ISSUE 25
TRACKS OF THE TRADE: SAFARI GUIDES

Contributors: John Warburton-Lee

TRAVEL AFRICA MAGAZINE REFERS TO BEKS AS “… ONE OF THE LEADING SAFARI GUIDES OF AFRICA…”

INTERVIEW WITH BEKS…

Trust me, I'm a safari guide...
“Have a total awareness of your surroundings and the greatest respect for the wilderness.” Beks Ndlovu

Company: Beks Safaris.
Location: Southern Africa.
Number of years guiding: Eight.
Best wildlife experience

Right at the start of my guiding career I watched a pride of lions hunt and kill a fully-grown buffalo. I distinctly remember hearing the incredible sound of a stampeding herd of buffalo – the grunting, the clouds of dust against the horizon – and then, finally, the loud death bellow of a dying buffalo.

Most satisfying moment as a guide:
It was the last night of our safari and we had been listening to a pride of lions serenading through the night. The next morning we set out to find them. We found fresh paw prints that we could follow on foot and, an hour later, we came over a rise to find a pride of nine lions resting under a large mopane tree. They were totally unaware of our presence and, after a great sighting, we quietly walked away. Nearby, we noticed one-day-old rhino tracks which we decided to follow. After three hours of hard tracking, intense concentration and lots of patience from my clients, we felt we were getting closer. The tracks were much fresher, but harder to follow since the vegetation was becoming denser. By mid-morning temperatures were almost unbearable and water rations were dwindling. After much discussion, I persuaded the group to invest another thirty minutes in the search. Five minutes later, we found a deposit of fresh rhino droppings in a midden. My heart jumped as we heard the sound of breaking branches 20m away. As we edged nearer, we could hear the sound of teeth chewing – music to my ears! Finally, we reached an area where we could all see the rhino, and it was at that moment that the wind gave us away and sent the rhino crashing through the woods.

…Tracking wildlife may be how most people envisage a typical safari guide, but there is a great deal more to the job than that. A guide’s day begins well before dawn. As the guests receive their wake-up call, he will be discussing the sounds of animal movements during the night with the trackers and nightwatchmen and making plans for the first activity of the day. By the time the guests appear at the campfire, the guide is waiting for them, proffering coffee and biscuits, enquiring after their night, enthusing about the day ahead. Safaris are every bit as much about people as wildlife. From the moment the guests get up in the morning till the time that they eventually go to bed, the guide is their host, teacher, friend and, at times, saviour. He or she must quickly assess their level of experience, identify their likes and dislikes and work out what it is that they are looking for from their safari. Those on safari for the first time generally want a quick ‘fix’ of big game. They have come to see the Big Five and may not be impressed by interminable lectures on the hierarchical structure of a termite colony, even though it is the guide’s pet subject. Conversely, experienced safari-hands may be looking for just that level of interpretation. Keen ornithologists may well have done lions and wish to spend days scouring the country for a rare cisticola. Children often have a shorter attention span and generally cannot take long periods exposed to the sun, so families may need shorter activities with a greater emphasis on safe adventures. All this has to be factored in if the safari is to be a success.

Once out on a walk or game drive, guides come into their element. The best guides do far more than simply spot and identify game. They lead you on a fascinating journey of discovery, unveiling layer upon layer of secrets that make up the complex web of 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. All guides worth their salt can hold you enthralled as they share their passion for the bush.

Guides come in many forms. There are driver guides, pilot guides, canoeing guides and, most skilled of all, the walking guides who will lead you on foot into wilderness areas populated by dangerous large game. The latter two categories must be totally in tune with the environment, alert for grouchy old bull buffaloes or nervous cow elephants with calves, careful not to get between hippos feeding on land and the water that offers them safety, sensitive to the direction of the wind, always conscious of the way out of any situation.

As you trip along on your walk, with your camera in one hand and your suncream in your pocket, you may notice your guide carrying a suspiciously heavy-looking pack. Aside from rifle and binoculars, he is likely to be carrying a radio, emergency first-aid kit, water, hopefully tea and snacks and the odd field guide to show you the plumage of the small bird he just pointed out, which frustratingly flew away. I have even seen John Stevens produce iced flannels soaked in lavender water for his guests to freshen up. Now that is service.

At the end of a long morning, the guide delivers the guests back to camp, where he instantly reverts to the role of host, serving breakfast, brunch or lunch as though he was born to be a maitre d’hotel in this bush restaurant and listens attentively and encouragingly as they recount, often interminably and inaccurately, the events of the morning. As the guests head off for a well-earned siesta, the guide now has two to three hours to turn his attention to the many demands of camp life. A guide must be jack-of-all-trades: bush mechanic, camp builder, radio expert, field medic and sometimes even cook. In the heat of the day he is to be found fiddling with the nether regions of a Land Cruiser, re-siting long-drop loos, fighting to hear messages from a distant office over the crackling radio or bent over a laptop balanced on top of an old orange crate which is wired up to a satellite telephone. For some extraordinary reason, it is normally at this time of day that there will be a guest-related drama. Piercing screams can signal anything from the sighting of a snake in a tent (normally harmless, but requiring the deployment of staff with spears and guns) to an elephant wandering through camp or a guest running out of water mid-shower when she is totally lathered up and can’t work out how to get the bucket shower refilled without the staff seeing her naked.

Having sorted out those aspects of a business which take most self-employed people a full working day, the guide just has time to put on a fresh shirt and polish his boots before meeting the guests for tea with enthusiasm restored for the evening game drive. Sundowners in the bush may well be followed by a night drive spent hunting for elusive leopard and fending off requests to be shown an aardvark. Even after all of this, the guide’s day is not done, as he will almost certainly be expected to join guests for dinner, where once again he will need a ready supply of charm, tact and amusing stories.

On any safari the clients are going to spend many hours in their guide’s company. Most guides are dedicated bush lovers, passionate conservationists whose greatest wish is to share their knowledge and enjoyment of the wild with you.

© COPYRIGHT : TRAVEL AFRICA MAGAZINE ISSUE 25

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