The tour guide is like your driver who is going to drive you throughout the course of the trip- he shall move you from one tourist attraction to another until the end of your journey. The tour guide is employed by the tour operator and he represents the tour operator. Tour guides are always knowledgeable about the national parks – they shall be educating you and give you histories of some of the events that unfolded around parks. They are experienced enough to narrate their experience with confidence. Some tourists confuse tour guides with park rangers. Rangers are usually employed by the government and their role is to protect the wildlife in parks-the rangers also provide security to those that come to the park. Whatever itinerary you choose, you shall interact with the guide more often and being nice to them shall surely improve on your success rating for your journey. How can you be nice to a tour guide on your safari in Tanzania?

Try to be social with them

Some people immediately start their boss mentality once they know that you are mere guide. If you act like a boss, you may remain like a boss and miss out on what it means to interact with people. You should show that you are an open person who respects others.

If the guide notices that you are easy and free with them- they shall unleash stories and tell you things that shall surely give you a better understanding of Tanzania. At the end of the safari, you shall both be winners. I’m not saying that being free with the guide is the only condition for them to talk to you.

They shall surely talk to you even if you act bossy but you shall not get the best insights if you stay in that mood-the guide will only be willing to give you answers and keep quite however if you want deep knowledge and experiences about a certain area, the guide shall be able to tell you all of that as long as he feels that you free with them.

I would to compare this situation to a home; if a father is not free with his children, the children shall always fear him and he might up never to understand his children because they are not willing to share anything with their dad. But to a father who is free with the children, children can always talk about anything without fear.

Ask responsible questions.

Sometimes people tend to get off the professional ladder and ask questions which are beyond tourism. I would highly recommend staying along tourism questions and simple questions that would make the guide uncomfortable.

Follow their guidelines.

Always respect what the guide tells you. If he tells you not to do something, please make sure you don’t do it. It could a simple instruction like please make sure you don’t put your hand out of the vehicle but because you are taken by happiness, you may end up forgetting and once something happens to you, it is so easy to shift the blame to the guide.

Simply respect what they tell because it is always in your best interest.

Come and benefit from the experience of our tour guides, Travel with us today.

If you are not careful enough, it is very easy to interchange those two terms: tour guide and tour ranger. In fact, I have seen and heard several people in confusion because they found themselves talking one term yet they were referring to another. There is a great noticeable difference between a tour guide and a tour ranger and I’m going to highlight those differences:

Tour rangers have guns to protect tourists and wildlife.

The tour ranger protects people and wildlife in a park. Wildlife needs to be protected in a national park because of poaching activities-poachers normally enter the park and kill those innocent which pose a threat to the endangered species and also to the lives of other wildlife.

Poachers are always very hash to the animals and their main purpose of killing is normally related to the economic aspect. Recently, the killing of Elephants has been on the rise due to their ivory which costs millions of shillings. Lucky enough, there are rare cases like those in Tanzania, due to the several sensitization programs around the parks. When a tourist reaches a park, it is always advisable to hire the park ranger to protect him.

For the case of tour guides, their role is about driving the tourists to the tourist’s attraction and showing them around depending on the nature of the tour.

The government of Tanzania pays for the tour rangers’ salary

Every tour ranger is employed by the government in Tanzania while a tour guide is normally employed by tour operator companies. Depending on the employment agreement, most tour guides are paid monthly or as per tour while the tour rangers is always paid monthly.

The tour rangers work in national parks.

Tour rangers only offer their services in a national park and are always in that national park unless they are shifted to another. For the case of the tour guide, their services are provided depending on any national park being visited. They are not limited to one park

It is in the best interest of the tour ranger to protect animals against poaching

Like I said that the work of tour guide is to protect the tourists and wildlife-they do that with the help of a gun. If an animal attacks a human, they can shoot to kill and in case they see someone who they think is a poacher, that poacher is arrested.

Some poachers are well prepared and they know the challenges ahead. Some of them can have illegal guns which they use for poaching. In brief, tour rangers are army or police officials who protect the animals and wildlife while tour guides are drivers who take tourists from one location to another. Come and we take you to the best and hidden secrets of Tanzania by booking your safari with us today.