The Life of a Tour Guide

Tour guides hear and see many things. They travel to all corners of the country and are well-educated in fauna, flora and local cultures in various areas.

Through tours and travelling, they are able to explain to tourists just how amazing life can be in nature, especially in Namibia where wildlife is common. If one happens to encounter wildlife, the guides know exactly what to do and how to confront a situation, if they are ever put in one.

And this is one of the many adventures that a career in tourism and hospitality can bring to you. The YouthPaper explores this career in detail.

If you are ever interested in travelling Namibia, sometimes the best thing to do is to hire a tour guide. The company they work for would assist you in booking accommodation and making sure that you have activities planned for the few days you’ll be away.

This is where a tour guide comes in. They drive you to your destination, make sure that your bookings are sorted, and explain to you things you might not have known about the environment that you are in. Whether it’s a species of bird or the local attractions (and sometimes the stories behind them), a good tour guide is always fun to be with, and there’s so much to learn from them as well.

Depending on what the company has got on offer, sometimes your tour guide will accompany you on your travels to make sure that you are safe, as you are their client and their number one priority would be you and your family.

Tour guides are also good with directions, mapping, locations and geography, as they can easily find your destination without necessarily using road maps. For the buses they use (which normally look like Quantam buses), they are required to drive a certain speed limit to ensure that there are no accidents – and besides, company cars are costly, which they would be liable for if they were ever to damage it.

Sometimes tour guides are freelancers and other times, companies in hospitality have permanent tour guides. One freelancer who has a CV that stretches quite long is Obarius ‘Obi’ Mupurua, who has worked with some of the biggest lodges and hospitality schools in the country such as Wolwedans Lodge and others. He has a Nath (Namibia Academy for Tourism and Hospitality) qualification, known as a Bach 1 which is assessed by Namibia Training Authority for the National Tourist Guide Qualification.

“Being a tour guide is not an easy job. It’s not for jokey, risky guys – people who just jump in and want to be guides because there are risks involved. You are dealing with the lives of people, like international tourists, and you’re dealing with people from different backgrounds,” Obi explained.

Through his experiences, he has learnt Italian and is able to speak it fluently. For some courses, learning a new language is a part of the curriculum. The reason for this being that, in the tourism industry, you are going to come across many people who speak a variety of languages.

One of the biggest contributors in the Namibian economy is tourism, which earns over a billion Namibian dollars. Tourists from all over the world visit the country on a regular basis, and at times part of being a tour guide is that one is able to easily communicate with tourists. And this is what the tourism board wants. It would not only benefit locals, but promote the country in a good way so that international companies can invest and pump more money into the economy. This is all good for business.

In order to enjoy tourism fully, however, one must have a passion for dealing with people every day, loving nature and learning how to be in remote areas which do not necessarily have access to the internet. And this is why a tour guide does not really become dependent on social media.

“A tour guide’s mind is not the same as the average person. They think in a different sort of way,” Obi said, and of course, being in contact with so many plants and animals in the outdoors, it would be natural to constantly be on the lookout for any fascinating things that nature might bring to the table.

“I love nature and I love people. I love challenges too, because being a tour guide, you meet a lot of challenges and if you cannot handle those challenges, then it’s not easy for you as a guide. You could quit guiding in a year if you cannot handle those challenges. You cannot do this job year-after-year.”

You do not necessarily have to study to become a tour guide, it is actually quite crucial to learn all the tricks of the trade first hand.

This is why before you become a tour guide, you have to understand the aspects of the job, such as becoming a field guide, and knowing what it is like to run a lodge so that you can tell people more about it. It is mainly a field of experience as you are alone in the field with guests or tourists who are depending on you with their lives.

They expect you to know the most, if not everything, about where they are going, what they are going to do and how they are going to execute their day perfectly.

There may be a few surprises along the way, such as meeting an elephant face-to-face, which you have to react to appropriately.

Despite the slight dangers that come with the job, there are quite a number of advantages.

Interested in a career as a tour guide? Tourism schools such as the Namibia University of Science and Technology Hotel School (formerly known as the Polytechnic Hotel School) can assist you in this regard, as well as the Wolwedans Academy and other schools that strictly cater to the tourism industry.

“When I was still at the Windhoek Technical High School, I had a friend whose father worked in conservation. I was interested in the field and he asked me if I wanted to join because he saw potential in me. I asked him what being a guide was all about and he explained it to me,” Obi said about his path to being an in-demand tour guide.

“I took the opportunity when I was offered a scholarship and passed all my courses.” From then on, Obi was sent to various lodges and learnt from quite experienced men in the tourism industry. He is currently doing freelance work for those who call him from time to time.

That’s only a brief explanation on what it’s like to be a tour guide. The best experience you’ll get is when you’re out in the wild!

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