Ladies And Gentlemen, Please Fasten Your Seat Belts
Do you remember the scene in Madagascar 2 when tourists were on the tour guide jeep in Africa? The one where the penguins faked dead to steal the jeep, and the old lady from New York kung-fu fought with Alex? Aha! You're smiling...you remember! Well , being an adventure tour guide can carry you to exotic and exciting locations, just like Madagascar.
An adventure tour guide is someone whose job it is to carry people on adventures, either on land, in water, or in the air. Land adventures include mountain-biking, rock-climbing, camping, horseback-riding and nature trails. Water adventures include scuba-diving, white-water rafting and canoeing. Air adventures include bungee jumping, sky-diving and hot air ballooning. If you think that doing unusual, exciting and sometimes, dangerous stuff is cool, then adventure tour guide is the job for you.
So what does it take to do the job, and do it right? A guide must be well-trained and have a lot of first-hand experience. They must know everything about the equipment that they're handling. This can only be achieved through specific training in their field. It's also important for guides to know how to handle emergencies. Yes, knowing how to dress minor cuts with ointment and band-aid is important. But some emergencies can be quite serious. Emergencies like if someone has stopped breathing.
A major requirement for all adventure tour guides is advanced training in CPR or CardioPulmonary Resuscitation - this is the procedure to help someone who has stopped breathing. Guides who take clients on extreme adventures will also need to be trained as a Wilderness First Responder (WRF) and a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT). This is necessary because most extreme tours involve some contact with the wilderness.
Outdoor adventures can be strenuous and tour guides must be physically fit. As the person in charge, they must be able to complete the adventures themselves and help clients along the way. If they don't have any assistants, they will also need to carry heavy equipment around and set up camps themselves . Think about that the next time you groan when it's gym class!
Because nature is unpredictable, a tour guide must also know about risk assessment management. This means they have to know if a situation looks too risky after considering all the dangers involved. If it seems too dangerous or life-threatening then a guide will turn around. (Examples of assessing a risk include the arrival of a hurricane, or coming upon a shaky or broken bridge while hiking)
Not all challenges are major ones, sometimes a guide will have to deal with things like hotels losing dinner reservations, a passenger with motion sickness and clients who don't show up on time for a tour. This is where it's important for a tour guide not to lose their cool. In these cases, patience really is a virtue!
English and foreign languages are the two basic educational requirements. An adventure tour guide must be able to communicate well with their clients, especially if they work in countries where English isn't the main language. History, geography and geology are also very helpful.
The life of an adventure tour guide can be very challenging since a guide is responsible for the safety and well-being of his/her clients in the outdoors. However it can also be very rewarding. You get to travel the world and meet new people. It's a great opportunity to make lots of friends, experience beautiful environments and exchange information with others about the culture of an area. With a job like this that trip to Madagascar may be closer than you think.
