What are Tour Guides & Trip Leaders (& how do they differ)?

In most countries, you get tour guides rather than trip leaders. What's the difference, you ask?

Although people use these terms interchangeably; there are subtle differences. Below, I explain the essential qualities of a trip leader and tour guide and the differences.

Tour Guide vs Trip Leader

“A tour guide or a tourist guide is a person who provides assistance, information on cultural, historical and contemporary heritage to people on organized tours and individual clients at educational establishments, religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest, attractions sites.” - Wikipedia

Tour guides usually have extensive training and are very articulate. They are well-educated about a certain area or subject. We find these fine specimens in Europe or the USA, where they spew forth knowledge over incredible architecture, paintings, historic battles and long-lost tribes. You mostly find tour guides on small group tours or private trips.

In Africa, you typically find tour guides on specialised tours or at landmark locations. Places like Vilakazi Street in Johannesburg, The Cradle of Mankind or the cities of Cape Town, Maputo and Nairobi.

We also class very specialised game rangers as tour guides in Africa because of their phenomenal knowledge. What they cannot tell you about Megaponera analis, Panthera leo and Loxodonta Africana is not worth knowing. For those who have not experienced elite game rangers; that is the Matabele ant, the majestic African lion and the mighty African elephant.

Botswana tour guide

This simple definition more aptly describes trip leaders, 

“tour guides help people to visit unfamiliar areas.”

As an ex-guide myself, that definition holds more true for me. The reason it resonates with me is that it describes a trip leader and not a tour guide. It describes me.

The term 'trip leader' is frequently used for outdoor trips and adventure tours. Trip leaders help visitors to navigate and enjoy unfamiliar places and experiences. Part of their role is to oversee the practical and logistical elements of an adventure. They fulfil a more all-round role and provide insight into the areas visited.

Here the trip leader is defined as, 

"responsible for pre- and post logistics, equipment and trip preparation, lead[ing] trips and administrative functions." - Pepperdine University

Both roles, trip leader and tour guide, require similar skills and characteristics, which I’ll explain later in this post.

My Experience as a Trip Leader in Africa

I was a trip leader for many, many years and absolutely loved it. I worked as an overland tour leader.

This means we worked in huge vehicles custom-built to travel vast distances with everything on board. From additional fuel tanks and 200-litre water tanks to tents and equipment and enough food to feed a small army. That was years ago, so the requirements for guides were different, hence my preference for the name: ‘trip leader’.  

Overland Africa trip

I truly felt we were helping people to travel through unfamiliar areas. We were leading, rather than guiding, and overall, we made sure that the very best memories were being built.

Africa Overland Trips 20 Years Ago

In the old days (and by this I mean 15 or 20 years ago), Africa was still the ‘dark continent’ and it was a tremendous adventure to travel here. This vast continent was a challenge and even to get here involved lengthy flights and many obscure airports in places you could barely pronounce.  In those days it was relatively inexpensive and you expected conditions to be harsh. Travellers used to come prepared for days without a shower, the toilets to be behind bushes or luxurious holes in the ground. Animals were wild and abundant and every person you saw would be in traditional dress and speak a language you could not understand.

Masai locals

I once had a couple that prepared for their African trip by waking up very early to ‘answer nature’s call’ behind the bushes in their garden as practice for the toilet stops along the road. I also had a lovely Spanish girl who was so petrified of spiders she went down to the Zoo every weekend for a year to prepare for her trip to Africa. Each time she went, she pushed herself to step closer and closer to the baboon spider’s habitat to overcome her phobia.

On arrival, they would find that some cities were modern and had paved roads and good infrastructures such as Cape Town and Johannesburg. Some places were a little less modern, such as Harare, Nairobi or Dar Es Salaam. On arrival in these locations, our lovely passengers thought the adventure had already begun as they stepped off the plane… And this is where we trip LEADERS stepped into our roles! We helped these super excited, wonderful travellers navigate and experience these unfamiliar places - the beautiful, wild and untamed Africa that we all love.

Now, what does it take to be a successful trip leader?

5 Essential Qualities of Tour Guides & Trip Leaders

1. Outstanding Communication Skills

2. Energy and Dynamism

3. An Excellent Memory

4. Healthy Sense of Humour

5. Professionalism

In the past, we (trip leaders) needed the same qualities as tour guides, BUT in different ratios. These are the qualities required for excellent trip leaders and tour guides alike, with some key distinctions.

1. Outstanding Communication Skills

Excellent communication as a guide is not only an admirable skill but a vital one. Many visitors came over to Africa expecting a tall, dark, muscular guide - all dressed in khaki with a bowie knife hanging from his belt. That epitome of the manly man would likely have grunted for communication and people would probably have been fine with that.

What they got, however, was me. A not tall, dark or muscular guide. I am not male, khaki is not my colour and I don’t grunt; well not unless I have to tie my shoelaces - I would grunt a little then. I am rounded and fair, and in those days I had blonde hair.

I talk a lot and laugh even more - both loudly and with no apologies.  Because I laughed, people laughed too. There is NOTHING more infectious than a hearty laugh.

Communication is also about listening and that I can also do. When I knew the answer I gave it and when I didn’t, we laughed and looked it up which was an adventure on its own. In those days there was no Google, so we had to ask local people, the people that often overlooked. We asked the fisherman in Dar, the spice man on Zanzibar Island, the proud Maasai with their cattle, the chattering woman with their stunning kikoi in Mozambique and the little children that ran around us asking for pens and pencils for school. Each of them gave us an answer. Some full of wisdom and others endearing, but all of them gave us a lesson in humility and an insight into the local lifestyles of the countries we traversed.

Locals kids in Africa

2. Energy and Dynamism

Energy and dynamism are two attributes of an excellent guide close to my heart. I have dynamism, of that I am sure. If I love something dynamism shines out and overflows in abundance in all that I do and speak about. I adore Africa–every part of her. I love the landscapes and animals. I love the people and the smells and even the not-so-nice, the cruelty and the theft–these for me just show the good so much more. Almost like the cloud with a silver lining, or an angry storm emphasising the perfect day.

One of our responsibilities as trip leaders was to cook for our clients. We had an open fire and a two-plate gas stove. We were expected to make a well-balanced meal every night for the duration of the trip, and I excelled. I never repeated a meal on a 53-day trip from Cape Town to Nairobi and I can cook anything from lasagne and apple pie, to roast chicken with stuffing and a chocolate cake on the fire for special celebrations on trips.

Energy. Sometimes I made sure other people used their energy and NOT mine. By encouraging participation in ‘local experiences’. Such as poling your own wooden canoe in the Okavango Delta, through the myriads of channels with their stunning water lilies and hippo grunts. Or sprinting to the top of the phenomenal red dunes of the Namib Desert to view the world as the sunrise touches the desert and changes the purples and pinks to reds and oranges that shine golden. Coming down the dunes, you started with a run that soon turned into a roll like a tumbleweed or Golden Wheel Spider, landing at the bottom covered in a fine powder that blew off in puffs. After catching your breath, you could fill your mouth with the hot pancakes and syrup I had made while you burned off your boundless energy.

Namib Desert dune, Namibia

3. Excellent Memory

A wonderful memory is ideal, but often it is not as good as one expects. We used to receive a list of names before each trip began. They wrote the list with the surname first and the given name second. I used to glance through this several times before a trip began so once the face was in front of me I could remember and place the face to a name and within two days, make no mistakes... EXCEPT for one time, the name written was OWEN Scott and for the entire trip; I called him Owen instead of Scott. Of course, all the other passengers followed my lead and for an entire trip of 25 days, poor Scott was called Owen. Sadly, he came to me with a cheeky grin and only corrected me on day 24 of the 25-day trip and we laughed and laughed and laughed. Owen means young warrior, but Scott means Gaelic Speaker. As Owen was from the USA and did not speak Gaelic, I was happy with the young warrior analogy and Owen it is and will always be.

4. Healthy Sense of Humour

A good sense of humour is vital on Overlanding trips. Especially in Africa where nothing is predictable and very often the best-laid plans seem to go awry. The biggest issue in the old days was a vehicle breakdown. These could not be predicted and used to happen at the most inappropriate times and in the most uninhabited locations. We have had breakdowns in the desert, which resulted in the most incredible concerts under the stars. We have had a flood rise up and surround us in the Caprivi, leaving us stuck in camp for 3 days until the waters subsided enough to drive out. We were ‘Robinson Crusoed’ and had 3 days of survival games.

Once, we had elephants eat the last meal at our camp in Victoria Falls which resulted in 3 hours of cooking wasted. It was, however, an incredible sighting of elephants up close, as they ate their way through pumpkin fritters and salads and jam roly-poly. A priceless memory and a never-to-be-forgotten experience for myself and the 27 passengers that night. These are just three of countless episodes and all of them make me smile.

Elephant in camp

5. Professionalism

What is professionalism? It has many definitions and I think it depends on the trip you are on and the field you’re in. In the early days of overland travel, professionalism did not mean you did not make mistakes. It did not mean you never got angry or upset. It did not mean you could narrate hours of facts as you drove through Etosha, Serengeti or the Masai Mara.

For me, professionalism is taking pride in your profession. Mine as a trip leader meant I got to show off daily as there was and still is SO much in Africa to see. We have unbelievable countries to traverse and on every trip, we have a sea of fresh faces to travel with.

This for me is where the professionalism came in; how to marry each person with their own ideas and idiosyncrasies into one amazing unit with a common outlook of adventure and wonder and amazement. I was so fortunate and always had stunning people, which made for super trips and a lifetime of memories.

Enthusiasm - the Secret of Exceptional Trip Leaders

All 5 of the attributes above are important and all of them make an excellent tour guide, BUT an outstanding trip leader needs to be enthusiastic.

Tour guide, ranger

To excel as a trip leader, you need to be super enthusiastic about every day and every location, no matter how many times you have been there. As an overland guide with so many destinations included in the trips, it is so easy to be enthusiastic as they are always different, and people’s reactions to them are also ALWAYS different, and this makes each trip and each day something unique.

Come & Experience Africa!

How truly blessed am I? I have seen such wonderful places, experienced so many magical moments and made thousands of new acquaintances and most times, genuine friends. Even though Africa is divided into different countries those countries into regions and those regions into cities, towns and tribal lands-they all form part of this incredible continent I am so privileged to call home.

Come and experience Africa on one of our affordable guided trips when you travel again!

Ngumula beach holiday

Chat to me or one of the other friendly experts at African Budget Safaris.