Assessment

To become a legal guide in southern Africa there are a few things you need to do. First of all there is a theoretical test that you can sit a few times each year and if you do a course through an accredited institution, like we did at Bushwise, you get a special sitting at the end of the course. This we did in late November and we both did pretty well. The exam covers everything that we’ve been reading about on the course, from ethical guiding to geology, grasses and animal behaviour.

After you've passed the written exam you need to be practically assessed. We did this in the same game reserve where we had been training for five months, Makalali. You head out in one of the game viewers with the manager of Bushwise, Mark, who's assessing you and five or six of the other students, acting as guests... asking more or less helpful questions.

Group A

Group B

Anja's drive
I was the second student to be assessed and on my drive I was seriously nervous (and had been for two days). Mark decided that he was a Russian guest called Vladimir Smirnoff who wanted to shoot animals and drink vodka... apparently you need to be prepared for anything as a guide and be able to handle it nicely. Before you go out on your drive you greet the guests, give them something to drink and introduce them to one another. You also brief them and lay down the rules (stay in the vehicle, don't smoke, etc) before going out.

I didn't encounter many interesting animals on this windy and overcast November afternoon but that didn't stop me from talking constantly. I guess you should be able to talk about things, even though you don't see any of the Big Five. So, I did my best with three zebra bums, a couple of hornbills, a termite mound, cheetah tracks and trees, assisted by the many questions from my “guests” (among others an arguing couple on honeymoon...). When it was getting dark they were served coffee and Amarula, which was much appreciated, before heading back. We also stopped to talk about the moon, rocks and weather as you have to try and incorporate most of the subjects from the course in your drive to avoid having to do a written project on a certain subject afterwards (which I managed). You get feedback directly after the drive and that was a good thing, since I could finally relax again after a couple of days' anxiety.

Jonny's drive
Jonny's drive was in the morning and turned out to be a very interesting drive. He did a good job talking about everything and anything, as you are expected to. When you later work as a guide with actual guests you don't stop for everything and tell the guests everything you know about, for instance, impala. They would find it boring and also there wouldn't be anything to say the second or third time you stop for this abundant creature.

Before we had even entered Makalali we saw two male cheetahs! The two brothers frequently hang around by the gate and have on occasion sneaked out of the reserve, but usually come back in again if the gate is left open for them... maybe they are looking for a new territory or can smell a female close by? After that we did see quite a few of the most common mammals and birds, which of course is a step up from zebra bums! But what made this a really interesting morning were all the reptiles we encountered. In one of the dams we saw two crocodiles and a little later a pretty blue tree agama that was kind enough to sit on a tree right next to the vehicle. We also managed to spot a leopard tortoise that Jonny estimated to be around 25 years old from a distance. Mark asked him to get out and count the rings on it's back... and there were 26! Just as with trees their shell grows one ring each year. The coolest thing this day was a snake though, a beautiful Boomslang (my favourite snake) that usually spend most of their time in the trees. They have huge eyes and seem to be able to actually spot stationary prey. Other snakes can only see moving objects. This one was on the ground and had to our delight caught a frog! Since it was busy swallowing this large prey it did hurry off as the snakes that we had encountered this far had done. So, we sat there for a few minutes watching it as it enjoyed its meal and then readjust its jaw before slowly making its way into a nearby bush. Happy we later enjoyed a light meal of our own, some red wine and pepper steak pie that Jonny treated his guests to. Needless to say Jonny also passed his assessment without any difficulties.

After passing everything you need to register as a guide in your area, which for us is “Kruger park and surrounding game reserves”. To register you need proof of passing the tests, a First Aid certificate and a PDP (Professional Driver's Permit). To get a PDP you need a South African driver's license and a police clearance and you have to have one to be able to have more than three passengers or goods in your vehicle... tough if you have a big family.

Another day, another drive
Other drives were sometimes interesting and sometimes not, but we did sees some good stuff once in a while. You have previously been introduced to the Foam nest frogs (toilet frogs) which are quite cute and nice to have around. One day we came across a number of them... and learnt why they are called Foam nest frogs, they are rather disgusting actually. The female produces a liquid while laying her eggs that she kicks with her hind legs, churning it into a foam, while a bunch of males try to fertilize the eggs. Two curious hyena cubs had for a while been the Bushwise favourites, with the clan moving between a couple of known dens. Quite often we asked to go by the dens to check on them. As there aren't too many cars coming through Makalali I don't think they were very disturbed by this and the cubs usually came up to the car, sniffed it and ran back to the adult babysitting them. After having been reassured by the adult's calm, they frequently repeated this until we drove off, once sniffing Mark's feet when he was sitting in the tracker seat. One day, late in November, we got a glimpse of the newest addition to the clan... a teddy bear look-alike little cub. The mother was very protective of it and didn't much like the two youngsters playing their rough games too close.

/A