--
“Bees always follow the
sweet flower, that's why everyone enjoys being with you.”
“Remember expressions go a
long way before you say or do anything, we look at how you represent yourself”
… Nozipho N Maphumulo
It's not what you show, it's
how you show that thing, that is what makes you a right guide… Me
Nozipho N. Maphumulo is a
South African writer and quoted author known for inspirational and poetic
reflections & no wonder I could use two of his quotes at a time & draw
some conclusion of mine from them. Well, the subject of sharing is about guides
(yes it has forest & Tadoba also) & though its about wildlife &
tigers but it’s about showing them or let’s see understanding them via guide!
Ok, won’t make you stop reading by riddles (read as ridiculous language), I
have been lucky to be part of Anuj Khare’s (Nature Walk) team along with Vinod
Bartakke (Wildlifer) & Hemangi vartak (Jungle belles) to participate or
address (Anuj’s term) to guides of Tadoba buffers in a training session
arranged by TATAR (tadoba forest management). Well, those who have not yet gone
to the forest safaris, for them you can not enter in reserved forests such as
Tadoba, Pench or any Sanctuaries like UKWS in your private vehicle or on your
own. You need to enter here in a special licensed vehicle (usually a Gipsy)
& must be accompanied all the time with a trained person which we call as a
guide. Though the catch is, this person is not forest dept’s employee nor he is
a freelancer, he (or she) has been licenced by the forest dept as expert on
respective forest & he gets paid per trip basis from the money which
tourists pay to the said park or sanctuary as safari charges. Usually these are
locals or natives who know the forest better than city people as they have
grown up in the forest & knows many things about the wildlife, especially
local wildlife. And as in & around reserved forests there are many
restrictions on farming or doing any other business, being a guide is a good
source of earning for the locals, is also one logic behind it, but!
But, there is a small hitch
here, as these people are not academically educated & as well they have
very less exposure of outside world & what they know about wildlife is in
their native language or knowledge, they don’t have skill developed to explain
the same to the tourists & updation of the changes in wildlife terminology
of species or reasons behind them. And exactly for this aspect forest dept
arranges their yearly training programs of which I was part of one such at
Tadoba, Kolara range! The Tadoba buffers have more than 18 nos of gates &
for this session approximately total 80 odd guides were present from six gates,
which comes under Kolara range & they are Madnapur (here the training is
conducted), Alizanza, Kolara Buffer, Belara & Shirkeda. I could see young
teenage faces to weather torn seniors & few of them knew me already, though
not as a trainer or speaker as this was my first time addressing to buffer
guides. Anuj has told me to cover two main aspects, what tourists want from
their guide & personality development along with motivation! I accepted
this challenge for two things, one I wanted to have a dialogue with these
people who every day are in forest & in a way it's actually learning from
them & second no more wildlife tourism is a passion of patriotism, is what
I personally feel. It must be treated as any other service industry if we want
to make it sustainable, financially & what better opportunity than to
interact with people who, along with forests, spend time with the end customer
i.e. tourist! (One best thing was, I could communicate with them in Vidarbhian
Marathi /Hindi, as being from Vidarbha)
It was a two days session
& on the first day in the opening session I have briefed them about the
theme & told them a short story which is a real incident. Long back when I was having
casual discussion with an MSEDL (MSEB) senior officer & image of MSEB in
people’s mind, he told me, sanjay, it’s simple, if in a remote village at night
electricity gets cut & the wireman which is last link of system is drunk
& unable to repair the fault & the village spent night in darkness, the
entire village will curse MSEB for being corrupt & useless organization.
But if the lineman is awake & is fit & repairs the electricity fault at
night & starts the supply, the villagers will praise the MSEB for its
efficiency! In nutshell, the end guy of the system who is the actual link between
the customer & the system matters most which a guide is for wildlife
tourism & the forests! As
tourists think they are the forest dept which they are not actually yet
whatever the next four hours the tourist is going to see, listen or experience
in the forest, how the guide behaves with the tourists is what is going make
their opinion about the forest & wildlife at large! Next day, when I
started, could see faces looking at me with curiosity & pepped up &
again I told them, I am not going to speak a word about wildlife, not in this
session but will try to share what I have understood about giving service to
the client & its advantages, personal as well for the organization at
large! I told them this also that at the same time I will try to learn many
things from them & for that interaction is important, so I asked them to
write (yes write) answers to two questions, one, “What is My Job?” &
second, “What’s the most difficult question a tourist has asked you during
safari?” And I told them will give you five minutes in which they have to write
these two questions in three or four lines & submit to me with their names
& gate!
This may look simple on
face, but most of these guides have lost touch of writing even a few words
which was important for me to make them realize for the session ahead & I
firmly believe, when you write something, you need to be lot more focused than
just speaking, which I wanted them to be! In ten minutes, I had nearly fifty plus sheets
of papers & I didn’t press those who couldn’t write & told them no need
to hide their faces, its ok, even fifty sheets is lot more than my
expectations! And I moved on with the theme, focusing on my first question!
What is my job, and 90% of the answers were near similar, I am guide, I am
supposed to show tourist forest & explain them nature & such. And the
next question, there were nearly 70% different answers, means tourists have
asked different questions to each of the guide which they found difficult to
answer. This is the game, I told them, as first question I got all answers near
same as it was to be asked about you but the second question want in your
control, & in one go like 21 Expected (plz google 21 apekshit) for 1oth
exam, we have nearly all the most difficult questions which are asked to them
respectively & which can be asked tomorrow to any of them. This is the
power of sharing, I explained them, & then I asked one of the guides who came
across a very peculiar question & it was about Periods of Tigress, that is
what he answered. He said, I told them, I don’t know but I will get information
& tell you. I immediately asked, 50% marks, but did you take down the
contact number of this tourist & reverted him about the answer? The guide’s
sheepish smile told me & this is what differentiates between a right guide
& others as I didn’t call them wrong!
I told them there are only
two types of people in the world & they are; capable & incapable (Layak
& Nalayak)! We are all born as incapable but it’s the knowledge we acquire
is what makes us able & how we use that knowledge decides whether we are
really able or not! And here I shared one mor Zen story, which was about four
stone men working on a temple with their sledge hammer & having clarity
about the jobs at hand. While the first one said he is breaking the stone
because he is getting paid for it, the last one said, he is making steps of a
temple which is being built here & his job is to make stepping stones for
the temple, having perfect clarity about the job, which is what makes him an
able stone man! Then I came to the most vital issue or challenge in their job
i.e. sighting of a tiger! I asked them even if the park's Field Director sits in your gypsy &
asks you to show him a tiger, will you be able to do it; all laughed even that
thought, FD sitting in their car! I said, no, will be the answer which you know
& even FD knows, but the tourist comes to see a tiger is a fact whether you
accept it or not & how we are dealing with it is what I am trying to help
you with! I
gave them an example of my own office, as in conference room of our office
where my marketing team meets customers inquiring for home, the TV keeps
displaying images of wildlife & our conservation efforts instead of our
project’s images. The entire discussion starts with a different note than the
rate of the project & eventually whether the customer buys flat with us or
not, the meeting ends on a positive note. Same principles applicable with
tourists on the tiger sighting front, as if we succeed to divert tourist’s
focus from seeing tiger then half war is won, & this is what differentiates
a best guide & others as there are nothing like a bad guide, I reminded
them! And for doing this, such trainings are essential as well they need
to develop few things to make tourists speak about things other than the tiger
& for that reading is a must as well gather knowledge about not just
wildlife but general knowledge about our country, people as then you can open a
dialogue with the tourist, which is the key. Make the tourist speak about
things he or she likes to speak for e.g. a Bengali tourist will be happy if you
ask him question about Mamata Didi or politics over there or about Jhalmodi
(plz google) or Rosgulla, in short anything but tiger & see the effect!
At the same time, I
suggested them to make groups of guides on WhatsApp & share information
about wildlife across the gates & arrange their own get-togethers
occasionally, as why they need forest dept to do so, why can’t they on their
own arrange such training for themselves? Last but not least is, fitness, being a guide
is tough job, bumpy gypsy rides, extreme weather conditions, all this does take
toll on health & for that exercise, discipline & keeping away from
addictions like guthka is a must, if you want to play long term innings! To conclude, I told the
guides to practice three things, read, whatever you can from newspapers or on
google news, write at least a few lines everyday about what they saw in the
forest & last is, speak with tourists instead waiting for them to ask questions
& then see the difference in life!
Well, this was about the
guides but on the training front I have few suggestions for the forest dept
also, how they reach to right people as trainers…
First, indeed it’s a great
initiative to take training of guides but it needs to be more systematic & periodical
than abruptly scheduled. Let park’s senior officers sit with the trainers first
& chalk out exact contents for training. See that all the guides get
covered as this time half of the guides only got training & the rest half
are in limbo about their term for training. Similar training is a must for
ground staff of forest dept. Gypsy drivers are also an important aspect of
tourism & their training is also equally important. As well all such
sessions must be recorded on video as these are wonderful documentations &
sharing them can help many other guides also! Last but important, remuneration
of trainers, with due respect what figures I came to know from sources are
practically peanuts & if proper remuneration is not there then the drive
behind the training also gets loosen up. Thankfully our bread & butter
isn’t on the training yet if we want quality training then we must pay also for
that quality is logic, right? Guys, guides are the major link between wildlife
& the world outside of it, if we strengthen that link then only there is
hope for wildlife, is all I can say, adios with this note!
-
Sanjay Deshpande
Sanjeevani Dev.
Please view my sharing about finding a Right Home/
Office in Pune, at YouTube link below & share if liked...
https://youtu.be/27j3I3rwGPQ?si=-ODYBxVI2Dl_C345
Please do visit my blog
links below to read about real estate & home buying!
https://visonoflife.blogspot.com/2025/12/pune-real-estate-in-2026.html
https://jivnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2024/12/2025.html
https://jeevnachadrushtikon.blogspot.com/2026/08/
Creating Togetherness; team Sanjeevani Way (Click link below)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/65629150@N06/albums/72157627904681345
For any of your complaints about city, log in at link below
www.punecorporation.org
Think Green, Think Life
www.sanjeevanideve.com
/ https://junglebelles.in/
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