EcoTraining is widely acknowledged in the industry as being the best at what it does. Its work entails training across a range of safari guide courses that appeal to everyone from private individuals personally interested in a few days’ wildlife upskilling, to professional guides looking for career-based Field Guides Association of Southern Africa accreditation.
Says Flow CEO Tara Turkington, “EcoTraining’s former website was old and clunky, so they were looking for something fresh that would better reflect their brand and their professional, passionate approach to the work they do. It was a privilege to work with people who are so passionate about conservation, and making the world a better place to live in.”
EcoTraining's stated goal is “to create guides and guardians of the natural world”, which it has been doing since 1993, when proactive guides from various safari lodges formalised the need for a nature guide training programme.
Today, EcoTraining has four permanent camps – three in South Africa and one in Botswana – as well as temporary camps in Kenya and Zimbabwe. To date, more than 10 000 people from all over the world have received safari training, with the majority of graduates finding employment upon qualification at one of 150 safari lodges and operators that EcoTraining partners with.
The new website makes good use of stunning wildlife imagery in a home-page video, a device that Flow has used successfully for other clients such as the Gauteng Tourism Authority and City Sightseeing, whose work is best conveyed through images.
Thanks to compression technology and increased bandwidth, web-based video is an increasingly popular way for clients to introduce their business visually.
Says Flow designer Clement Nkoko, “Video integration is becoming an increasingly important part of modern web development. I really enjoyed creating the video from a range of footage provided by the client that depicts different properties and gives a good sense of the environment. It covers wildlife great to small.”
Flow programmer Tinashe Gunda says he enjoyed working on a “clean and uncomplicated” site. "The registration form and the course database are cool technical elements that were good challenges for me.”
The most important person in the equation is the client, Kath Greathead, who praised her interaction with Flow during the website upgrade.
“Tara has been awesome to work with – very collaborative, very open to ideas, and very enthusiastic and passionate about our product. I wish I had been able to get her and the team to our camps before or during the website build! I really looked forward to skyping and catching up with her as it was easy and productive each time.”
Feedback from users of the new site has been equally positive:
- “I just had a look at your new website. It looks incredible! I love how you’ve upgraded it.” – Mujon Baghai
- “Awesome new site ... you guys rock.” – Johann Jurgens
- “Congrats! The website looks great. Lots of info.” – Gerhard Delport
- “Looks great. So much better than the old one.” – Emily Whiting
