Anyone who has read my books will know that I don't tend to use guides when I am traveling. It's not a pride thing but it is certainly a fact. Many of the places I go, especially in the UK where they have such helpful, reliable, non-profit-seeking tourist offices you don't really need a guide. You just get a map, a few leaflets and a book and you're off. Translators usually aren't required either. If you speak English, you can get by virtually anywhere, as there are now depressingly few places where you won't be understood.
I have made a career of bumbling around places, stumbling on landmarks and generally being quite haphazard and shambolic about the way I go about things. Serendipitous encounters and experiences have provided me with some good material. My bumbling and blundering around wouldn't be the same if I had a guide along with me. There are people who rebel against the very idea. Mostly those who regard themselves as travelers rather than tourists. I guess you could accuse me of being one of them on occasion. Certainly, I am not cut out to do groups. I don't really like the idea of being trapped in other people's company against my will.
But what I've learned through experience and by judging the Paul Morrison Guide Award is that there's an awful lot of value to be gained from having a good guide with you. I had a guide in Cuba. Well, he wasn't an official guide as such, just a bright young kid who latched on to me. He was fantastic to have around.
PHOTO: AFP
I used him as a translator, a font of local knowledge, culture and geography. He showed me where to eat and places to visit, some of them off the regular tourist route. Then, more recently, I went to Mexico City with my daughter. We had been told that it was a dangerous place and I didn't want to blunder into a bad situation. So, we did one day on our own and one day with a guide.
On our day looking after ourselves we found the city strangely subdued - which was pretty unexpected for a city of over 19 million people. We had a good time and we saw some interesting things but what we didn't get was anything ... additional. The next day was something of a revelation. Not just because our guide showed us some great churches, squares and museums, but more because by being with him we got a real insight into the life of a Mexico city resident. Not only did we have instructive conversation about the city, but spending time with the guide also enabled us to find out what his family life was like, what he ate, what his political views were, how he moved around the vast city and dealt with the traffic. He made our experience of Mexico City much, much better and far more interesting.
Have I ever wished I'd had a guide with me when I hadn't got one? A few times. A guide would be fabulous on a tour of, say, the British Museum or the National Portrait Gallery in London ... and in certain parts of urban South Africa, maybe. The only time I ever had a bad situation and could have done with someone advising me about my movements was in downtown Johannesburg where I was mugged in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon. They took my wallet, my passport, even my glasses. What I didn't know was that while central Jo'burg was perfectly safe during office hours on weekdays, on weekends it became something more dangerous altogether. Personally, I've never been attracted to danger. It's not my sort of thing. I am more attracted to pubs and cafes. The known, safe and comfortable world.
PHOTO: AFP
But the more adventurous travelers become, the more essential guides become. If you were going on, say, a walking tour to see mountain gorillas in Rwanda you'd be very stupid to go alone.
So, does my limited experience with guides mean I'm qualified to judge a competition that champions them? I hope so.
I know that the organizers at Wanderlust faced a bit of a problem. This is an adventurous magazine for adventurous people, a magazine that takes people up mountains and across difficult terrain, places where you do need a guide, so it was clearly quite impossible for all the judges to meet the guides from the final short list in person. Many of them lived and worked thousands of kilometers away. So how do you choose a winner when you don't actually know the people?
We based our judgment on the written testimonials of their previous clients. And reading these letters, sincere and heartfelt pretty much all of them, was quite touching and the level of praise really rather inspiring.
It was humbling to learn about them. Many of the finalists came from fairly modest rural backgrounds. They hadn't had any training and were almost completely self-educated. Others started out as carriers and assistants while a few were academics. There isn't a predicable or conventional career path.
Listening to the kind of affection and admiration that had built up between guide and client during a trip, you couldn't help but be moved by their stories. In many ways these are unsung, forgotten heroes of the travel industry so it's nice to be acknowledging them.
Has judging this competition made me consider a career as a guide myself? No, not at all. I would make a genuinely terrible guide. I can't remember things. I would get half way through telling a story or explaining something and I would get distracted. Oh, and I have absolutely no sense of direction at all.
Side Bar:
Guiding lights
The Paul Morrison/Wanderlust Guide Awards were announced last week. The joint winners were:
- Selwyn Davidowitz, Cape Town
A former clothes factory owner, Selwyn creates personalized itineraries and combines these experiences with trips to the township of Kayamandi. His foundation funds two creches and runs projects such as "fruit for trash," encouraging as many as 250 children to clear up rubbish in return for fresh fruit.
Book through ilovecapetown.com.
- Danut Marin,
Carpathian mountains, Romania
Danut has lived in Zarnesti, Romania, all his life. He works in the Piatra Craiului national park and the Danube delta. For the last four years, he has been heavily involved in the Rowan Romanian Foundation, where he carries out cultural and social programs for psychiatric hospital patients and Gypsy communities. As well as showing the country's mostly undiscovered wildlife gems and supporting eco-tourism projects, he helps to open visitors' eyes to the realities of Romanian life.
Book through Exodus, exodus.co.uk.
Runner-up:
-Goyotsetseg Radnaabazar, Mongolia
Born in a small town in the Gobi desert, Goyo won a scholarship to study tourism at the University of Surrey. A keen chess player and proficient at several musical instruments, Goyo has also set up a fund to support her mother's tree-planting project.
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