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Cheetah need help, time to Name Names of companies doing it wrong!

Cheetah need help, time to Name Names of companies doing it wrong!

Old Apr 6th, 2008, 01:15 AM
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Cheetah need help, time to Name Names of companies doing it wrong!

A lot of people on this board seem to be enjoying the incredible bounty of cheetah this year in the southern Serengeti (Ndutu area). Between the many ongoing trip reports and brilliant photos like Bill & Carolyn's everyone is enjoying!

I was one of the lucky ones to be there and the reports are consistent that the cheetah were amongst everyone's top highlights but it is also consistent that there is a huge problem with some guides making very poor decisions, which make life increasingly difficult for the cheetah and flat out puts them at risk. Because of that I think it is necessary to somehow hold the abusers accountable and a good first step is to call it out here so any companies with particularly bad patterns will become apparent and hopefully travelers doing research here will choose to use someone else.

Cheetah are particularly vulnerable and similar poor behaviour happens in other geographic locations so if you agree with this approach please report on anywhere that you have encountered inappropriate guiding. I realize some people have personal or business reasons to not name names and I certainly take no exception with that, this is a personal choice to make.

The cheetah are highly endangered and research in the Serengeti suggests that only 5% of cubs live to an independent age (around 18 months). Yes, you read that right, 95% of cubs in the Serengeti do not make it to adulthood so interference with hunts is a huge deal!

Keep in mind the guiding world is very small and on a northern circuit safari in Tanzania guides from all the companies are sharing meals, sleeping in the same area, cleaning cars together, etc., basically most know each other well and you can bet a lot of them share beers in Arusha too. This can be good as they share information and help everyone find the good sightings but it also means there is a code to keep each other out of trouble. Thus, when your guide sees the poor behaviour they probably are genuinely upset and disapprove. If they see your disapproval then they definitely will agree with you but it will be a very rare guide that is going to actually turn in another. Likewise most of them will try and protect others and I have heard and read numerous reasons/excuses for upset clients not to take any kind of formal action. If your guide is good you have bonded with him, respect him and certainly do not want to hurt him or his company so this code of protection works very well and I'm sure many people will not name names here for that same reason which I do understand. The problem is there are real ramifications if you are caught driving after dark, off road in an inappropriate place, or not out of the Crater on time to name a few and thus most guides worry about these things and follow them. There needs to be ramifications for inappropriate interference with animal behaviour too, especially sensitive species like cheetah and it is not realistic to expect the guides to police it. Hopefully if this catches on there will be pressure for operators to enforce a better standard of conduct on their guides. This will not hurt good and ethical guides and it should help poor ones develop better.

One huge statement of caution to make this useful!!! Many companies have lots of guides, also guides change companies all of the time, sometimes innocent mistakes are made, sometimes we may even misinterpret a guides actions so I would urge that no one makes hasty decisions or judgements on one point of data. The more specific detail included the more helpful it will likely be and I think the key is to watch for patterns. If one company shows up frequently or consistently for long time periods that is a problem worth avoidance.
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 01:20 AM
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Well, I suppose it must be for me to name the first name: Kibo Guides

My group did the work and found a lone male cheetah and followed at a distance across a large open plain as he was obviously intent on hunting. We saw herds in the distance and found a good position to observe from and stopped. Of course others eventually spied us and joined the watch including two Kibo vehicles, who must have radioed a third, because he came barreling in late from the other side of all the other vehicles who were positioned to observe and leave space to the herd he was approaching. This guide zooms all the way to about 30 feet from the cheetah covering him in a cloud of dust as they come to a stop and consequently so does the cheetah, who sits down. Soon as he sits the other two Kibo vehicles fire up and zoom in from the other side for their close up photos. I was livid! Fortunately, about 10 minutes later he started to hunt again and did make a kill and amazingly some of these vehicles left soon after the kill was made not waiting to watch him feed or see what kind of interactions would follow as if they were going to find something better at 10 a.m.?
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 02:12 AM
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Thanks for posting this, PB. As you know I was also calling for some info on those behaving so poorly out in the field.

If the behaviour seems to be prevalent throughout a particularly company, I'd like to know the company and hope that those witnessing the behaviour report the company to the authorities. If it seems to be just one guide, I'd say it's less important to share the name and simply ensure the guide is reported to his company and to the rangers.
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 04:42 AM
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I was at Ndutu during the first week in March. We were fortunate enough to spend time with three cheetah moms and thir cubs. We did witness some terrible behavior at the first and third siting; both instances involved A & K vehicles (8 different ones) and a vehicle from Kusini. Their actions were identical to PredatorBiologist's account but even more obnoxious if that is possible. They pulled right in between the moms and the prey (Tommys) they were stalking. My guide was annoyed but did nothing. I however signalled the Kusini guide that he was obstructing the cheetah's view. The Kusisi guide gave me a big toothy smile in return and finally, after about 10 minutes, he moved on. The Tommys had by then moved out of range and Mom missed her opportunity. I did record the event on camera but later learned that both A&K and Kusini are under the same ownership and quite indifferent to outside pressure. Both are evidently owned by Sanctuary Lodges as well and so share the same radio frequency. My wife and I have decided that while we have used their camps in the past, we will boycott (Sanctuary) them in the future for allowing this sort of behavior. Our guide also witnessed the passengers in one vehicle pass money to one of the A&K guides. Our guide later explained that the recepient of the "tip" indicated that it was to stay onsite until sunset. There was no way the A&K vehicles could get back to their camps before dark from that location. We have done many safaris not only to Tanzania but to Kenya, Botswana, and Zambia. We have never been more disturbed by poor guiding than during our recent Tanzania trip. I look for this to become worse at the Ndutu area becomes even more crowded. I suspect the only chance we might have to influence guide behavior is by listing violators on the internet. Once the offending companies realize that they are loosing business they might inact a more strict and professional code of viewing ethics. Also, while I doubt that the regular readers of this forum are the sort that would allow their guides to behave this way, our boycotting of the offending operators and notification of our action might send the message?
Cheers-Chuck
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 05:18 AM
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Thanks for the info!
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 05:55 AM
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I had huge issues with Leopard Tours, as well as Kibo when I was at Ndutu. To put it simply, they just got too close to the mother cheetah and her cubs. They circled around her, and probably got as close as 25 feet away. When she got up each time (because she was threatened) they would follow too close. And when she began to hunt, they would not disengage. It was horrible.

I have not had very high opinions of many Leopard Tours guides, and this one sent me over the limit. Yes, my vehicles stayed as far away as we could, but we kept getting visually cut off when these guys would get too close. Just drives me nuts.
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 08:20 AM
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Hi all,

I really consider this method of approach as the only one which will have the slightest affect on the ongoing situation of the harassing of wildlife by the guides/drivers and passengers in order to try to get the best viewing experience possible.

The main problem is that the majority if guests never read such forums as this one, they look at the brochure and book or take advise from their local travel agent. They also do not have the ethics first idea about the ethics of game viewing and wildlife photography. I am also convinced that they also do not really care, they only want to have the closest view possible of what is going on regardless of the cost to the animal.

In my opinion “problem” does just apply to the Serengeti, if anyone has been to visit the Sabi Sand or similar games reserves you will know just what I mean when I say they really do harass the Leopards. They drive in the thickest of bush, over every possible obstacle it really does not matter to the drivers all they want is to get close in just for their tips. More often than not the Leopard hides in the thick bush just to get a moments respite from the vehicles.


In the Ndutu area the head ranger is a friend of mine his name is Gibson, when discussing these matters with him he admits that it is not easy to police. If the drivers are caught going off road in an area where this is forbidden then they can receive a fine. Just how many fines have been issued, and how many drivers have bought their way out of such fines he did not say. I am sure the latter case is the more likely.
Gibson did say that he would instruct his rangers to be more vigilant and also to have a chat to them. As you know a lot of them meet for early morning coffee at the Ndutu lodge each morning, so they can have a captive audience, however this does not get the message over to the numerous other drivers who are stopping at the private camps around that area.
In a way the rangers also treat such reports as acts of jealously by other drivers as well so it should not be expected that if someone is reported that anything will really happen.

Just to demonstrate how also professional photographers encourage their drivers to break the rules as well. A famous French photographer (who will remain nameless) egged his driver to go off-road and get as close as possible to the Mother with the 4 sub-adult Cheetahs in Ndutu in February. He had at least 4 different camera bodies fitted with a full range of lenses and was certainly close enough for the equipment he was using. I waited for their vehicle (A+K) as they eventually came back on road. I asked him if he was a professional photographer to which he proudly replied Yes, I then asked him if he was aware that off-roading was not allowed in that area and that as a professional photographer he should also obey the international guidelines and ethics of engagement for wildlife photography, suddenly now his English was no longer very good as he pretended he could not understand what I was saying, enough said they turned tails and headed off in a cloud of dust.


So what is the answer?? I do not know.
It is all a question of money, the drivers are tip driven and the closer they get the more tip they will receive.

Maybe if the Rangers were paid according to the amount of fines they issued that would possibly help, but what about in the Sabi Sands??
We are really all to blame, we want the closeness to the animals, and the nice picture as well, but we ourselves not prepared to tell our driver to hang back. Unless we start practising what we preach then I fear the situation will never ever change.
Only when we can only view a Cheetah through the bars of a cage in a zoo will we do anything about it. By then of course it will be too late.



Maurice
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 09:27 AM
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Great point PB and thanks for your posting and it's great to hear others opinions also. Having been to the Seregeti only once (1999) I can't comment on what's happening there as far as interference with wildlife and guides/drivers.

I do have yearly experience in the Masai Mara in Kenya and I couldn't agree with you more. Cheetah's have a tough time there also. We luckily have a very compasionate Guide and he WILL tell other drivers to 'back off' when the representatives of safari companies blantantly disregard the 'rules' of responsible wildlife viewing. Granted some of the guides/drivers will hang their heads in shame and back off, others will just laugh, with the look in their face that they can do WHATEVER they want to.

It is during those times, my friend and I will discretely take a photo of the offending vehicle and write down their license plate number and report this information back to our Camp Manager. In turn this information is passed on to the Mara Conservancy, who manages the Mara Triangle, for the Maasai communities. How that information is passed on to the Safari companies I don't know, but I feel that we have done our part in possibly avoiding future interference.

Quite a few of the offending vehicles are companies from Nairobi, in that I mean 'smaller' safari companies, but we have seen 'big' name companies also behaving badly. It really serves no point to me to mention names as I just wanted to let you know my observations in the Mara. I do know that many of the companies are members of KATO (Kenya Association of Tour Operators) and in that respect are not a good advertisement for KATO.

I wonder how many of the guides/drivers only break the rules when a guest offers them money to get up closer, stay out later and feel if they don't, there goes their gratuity?

We all have to do our part in acting responsibly when on game drives, and no photograph is worth the risk of endangering the welfare of wildlife just to get that Kodak moment.

I wonder also how many of the guests aren't aware of responsible wildlife viewing and leave it up to their guides discretion?

Just my two cents worth gt;)
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 10:11 AM
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PB/chuck,

what a pity!!! Poor guiding is one thing, but, putting endangered species at risk is completely another thing. Thanks for these posts. Very appreciative.
Rgds
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 11:37 AM
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I asked Bill Hilton to name names from the beginning. I'm able to steer people in the right direction and I'm interested to know which companies to avoid (and why). Since, I wasn't lucky enough to have been to TZ this Jan-March myself, I asked a long-trusted friend and guide to comment and I sent him an account of Bill's experience. This is how the guides sort it out between themselves: Dear Kristina "I saw the message you sent from Bill Hilton. If I report those guides let’s say to park warden I will have both positive and negative impression, I will look good to the drivers behaving professionally but on other hand it is the opposite to the unprofessional drivers. What we normally do is to shout at them when we get to the lodges and correct them, warning them not to do it again."

As you say, the guides know each other and it's difficult for them to report each other for fear of repercussions later, I'm sure. Their way of sorting it out, may actually work best for them.

I think the main thing here is to book a safari with a company that treats their guides well so as not to experience a big turnover. Those companies with "bad" managers get the inexperienced guides and they don't train them well either. It's all in how well that company is managed in the end.

Then there's the issue of the "bribe" or tips. Sigh!!
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 01:36 PM
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PB,

Thank you so much for starting this thread. I was shocked and appalled when I read Star55's account of the terrible behavior of the driver/guides in their willfull endangerment of wildlife.

First and second time safari goers have no clue about this critical aspect of safari. This thread is very educational. I am one of those ethics-driven people who would _never_ book with a company who had guides that I knew did this. And I would steer folks planning a safari away from those companies, too.

Please folks - name names! Not only will it benefit the wildlife, it will help the safari outfitters who do well and hit the pocketbooks of those who behave shamefully.

Thank you,

-doo (Judith)
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 02:38 PM
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I think we should contact those safari companies directly too and tell them what we think about their practices. The word needs to get back to them.

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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 02:54 PM
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PB, thanks for starting this thread. I want to name names, but my concern is for the guides and companies that are doing the right thing. I found out after I returned home that the other guides had been very angry at my guide. What happens in the future? Do the offending guides start withholding information from the guides who are trying to do the right thing and whose clients speak up? As you mention, the guides do share good sightings. What are the ramifications for the companies of the 'good' guides?

I have thought of doing what Lynn suggests and writing directly to the offending company. What I would like to think would happen is that the company would arrange refresher training for all their guides, but I'm afraid they might just fire them, which I'm not sure is the answer either.
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 03:18 PM
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In August 2006, I watched from a hill as a vehicle from the the Brandberg White Lady Lodge in Namibia harrassed a cheetah near their airstip. It was repeatedly forced from cover when the driver drove into the brush to flush it. I was in a Wilderness vehicle and our ranger told us that he had witnessed similar behavior towards other animals by the same lodge. He had been in the area for over a year and this was only his second cheetah sighting.
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 03:28 PM
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I agree whole entirely with preditorbiologist.
When we were in Tanzania last year, we happened across a number of vehicles watching a leopard in the grass. The leopard had a kill up a tree near the road. A number of KIBO vehicles arrived atthe scene, two on a road one side of the grass are and the third on a road on the other side of the grassed area. You could hear the guests and guides shouting to one another between vehicles. We were totally disgusted, particularly as the guides were bigging themselves up on the game they had found, obviously hoping for a very large tip. Luckily two out of the three vehicles pulled away before the leopard got up and climbed the nearby tree to continue feasting on its prey. It was a shame that other guides present did not ask these offending guides to be quiet and get their guests to shut up.

We were very happy with our guide as he didn't have his radio on and didn't follow the sighting reports. He preferred to go his own way and find our own sightings . He knew we wanted to see Cheeth and had discusions with other guides back at the camps. This resulted in our leaving at 5am one morning with a packed breakfast to try and find a cheeath with cubs. Our early start was rewarded with a sighting of mum with her five cubs. We stopped and watched these cheetah for over an hour. Our guide diodn't radio this sighting to anyone and by the time another vehicle came in to the area, the cheeatahs had moved on. We booked our safri through ATR who used Mount Kilimanjaro
Safari Club.
Our guide was well aware of the no off road rules and didn't even like having to drive with two wheels of road to get out of a traffic jam. He was also well aware that some guides would break the rules if they were offered a large tip and seemed disgusted with this.

When in kenya later in the year, in Samburu and the Mara we came across large groups of white mini vans surrounding the big cats, following really closely. Our guide was quite surprised when we said we didn't want to bother trying to see what everyone was watching or that we just wanted him to get within an acceptable distance so we could take one photo and move on. Being in a huge crowd of vehicles circling an animal feels so wrong. When we were in Samburu, a Cheetah was sighted. The sighting was radioed between guides and within seconds all the vehicles in the park were discending on this poor cheetah. Although no vehicle went off road, due to the road layout, about twenty five vehicles ended forming a horseshoe around the grass area where the cheeath was. Needless to say, when the cheetah went to move away it found its way blocked by numerous vehicles and looked pretty panicky and stressed. After some toing and froing it found a way through and ran off to find peace and quiet. Although our vehicle went down to the cheetah sighting , we were happy to stay a decent distance away and move on as soon as it was clear the cheetah wasn't happy. We were lucky the guests we shared vehicles with in Kenya were like minded about the animals and like us were not prepared to have an animal upset/ stressed just for the sake of a photo.

No doubt there are a lot of people who book a safari and think that because they have paid a lot of money they are entitled to close ups of the big five. There are also no doubt a lot of guides who are prepared to compromise the animals to give their demanding guests what they want in the hope of securing a very large tip.

Lets hope that forums like this can continue to educate tourists, guides and tour operators.
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Old Apr 6th, 2008, 06:21 PM
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Thanks to everyone for your fantastic responses on this thread, I’m glad to see there is a lot of concern with this issue. Rather than try to respond to each of these great posts I think there are a couple points of common thought already coming to light:

1) Lots of us have seen these issues in action; no doubt this problem is real.
2) Expecting guides to police each other is not realistic with the current culture in that field (at least within East Africa) and resulting backlash could really be detrimental to the reporting guide. On my trip I actually was working as a guide of a group and in conjunction with 3 very ethical and wonderful local guides so I completely understand the worry that some tourists have in protecting their guides. I certainly do not have the same conditions, worries and restraints that the local guides do but I cherished my team and would not want to do anything to hurt them either just as some of you want to protect your guides.
3) Due to this need to protect good guides we need a way to put commercial pressure on the companies whose driver/guides are offending parties without involving our guides.
4) A good code of conduct needs to be taught and stressed to guides and tourists need to be educated to not pay for breaking rules and ethics.
5) There seems to be at least some thought that the internet reaching directly to consumers and to safari companies is a good place to start to force better conduct in the field and this thread is a very small start in that direction.

As this thread grows I think it will reach a point where it makes sense to bring it to the attention of companies that get mentioned often and allow them to inform what their remedy will be and then we can monitor to see if it changes, it looks like a couple companies are already being mentioned with some frequency. It might also be useful to send it to the Parks Department and/or organizations like Cheetah Watch and the Mara Conservancy so that they have a bullet to use in approaching certain operators.

Ideally I can envision this going well beyond Fodors and developing a very solution oriented Watchdog effort. This is the kind of issue that will probably never be 100% correctable but at the same time I bet there could be 80% improvement to where issues are rare and thus an embarrassment for the lone guide or company still committing them down the road.

I can see a basic framework for a tremendous project that is relatively simple and can actually have great success! I wish this is something I could do right now but I am definitely over my head with 2 completely different Africa projects that I am heavily committed to already and it would be a couple years before I could give this one proper justice. That said one of the projects would relate and support this effort very well and I would be happy to be an advisor, serve a role, etc. to an effort like this but it needs a daily director (or great team that can split it up) that can do the follow through. I’ll throw out a basic vision to see if people like this idea and if so see if there is anyone who really wants to take it on as a leader and go the next step (email me if that could be you). Meanwhile everyone please keep reporting here.

I envision a Watchdog website dedicated to receiving reports of this nature and acting to pass them on to the offending companies. But I also see more of a front-end role, forming a small committee of appropriate people to draft a very simple Code of Conduct for guiding in the presence of cheetah (perhaps add other guiding issues later like parking for wildebeest river crossings). Produce a cool consumer conservation cheetah logo (think Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval). All of this is fun and I could do quickly but the busy step is to then contact each operator and provide them with the Code of Conduct, if they sign it and certify that all their guides are trained on it they are granted use of the logo for the year and of course they would be maintained on an approved operator list on the website. One of the projects I am already working on I believe will help make this seal relevant as well and I’m sure it would be possible to create a list of eminent scientists and conservationists who would sign on to give this seal credence. This badge could then be lost of course if a certain number of verified and researched complaints are filed. My project could also partner on a front end tourists education project and there needs to be continuing guide education such as making them aware that clients are a likely to tip a lot more for seeing a kill than getting a close portrait. Ultimately if this were successful there would be chances for innovation like fundraising (think anyone has good photos to auction) and then putting the funds into a pool that was distributed as lottery prizes with all licensed guides that have clean records eligible, etc. or some kind of tangible reward program that benefited all guides doing it right. Anyway you can see this would be a very simplistic program that I think could really work and with success creative growth opportunities would become evident.

I’m coming off being sick, little sleep all week, behind on everything and this could all be ridiculous as I just started pecking away on it without checking myself so don’t hold back on punching holes in this, what do people think of this as a potential solution?
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Old Apr 7th, 2008, 07:42 AM
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a serious "conde of conduct" must be introduced. but as long as tourists make the guides think that the better their position the bigger the tip is going to be there won't be any changes to guides' behaviour.

we see it sll the time during the migration when cars interfere with the migratory animals. they separate mothers from calves cutting off the migrating herds.

the same with the cheetahs:
they watch a cheetah stalking following this animal in close distance. and make the prey aware of the cat's presence.

in the massai mara cheetahs have adapted now another hunting scheme:
they hunt during the heat of the day because that's the time most of the tourists are in the camps having lunch followed by a siesta.

here again:
it always comes down to education! first the tourists have to gather themselves some awareness which impact their presence has on to the animals and which desastrous outcome interferring with hunting has for the animals!
 
Old Apr 7th, 2008, 09:49 AM
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Great thread PB. I’ve been following the recent trip reports and reading about some of the appalling behavior. This is a great way to compile that data in one place.

I think the Watchdog project is a great idea. It would allow consumers to lodge complaints and raise awareness rather than relying on the “good” guides who could face repercussions for doing so. I agree a Code of Conduct is essential, and educating tourists would be just one part of that Code. Educating guides, or perhaps more importantly, requiring them to follow certain rules/guidelines would, I believe, be the bigger challenge. Money talks, and if guides are taking bribes in the form of tips to break those rules, then it comes down us, the tourists, to make sure the “good” guides are compensated more than the “bad” guides. And of course, to make our feelings known to the operators and hit them where it hurts…in their pocketbook.

You have some great ideas for a guy who is still getting over the flu.
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Old Apr 7th, 2008, 10:13 AM
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I think it's a great idea too. There needs to be education on both sides - guides and clients. A watchdog program and perhaps accompanying marketing materials - the logo PB suggests, brochures, posters, press releases - would give safari companies a way to educate clients. We can't control the behavior of our fellow tourists, but we can make sure they know what that behavior should be. As PB suggests, start with the cheetahs and work from there.

I was aware of the guidelines because at my briefing at Roy Safaris in January, the Cheetah Conservation stand was prominently displayed. How prevalent is this at other companies?

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Old Apr 7th, 2008, 04:36 PM
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Good thread. I've read where cheetahs are hunting much earlier and later in the day to adapt to vehciles. Middle of the day makes sense too, but takes a toll on the animal. There's a reason people and animals seek shade and rest up midday, especially in the hotter months.
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