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Job Profile: Wildlife Guide

Employer: private company

Location: working in the UK and overseas

  

Job Responsibilities:
Organising and running trips of between a day and three weeks to help people experience the best of an area, and learn about nature and nature conservation. This may be focused on a particular theme, such as migrating birds or mountain flowers, or it may be a general natural history holiday. The Guide is responsible for ensuring that the trip is run safely, with respect for the wildlife and local culture, and for helping the travellers enjoy time in nature.

Majority of time is spent doing: A lot of time is spent identifying and showing people wildlife, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to have an equal experience. The Guide has an important role in ensuring the trip runs as planned, and quickly dealing with any issues that arise to ensure the travellers are not impacted. Communicating conservation stories is important to deepen understanding and awareness of travellers, and where possible links should be made with local nature conservation initiatives.

Although trips are mostly outdoors, if it is a multi-day trip there will be time indoors with the group at meal times and in your accommodation. Spring and summer are generally much busier than autumn and winter, although this could change if you work in the southern hemisphere or focus on particular themes such as bird migration.

  

Qualifications needed:

An academic qualification isn't necessary but you will need relevant experience and detailed knowledge, both of wildlife identification and recording, and of working with groups. The role of a Guide is about having an interest in nature, and the ability and desire to share that with others, to help them to grow their own.

Additional training: A first aid qualification (outdoor or expedition specific). A second language is always a good investment, particularly if you will regularly be visiting an area or areas that use that language. Expedition or walk leader training may be useful.

Skills needed: 
Enthusiasm: a Guide needs to maintain their enthusiasm and energy over days or even weeks, extending outside of regular working hours. If something doesn't go to plan, the group will be looking to you to keep their spirits up, and to sort it out of course.

Organisation: you need to be clear on the plans for the trip, keeping an eye on factors like time, and always have back up ideas for unexpected situations such as bad weather. You also need to be paying attention to where everyone is and what they are doing, as well as what you are seeing. A lot of people like to recap and produce species lists during the evening, so a notebook is important.

Problem solving: things can and do go wrong and you will need to be able to think on your feet to sort them out. Your ability to stay calm under pressure will help ensure the trip runs smoothly as planned and the travellers are enjoying themselves.

Communication: it is important to be able to communicate clearly, both to the travellers and any partner organisations you may be working with, as you may not both be working in your same language. In terms of the experience of the travellers, giving them detailed information about the wildlife you find and telling them stories about conservation efforts can help to enhance their experience. It is important to identify the interests of each traveller so you can tailor trips and ensure that individual interests are being met as much as possible. Respect for the culture and community that you are visiting is of course important, and you should lead from the front.

Friendly: the ability to build a rapport with people is important, and to be able to put people at ease, for example travellers who may be nervous about travelling alone or being in unfamiliar places. You will invariably be working with a broad range of people, and part of your role is to ensure they all have a good experience. This requires patience and good humour.

Report writing: it is good to provide a written report or diary for the travellers to remind them of what you have done and seen each day. The ability to produce an engaging record of a trip and some photos to go with it is important for existing travellers and potential future ones.

  

Advice to anyone looking at similar roles:
Be sure that you enjoy spending time with groups of people, as well as enjoying wildlife. Your role is important in engaging people with nature and conservation, and helping the travellers to discover wildlife, conservation and other cultures, safely and respectfully. As much as your friends will try and tell you otherwise: you aren't being paid to go on holiday!



If you have any queries about this role or would like to ask a question of the job holder please contact CJS by email.

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