Matthew Zylstra and colleague Noël Isaacs attended four days of the Spirit of the Wild (SOTW) Course at Bergplaas Nature Reserve. It was a thoroughly enriching experience and both were left with the feeling that they had a much more complete tool-box for fulfilling their roles as aspiring environmental educators. The SOTW course focuses heavily on the experiential reconnection with nature and aids participants in identifying activities help facilitate this process. Matthew also interviewed a few participants in-depth about their meaningful nature experiences, the way in which this shaped their perceptions and, finally, if the presence of invasive species (e.g. willow trees) enhanced or diminished their experience. The initial results are intriguing and will be shared in the future…