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.
RSS