Safari Guides by John Warburton-Lee

The single most important element of any safari is the guide. The best safari guides do far more than simply spot and identify game. They lead you on a fascinating journey of discovery, using their skills and experience to help you see all that is around you and assist you to understand the complex web of inter-relationships that exist within the natural world. For a true guide there is never nothing to see. There may well not be any big game in view but there will always be birds, insects, flora and animal tracks to look at, discuss and interpret. This knowledge is given enthusiastically, put over in simple but graphic layman’s terms, as they share their passion for the bush.

Guides don’t come better than Abercrombie & Kent’s Director of Operations in Botswana, Gavin Ford. With eighteen years experience as a qualified guide and an Honours Degree in Biological Science, he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the bush and all that can be found in it. Walking with Gavin you may find yourself quietly observing a pride of lion on their kill, peering down a lion spider’s burrow or listening as he describes the symbiotic relationship between wasps and the fruit of the sycamore fig.

At the other end of the spectrum, driver guides catering for the mass tourism market may be able to drive you around areas that they are familiar with and identify the major species of game but in many instances they can do little more. Language is often a problem and many still sadly rely on their radio or spying other vehicles who have stopped to find game. The worst instances of jeep jockeying, where animals are surrounded by over-zealous vehicles who move in far too close and disturb or even frighten the animal, are what has earned safaris a bad name in certain areas.

There are very different standards and criteria from country to country for the licensing of guides, if indeed they do have a formal licensing procedure at all. Zimbabwe is credited with the highest standards. Only fully licensed guides may lead parties walking in the bush. Aspirant guides must sit a written learners exam which has papers on Natural History, Ballistics, Law covering the Safari Industry and General Knowledge. If they pass this exam they must then undergo an apprenticeship to a licensed hunter or guide for a minimum of 2 years during which time they are expected to shoot big game including elephant and buffalo and conduct many walks and game drives under supervision. Only then can they apply to take the written and practical examination for their full licence. This rigorous test includes a week spent in the field during which their field-craft, camp-craft, catering, personal turnout, tracking, hunting, defensive shooting and range skills will all be tested. There is a similar but less rigorous test for canoe guides on the Zambesi who must have a minimum of 250 river hours in their log book before they can apply.

Elsewhere the standards are regrettably and evidently less exacting. South Africa has formal guiding courses and sets a high priority on guiding ability. Many lodges run their own training programmes for their guides. Botswana’s current licensing system allows some extremely mediocre guides to operate at the lower echelons. Kenya has responded to the poor reputation of its driver guides and is instituting a licensing system but this is currently based on written exams and leaves room for considerable improvement.

The top guides command premium rates. US$500 per client per day would not be unusual on a fully catered private mobile safari. Although this may seem steep, you are benefiting from a lifetime of experience. John Stevens, for example, spent 16 years in the service of the Zimbabwe National Parks ending up as Warden of Mana Pools and then Warden of Matusadona National Park, followed by 2 years as a professional hunter, before spending the last 15 years as a safari guide back in Mana and Matusadona where he specialises in walking in wilderness areas and tracking rhino on foot. You have only to go with a less capable guide to realise just what a difference that kind of experience makes to your safari. Different guides have their individual styles which will suit some clients better than others. Reputation is the best indication and specialist Safari Travel Operators such as Tim Best Travel will be able to recommend the best guides for a particular area taking into account your interests and budget.