The MORE Field Guide College is very excited to officially welcome Candice Grover as General Manager to guide the college into the future.
Candice has a diverse history and vast experience in the African safari world. Born in South Africa, Candice moved to the UK at the age of 10, growing up in a quintessential chocolate box town, which remains a special time in her life. Before the call of Africa grew too strong to ignore, Candice studied public services at college with a major in criminology.
“My father introduced my older brother and I to the bush at a very young age, He was a conservationist and as a result, each school holiday we came back to South Africa and were immersed into some of the most rural and wild places all over Africa. Memories of our bush holidays always brought back such a sense of peace and belonging. When planning my move back to South Africa, I knew there was nowhere else I wanted to be, but in the bush,” says Candice.
Over the past 14 years, Candice worked for Ulusaba, Sir Richard Branson’s Private Game Reserve, was the General Manager at Djuma Private Game Reserve and Head of Community at Thornybush.
Candice is married to Michael an ecologist now working for Conservation South Africa and they have two beautiful daughters, Kaylin and Casey.
“We live in Hoedspruit in a wildlife estate and although it’s not Big 5 territory, we are surrounded by plains game and wild spaces daily, helping instil the love of nature in our children.
Candice is looking forward to leading the college into a new future, both the MORE Campus in the Waterberg and the additional Kruger National Park campus. The first year (2023) at Kruger campus is dedicated to sponsored local community students, as arranged by the More Community Foundation.
Candice shared a few of her thoughts on the journey ahead.
What are you the most excited about in your new role?
Seeing young people grow into mature, confident, competent professional field guides. I look forward to remaining close to and mentoring our students towards a long and successful career within the safari industry.
What has been your most memorable experience on safari?
Being in the industry for as long as I have and having the privilege of thousands of game drives under my belt, I have MANY. Each drive is so different. The ‘quieter’ drives fill you with a sense of calm and a chance to breath in the beauty of our wild spaces. The more ‘adventurous’ drives are exhilarating and leave you with a deep appreciation of what our rich, diverse wildlife has to offer. BUT if I had to pick, I think it would be the babies of the bush- nothing beats a sighting of lion cubs at play, finding a leopard’s den with teeny tiny inquisitive faces peeking out at you through the thicket or watching a baby elephant trying to work out what to do with its floppy trunk- those are my magical moments.
What do you believe makes a field guide truly stand out?
Passion! For many guests, a safari destination is a once in a lifetime bucket list holiday, a truly amazing field guide has the ability to not only educate guests about our wildlife, but to share the bigger picture too – the landscape’s biodiversity, current conservation efforts, the culture and history of our people, our rural communities on the peripheries of the protected areas, and how they are all intrinsically linked. A truly passionate guide can take the safari guest experience to the next level – oozing excitement when showing and sharing their knowledge and own experiences with their guests. A guide who has multiple repeat guests has clearly found the winning recipe.
