometimes corporate groups to help people understand the natural world.
They may work at reserves, environmental centres, NGOs, schools, wildlife organisations or tourism operations.
For someone who loves nature but also loves teaching, communicating and inspiring people, this can be a powerful career.
Adventure and Expedition Guiding
Some outdoor careers are built around movement and adventure. If that Grade 9 Adventure Camp was the event that changed your life – and may be the reason you are reading this article – perhaps this is a good career option for you.
Overland guides, expedition leaders and adventure guides may travel across countries or even continents, leading groups through remote destinations and managing everything from logistics and safety to interpretation and guest experience.
Depending on the environment, people may specialise further into hiking, paddling, diving, climbing or other adventure activities.
If routine terrifies you more than uncertainty does, this world may be worth exploring.
Wildlife Photography and Film
Someone has to tell the stories of wild places.
Wildlife photographers, filmmakers and natural-history production teams work in and around the natural world, sometimes spending extraordinary amounts of time in the field to capture the stories most of us eventually see on a screen.
And behind the person holding the camera is often a much larger team — researchers, location scouts, guides, fixers, animal trackers and production assistants.
Strong field knowledge can be incredibly valuable in this space.
Knowing where to position yourself, understanding animal behaviour and being able to anticipate what might happen next can be just as important as knowing how to operate the equipment.
Wildlife and Travel Content Creation
This is a career path that barely existed a generation ago — and today it can be a very real one.
Guides and other outdoor professionals who are good at photography, video, storytelling and social media can build audiences around their knowledge and experiences in the field.
That can open opportunities to create content for lodges, reserves, tourism organisations, conservation projects and outdoor brands — or even to build an independent platform of their own.
And here’s where having genuine field knowledge matters.
Knowing how to make a beautiful video is useful. Knowing enough about wildlife to tell an accurate, interesting story about what you’re filming is far more valuable.
Some of the best wildlife content creators aren’t simply influencers who happen to be in the bush. They’re knowledgeable guides, naturalists and conservation professionals who have learned how to translate what they know into content people actually want to watch.
So if you’re the person who loves wildlife and you’re always filming, editing, photographing, writing or figuring out what makes people stop scrolling — don’t automatically dismiss that as a hobby.
Those skills may become part of your career.
Reserve and Lodge Operations
Here’s one people often overlook.
Wildlife tourism doesn’t function on guides alone.
Lodges and reserves need managers, operations staff, hospitality teams, maintenance specialists, conservation staff, activity coordinators and people capable of keeping complex operations running.
For someone who loves the outdoor industry but eventually discovers that their strength is leadership, hospitality or management, there are significant career pathways here too.
Specialist Guiding
You don’t necessarily have to be interested in everything equally.
Some people become obsessed with birds.
Or trees.
Or tracks.
Or photography.
Or insects.
Or marine life.
That obsession can become useful.
Experienced guides can develop specialist knowledge that creates opportunities in birding, photography, walking, marine environments and other niche experiences.
Sometimes the thing everyone tells you you’re far too interested in turns out to be exactly the thing worth pursuing.
But How Do I Know Which One Is Right for Me?
You probably don’t.
Not yet.
And perhaps that’s one of the most important things to understand when you’re finishing school.
There is enormous pressure at 17 or 18 to answer:
“What are you going to do with your life?”
As though you’re supposed to choose one job now and still be doing it at 45.
A better question might be:
What kind of work and environment do I want to explore next?
Do you like people?
Do you enjoy learning?
Are you fascinated by animals?
Do you love the ocean?
Do you want to travel?
Do you enjoy solving practical problems?
Are you happiest when you’re moving?
Would you rather spend three hours identifying a bird than three hours in a shopping centre?
Those answers start telling you something.
Exposure Matters
One of the best ways to figure out where you fit is to get genuine exposure to the industry.
Not just watching wildlife documentaries.
Not just going on holiday to a game reserve.
Actually learning, working, living and spending time around people who have built careers in the field.
You might arrive convinced that you want to work with big mammals and discover that you’re fascinated by birds.
You might think you want to be a conservation researcher and discover that you’re an exceptional guide.
You might start in guiding and eventually move into lodge management, conservation, training, marine tourism, research, content creation or something you didn’t even know existed when you left school.
Your first step doesn’t have to determine your whole career.
It just needs to open enough doors for you to discover the next one.
At Bhejane Nature Training, this is one of the reasons we believe so strongly in broad practical exposure for young people entering the wildlife, conservation and nature-based tourism industries and this is exactly what we build our flagship Advanced Nature Guiding & Wildlife Conservation Programme around. Starting with a comprehensive suite of FGASA qualifications, and building from there onto the various dynamic areas where guides can carve out a niche for themselves.
Qualifications matter.
But so do experience, confidence, communication skills, field competence, curiosity and discovering what you’re actually good at.
You don’t need to have your entire future figured out.
You do need to start exploring it. The Bhejane 3 Year Advanced Nature Guiding programme is the perfect place to start. Still unsure? Do our fun quiz to find out what Type of Guide you can be.
Questions About Outdoor Careers After School
What outdoor careers can I do after matric?
There are many options, including nature guiding, trails guiding, marine guiding, conservation work, wildlife monitoring, environmental education, reserve and lodge operations, adventure tourism, research support, wildlife photography, content creation and specialist guiding.
Some require university degrees, while others have vocational or industry-based training pathways, like the Bhejane Advanced Nature Guiding Programme.
Do I need a university degree to work with wildlife?
It depends entirely on the career.
Careers such as veterinary science and many scientific research positions require university qualifications. Other careers, including many guiding, tourism and field-based roles, have vocational training and industry qualification pathways.
The important thing is to research the requirements for the specific career you’re interested in, rather than assuming every wildlife career requires the same route.
What if I don’t know what career I want after school?
That’s extremely common.
Instead of forcing yourself to choose a lifelong career immediately, consider what environments and types of work interest you and look for opportunities that provide broad exposure, practical skills and experience.
Sometimes discovering what you don’t want to do is useful too. A longer course like the Bhejane Advanced Programme offers the opportunity to get this exposure to help you figure out exactly where you feel most at home.
Can nature guiding lead to other careers?
Absolutely.
Field guiding can provide experience and skills that are useful in many areas of wildlife tourism and conservation.
Guides may later move into specialist guiding, trails, lodge or reserve management, training, environmental education, conservation projects, research support, photography, content creation or other areas of the industry.
Additional qualifications may be required depending on the career.
Can social media actually become part of a wildlife career?
Yes.
For guides and outdoor professionals who combine strong field knowledge with photography, video, writing, storytelling and social media skills, content creation can become a valuable professional skill — and, for some people, a career in its own right.
Lodges, reserves, conservation organisations, tourism businesses and outdoor brands all need people who can communicate compelling stories through digital media.
The strongest combination is not simply knowing how to create content. It is having real knowledge and experience worth creating content about.
What should I study if I want to work outdoors?
That depends on the kind of outdoor career you want.
Someone interested in scientific research may need a university pathway in ecology, zoology or a related science. Someone interested in nature guiding may choose an accredited vocational training route.
Marine science, conservation management, tourism, environmental education and adventure tourism all have different pathways.
Before choosing a course, start by asking:
What kind of work do I actually want exposure to?
How can I find out whether a wildlife career is right for me?
Look for opportunities that expose you to the reality of the industry, rather than only the exciting parts shown on social media.
Speak to working guides and conservation professionals. Visit training providers. Ask about career outcomes. Volunteer carefully. Job-shadow where possible. Look at the careers of people already working in the industry.
A career outdoors can be incredibly rewarding.
But the goal isn’t simply to escape a desk.
It’s to find work that you’re genuinely interested in becoming good at.
Where can an outdoor career actually take me?
There isn’t one career path — and sometimes the best way to understand the possibilities is to look at people who have already taken that first step.
Bhejane graduates have gone on to work in guiding, conservation, marine environments, research, lodge operations, training, content creation and tourism in South Africa and internationally.
Want to see what that looks like in real life?
Shalin Meyrick — Bhejane Advanced Course 2022 → Volunteer Coordinator → Follow their journey
Jonathan Warurton — Bhejane CDP 2012 → Specialist Photography Guide → Follow their journey
Paul Josop — Bhejae Adv Course 2012 → Specialist Birding Guide → Follow their journey
Nathan Ingram —Bhejane Adv Course 2015 → Guide Trainer & Trails Guide→ Follow their journey
Daniel Viljoen —Bhejane Adv Course 2025 → Lodge Based Safari Guide→ Follow their journey
John Hulley —Bhejane Adv Course 2021 → Adventure Guide→ Follow their journey
Josh Crickmay —Bhejane Adv Course 2016 → Wildlife Filmaker → Follow their journey
Connor Zinn —Bhejane Adv Course 2021 → Lodge Based Safari guide→ Follow their journey
Shanri Meyer —Bhejane Adv Course 2018 → Scuba and Marine Safari guide and educator→ Follow their journey
Posted on: 31 August, 2026 by the Bhejane Tribe