As an educator who has sent 3 girls each year for the last 6 years I cannot recommend the Warriors Accelerated Scholarship programme (WASP) more highly. To watch a student when she has returned and witness the increased level of confidence and her awareness of the height and reach of her ability is wonderful. It is a truly mind changing experience for students done simply through a programme of outdoor experiences that are fun, demanding and involving team work. The staff are incredibly kind and considerate and will go the extra mile for each individual. Warriors offers an unique leadership programme that we, as a school, are grateful that we have been involved with and cannot recommend them more highly as an organisation particularly with regards to developing leadership skills and self belief for students in the sixth form .

My daughter went on WASP in half term October 2018. She had her 17th birthday there, a plus. This isn't the gap year programme, just a week's taster.
She rated it as "the best week of my life" and her only regret is that she ticked off everything on her bucket list. She says this week school seems totally flat.
I collected her after the long flight home and expected her to go to sleep in the car. Instead, she couldn't stop talking about the experiences she had. Looking at the videos I can't say that UK Health and Safety has made it to SA, but they all survived.
She recommends the programme wholeheartedly. Everything was top notch.

I am going to do my best to express my honest and most brief review. Bare with me if it gets a little long winded!

I grew up in the USA. I went through all 12 years of schooling in the US education system only to find that I needed something more. Life experience, was one thing that any school cannot teach you in a classroom.

In 2007 I attended the Warriors program for the full term and graduated with pride in my heart. The skills to tackle life outside of academics are essential, and for me Warriors showed me that I could train myself and thrive as an individual and take on the world without hesitation, without doubt, and yet, employ great discipline to my own benefit. The skills I needed were taught to me. And so much more.

Over the Warriors course I learned that, not only was I capable of just about anything I set my mind to, but that I could open my heart, and be true to myself to accomplish my own goals with tools I built myself. Through my own efforts, I could bring results.

I will admit, this course is not a vacation, it is not about perusing the exotic wilderness and urban sprawl that southern africa has to offer, at leisure.

This course is not a walk in the park, it is not for the faint of heart. At times I was pushed to the very limit of my being, but through the teachings given, I was prepared to face anything thrown at me. I was taught to overcome any hardship offered.

Warriors also gave me many of my fondest memories. To this day I look back at the friends I made, the experiences I had and the fulfillment that comes with knowing I accomplished more in seven months than I ever did in all my years in school and even now, everyday I think back to what I learned to use it in my life. I still use the tools given to me to reach out and take life by the horns and make my own.

I cannot recommend Warriors enough for anyone that is willing to give their all, to commit to changing their lives for the better, to bringing out the best qualities within themselves. This is not summer camp, it's not boarding school, it's not a retreat or cruise or any of that. It is not for the lazy, apathetic, or entitled. It is for anyone who is ready to find out what they are made of. It is a place where one may come, and with an open heart, learn how to find out who they are, what strengths and weaknesses they carry, and how to employ that into life and all its challenges. To accept and move with the flow of things. To put your worries and anger and other negative energies into something productive, useful, or helpful and make something out of life.

Warriors does more than teach. It enabled me to learn and grow in ways I never considered. It pushed me to the limits and back again. I experienced the full spectrum of life in a microcosm of itself and came out the otherside better prepared for whatever future might come.

Tim Phillips
Warrior - 07

All I can say to future warriors just give your all warriors has changed my life I use to have but now am fearless because I saw life in a different way and it has grown in me that life is all about taking risk and making good decisions all I can warriors is the best place to be all I can tell you enjoy have make some good memories make new friends and just enjoy the excitement of every task and exercise that are do there

Best year of my life, changed it all for the better, and still 10 years on feel a part of the family as I did when I was there.
I cannot recommend Warriors enough for everyone looking for a change of direction, a break from the norm, or a chance to find their passion.
This is an adventure you will never forget. The friends you make will last forever, and you'll become part of this (now global) family.

Warriors is a great program that helped me bridge the gap between high school and “the real world”. Warriors gave me the opportunity and skills to reflect on who I wanted to become, evaluate my options and focus on what I wanted my purpose to be. The TOLTEC portion of the gap year offers all the tools for self improvement and have been invaluable to me over the past 8 years. Coupled with the many excursions we went on both inside and outside of South Africa this is a truly once in a lifetime experience that I would recommend to anyone.

It is hard to quantify the experience I had at Warriors purely through the medium of a keyboard. The lessons that I learnt over four years ago are still as relevant to me today. You are pushed to your physical and mental limits - something that I don't think people of my generation do enough of.
If you want something different that will force into situations where you thrive as person, the Warriors Academy is the perfect place.

What an adventure! My daughter was struggling during her matric year and in an attempt to keep her motivated and focused, I said she could have a gap year before having to decided what path she wanted to take for her future! She finished her matric and did well but now it was time for me to make good on my promise to her. The deal was it had to be a gap year where she was not earning an income and it did not involve her laying on the coach reading or pigging out on junk food and video marathons. We did a lot of research and stumbled across the Warriors Gap Year! Both Courtney and myself were sold! I even wished I was 20 again so I could do the gap year too! : )
I have to say it was a very difficult decision for me as I am an over protective parent and have never had my "little girl" away from me for more then a weekend so the thought of me letting her go for a year was traumatising. Never the less it was about her and what was best for her. I knew she need space and time to do a little growing and self development in a safe environment, where I knew she would be looked after but would also be in her own space away from any of the normal influences she had had in the past. Time to live and experience new things in her life! Take a step our of her comfort zone. Warriors was just what she needed.

The day grew closer as I had to drop her off at basecamp and both of us trying not to show it grew more stressed! We made a weekend trip of it to put some fun in the trip. She packed and repacked her bags at least 10 times, look for the perfect fit and amount of items she would need for the first quest.
We arrived at Warriors basecamp excited and nervous as we did not quite know what to expect. It was a tremendous welcoming. I felt quite relaxed and happy my child was in good hands. The Warriors Team are amazing each with their own unique talents that work together like a well oil machine. We registered, dropped of her luggage in her new room for the year and went to lunch. Courtney was a bag of nerves and was not sure if she wanted to do this and was debating about going home to her safe home environment where she was not tested too much and not put out of her comfort zone. I left her with a group of new warriors to chat - not that she would chat - too shy for that and went to the parents orientation meeting. Rudi assured us our babies would be safe, loved, feed, daily challenged - physically and emotionally and even disciplined if necessary. Shew! I left the meeting not so sure I could walk way if she begged me to take her home. I messaged her to say I was on the way to meet up with her. She met me at the car, basically said good bye and was ready to mix with her new found friends! What a surprise that was. Now it was my turn to leave in tears! But that was the last time for tears!

We chatted when she got time but in a short 2 week period I could hear the change in her emotions and her words! Courtney was alive and living life! There were challenges she still had to face and break through but she was in the right place at the right time. It has been the best "finishing school" /"life equipping" experience ever!

She returned home a different person. Confident, happy, with a love for the outdoors and want to help people in their personal journeys. She got to do so many wonderful extra ordinary things during her year, things she would never have been able to achieve on her own. All those opportunities are fantastic but one of the most amazing things for me is to see her appreciate life! Value the small things like waking up in a beautiful forest with the sun shining in through your window, the birds chirping, a baby frog hopping across the path, a new flower blooming, the wind blowing through the trees at night and the most amazing stars shining so brightly at night. Courtney has bloomed just like an ordinary worm that turns into this most beautiful butterfly. Ready to explore the world!

I have Warriors and the amazing family team to thank for providing the opportunity and guiding Courtney to take full advantage of the programme and to become someone she loves and respects! The Warriors Motto is: For the adventure of being alive! What a great motto that is! Now life is truly a daily adventure for being alive! Living it to the full. I can only encourage parents to take a serious look at the programme. If you want to give your child a life long gift, give them Warriors Academy Gap Year! The experience is literary life changing and it continues to impact your child's life for ever! Thank you Warriors! It has been an amazing journey!