Field - Nature Positive Tourism

Abruzzo, Italy

FIELD TRAINING NATURE POSITIVE TOURISM

During the five day field training in Abruzzo National park, Italy, you will be introduced to the current state of wildlife tourism, nature conservation & local rewilding efforts, partnerships, community engagement, nature linked economies and hospitality. The week consists of a range of outdoor classrooms, learning sessions and experiences.

The field training is for participants who have already completed or will follow the September 2025 Online Training. If you sign up for this field training, the online training is free of charge and included in the price.

If you book, you pay a 25% deposit to secure your place for the September 2025 training. Minimum 6, maximum 8 participants.

If you are a self-employed person or company: when following a training or course that demonstrably leads to deepening your knowledge, these are business costs that are often fully tax deductible.

* All MOYO programs are fully inclusive, and come with a 10% give back on top of the training price, that flows into a fund to a) support nature in the areas we operate in, and b) benefits new trainees through (partly) funded training programs.

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Early bird offer till
1 March 2025:
€1990 / private
€2490 / companies

Dates 2025:

Monday 29 September till Friday 3 October '

€ 2190 pp for

private individuals

€ 2590 pp for companies

ex 'give back'*

Aukje Van Gerven coordinates operations & logistics, and facilitates parts of the training program.

Caroline Waller
- Australia

Simon and Aukje you are a brilliant team and thank you for your professionalism, guidance, patience, positive attitudes, energy, willingness to share knowledge and give encouragement to every participant. Together with the webinars it was a fully complete and rounded training course"

"Simon and Aukje's courses are an amazing adventure. They offer a fantastic opportunity to explore a destination from the inside out, while maintaining a strong eco-friendly and local focus. I can confidently say that after finishing the course, you will walk away with a wealth of knowledge about ecotourism and nature-based tourism businesses"

Polihron Karapachov
- Bulgaria

Hanno Langfelder
- Germany

"This is simply great. They know what they are doing.They are a true master of their tradecraft. On top of that, they are really wonderful people. I can wholeheartedly recommend the MOYO Training"

Mark Hewitt
- United Kingdom

My expectations were met!

The driver for me was two fold - visiting a location with established experience in delivering nature positive tourism to learn more about the issues that have been overcome and also the chance to meet with a range of people with different experiences"

Pim van den Heuvel
- Netherlands

"This layered wilderness training program is not only exciting, well balanced and captivating, it's also a perfect example of how hosting in nature is done right. Simon and Aukje both have profound experience to back up the growing theory of rewilding and nature based solutions , which is still very much a work in progress. These guys take you on a dive straight into the heart of that discussion. Deeply recommended."

FIELD TRAINING ITINERARY

(this may vary per season)

Day 1

ARRIVAL AT PESCASSEROLI Transfer from Rome Fiumicino to Pescasseroli - Welcome Lunch in town - Recap of the Online Training learnings and Expectation of the week - Dinner - Overnight in Pescasseroli

Day 2

INTO THE WILD Morning sessions - Breakfast - Hike up to the mountain refuge - Lunch - Nature Positive Tourism Sessions - Sunset Wildlife Watching - Dinner - Campfire - Overnight at Mountain Refuge

Day 3

NATURE CONSERVATION & COMMUNITY Sunrise Hike & Wildlife watching - Breakfast - Hike back to the valley - Nature Conservation & Community engagement program - Dinner - Overnight in PescasserolI

Day 4

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER Breakfast - Nature Positive Sessions & Assessments - Sunset Hike - Dinner - Overnight in Pescasseroli

Day 5

LAST LEARNINGS & GOODBYE Morning Sessions - Breakfast - Debrief - Transfer back to Rome Fiumicino

Farewell breakfast and departures mid-morning

THE LEARNING OVERVIEW

HOSPITALITY

Training in an environment that shows how good hospitality when paired with amazing natural settings can elevate guest experiences to a new level.

Learn the simple truth behind hospitality and the art of delivering it.

NATURE POSITIVE

Adjusting a mindset and learning to work towards being nature positive, become a custodian and see how the success of your business is intertwined with sustainable nature.

Nature positive is a mindset.

ENTERPRISE & NATURE

The success of an area is reliant on the success of local enterprise, its partners and the long term protection of our natural areas.

Your business should have both direct and indirect impact for nature...not on nature.

IMPACT FOR NATURE

How can you really help nature? What does that relationship look like?

This course will show you how you can have a positive impact on nature.

COMMUNITY & PARTNERSHIPS

The most successful conservation areas across the globe have strong ties and connectivity to local communities.

Integrating a community engagement policy into your business should be one of the biggest priorities you have.

RESPONSIBLE
TOURISM

You will be introduced to the current state of wildlife tourism, nature conservation & local rewilding efforts in this area.

What does this look like and how can you implement this yourself?

Meet the Team

This training has been designed to provide you with both the learnings and tools to take your profession or business and personal growth forward in a way that brings you closer to nature, and allows you to see the mutually beneficial opportunity for both nature and people. Learn first hand about current state of wildlife tourism, nature conservation & local rewilding efforts, partnerships, community engagement, nature linked economies and hospitality.

Simon Collier

Co-Founder MOYO Training

Born and raised in South Africa, Simon started his safari career over twenty years ago working across a broad sector of the safari and tourism industry in Southern Africa. With experience from guiding through to managing camps, sales and marketing. Currently living in The Netherlands, Simon has spent the last ten years supporting the development of the wildlife and tourism sector across ten countries in Europe, with a focus on sustainable business development and training within the nature-based tourism sector. In 2019, Simon launched Nature Tourism Development - a consultancy designed to support the nature tourism industry.

The training in Italy will be lead by Simon.

Aukje van Gerven

Co-Founder MOYO Training

Growing up, Aukje enjoyed nature mostly from horseback, which instilled a love for wandering in wild spaces. She holds degrees in Law and History, but when working in these fields ceased to inspire her, she discovered true adventure travel while cycling from Tanzania to the Netherlands. She has more than twenty years of experience in ecotourism, community engagement and hospitality. Aukje co-created the rewilding tourism training program in 2020, which trained over 200 participants & tourism professionals. In 2023 she co-founded MOYO Training Foundation, delivering nature positive training programs to support wildlife & biodiversity around the globe.

Aukje coordinates operations & logistics, and facilitates parts of the training program.

Valeria Roselli

Wildlife Adventures

Since she was a child, Valeria walked along the paths through the forest of the mountains where she was born. Her curiosity led her to explore and get to know the territory. While listening to stories from older people in the area, Valeria learnt the importance of the local traditions and how necessary it was to preserve traditions and value the past.

Her love of nature and for the Abruzzo mountain’s became her passion, which then became her profession. She is now a nature guide, environmental interpreter and international mountain leader, and one of the most expert guides in the Italian Apennines.

Valeria will be our nature & wildlife guide during the Field Training in Abruzzo.