Call of the wilderness: how to conduct a nature hike

The call of the wilderness: how to conduct a nature hike

 

National treasures

The late Dr Ian Player spoke often of the periods of contemplation and silent meditation he invited participants to take when he guided them on nature trails in the Umfolozi Park. Each hiker would be asked to seek out a suitable spot distant from the others, to reflect and soak up the character and atmosphere of the wild during an evening vigil.

For most it was an unforgettable experience. There was something primeval about making contact with the ‘collective unconscious’ of humankind. The hikers tapped as best they could into the distant wild heritage of humanity, and explored the way our lives on the African savannah had influenced and formed our minds, physiology, instincts and social predispositions.

Grave, courteous and kindly, Player never gave up on the idea of a Creative Being in charge of it all. He would ask the hikers to relish the silence, distant from the shallow-grounded mercenary hustle and bustle of the cities that most had come from.

 As a young man I devoured his anecdotes of canoeing excursions on the Phongola River and canoeing races in the early 1950s with Ernie Pearce, father of my sister-in-law Linda. Despite the Umgeni being negotiated first in 1893 by Foley and Marianni in a sixteen-foot canvas canoe, it was the races between Player, Pearce and a few others more than a half-century later that started the ‘Duzi marathons’.

Player was, and remains, one of the national treasures of KwaZulu-Natal. Indeed, so is Pearce, who with three races behind him undertook the organization of subsequent events and sustained the competition when Player moved more deeply into conservation.

Another great conservationist was Hugh Dent. Tanned, slender of build and gentle in temperament, Dent was a man deeply committed to nature. In 1962, he guided an excursion of schoolboys I was entrusted with leading in the wild by the (then) Northlands Boys High School. I have never forgotten the sharp reprimand he dished out when I approached too close to a herd of white rhinos. I was just twenty years old at the time. It was a memorable first lesson in safety in the presence of large game, and the mistake was never repeated.

Another fine conservationist-ranger was Graham Verceuil, resident instructor at Phinda Nature Reserve in Maputaland. A thoroughly professional martinet, Graeme instructed his ranger-guides with commendable clarity and conviction, and produced a stream of remarkable young men and women for service at such parks as Phinda, Londolozi and Madikwe.

My role at Phinda and later at the other two reserves under the (then) Conservation Corporation Africa, was to accredit their rangers within the SETA system. I did this during the early 2000s, while knowing full well the privilege it was to engage on a series of day and night drives with people whose experiences were honed daily by endless encounters with a range of wild creatures.

These were the happiest days one could imagine, let alone experience. The experiences were leavened by collaborating with Roy Cowgill on training tourist guides under my (then) company Alex Educational, and basking in his extraordinary knowledge of biology and especially avian subjects.

On a theoretical level, I found the writings of Robert Ardrey (The hunting hypothesis), Desmond Morris (The naked ape) and other writers on history, anthropology and palaeontology informative in their exploration of pre-human development in the wilderness of the African savannah.

The great skill was to keep two huge ideas in mind simultaneously and without apparent contradiction; that is, to believe in a Creator while accepting the evolutionary explanation in the face of overwhelming evidence. There is no doubt that the intricate order and interrelationships within ‘wilderness’ make the usual meaning of the term, a disorderly jumble or tangle, inappropriate. The brilliance of the natural order puts our human culture and technology to shame.

So, I have been fortunate in the people who have influenced my thinking on wilderness. In the section that follows, I share some of the experience with you the reader. You can use the guidelines that follow in this chapter to meet many of the requirements for conducting nature experiences on a one-day nature excursion.

The text is nevertheless only a basis for much further research on the part of any future nature guide. And, you will need to adapt the points to accommodate the level of hike involved, including matters of duration, topography and terrain, weather and external threat.

 

Conduct a nature hike

Prospective guides must do many practical field activities before they can expect to achieve competence. Constant and varied practice done in a wide variety of habitats, and under varying conditions with different types of clients is essential if one is to acquire expertise.

Note that when in unspoiled natural wilderness where serious threats are present, a maximum of about eight participants is usual. The number might be twelve if there are two guides, or a tracker.

Regarding early planning, the conscientious guide will ask himself or herself many questions. Have you found out the precise date, time of departure and duration as well as the route (with options) for your nature walk? Do you know who your guests are? How many are there? Have they any special interests?

Are there any medical conditions amongst any member(s) of your walking party that might endanger them? You can’t afford to have someone collapse after a rigorous climb, due to a heart condition of which you were not aware. If your principals (company, lodge manager, head ranger or whoever has joint responsibility) have not informed you meticulously about your guests, you have the duty to find out for yourself. The responsibility works both ways. The safety of all, including yourself and other field staff, is a main concern.

Ensure that your mental and physically fitness is more than equal to this demanding job. With regard to prior preparations, have you considered the duration (total time) of the walk, time of day, likely weather conditions, difficulties of terrain that might affect equipment choice, and prior instructions to be given?

You should have access to an electronic communication system; perhaps a small radio communication set, and if it is not available, at the very least a cell phone to alert your principals to any mishap. The use of this equipment must not interfere with enjoyment of the walk. There is no need to misuse or over-use it.

Have you worked the route out carefully to meet the interest and experiences of clients? Does it offer possibilities for photography? Does it accommodate the level of client fitness? Does it take the clients safely to where their interests can be satisfied? For example, if they want forest fauna and flora, don’t take them on a grasslands walk or to a sodden vlei unless there is exceptional interest there. Will there be sufficient safe rest stops? Have you considered alternatives within the route, if problems arise?

 

Have you considered their preparation to endure possible extremes of weather, including rain, heat or cold, to ensure maximum safety? Is the clothing of yourself and your clients appropriate, including the use of boots or strong walking shoes? Open sandals are possible for some walks, but they leave your feet open to stings, bites, envenomation and other wounds. Strong boots with a decent tread are usually best.

Do your clients each have a broad-brimmed hat that ‘breathes’, with a neck shade for summer; also water/liquids, binoculars, also if necessary insect repellant, sunscreen lotion, first aid items, and cameras? Have you collected and checked your own equipment, perhaps including a light rucksack, water, cell phone, small first-aid box (and your rifle, ammunition and pouch if necessary)?

Do you know basic first aid, and how to treat snakebite without endangering a patient further? Have you taken these first aid skills seriously enough? In some countries, you may not register as a guide without them. Note that for legal reasons you cannot act as a doctor might, and give prescribed medicines. Update yourself on the current legal requirements.

Have you brought one or two books on birds or trees for further reference if necessary? It is not considered good form to bring books on the obvious things like the larger flagship species, but books on birds, trees, flowers and grasses are useful because you cannot know everything there is about the thousands of species encountered, including the infinite data that accompanies each. Use the books for detailed reference, and not as a replacement for your comprehensive, ever-ready knowledge. Many guests will bring their own books.

When meeting guests, have you introduced yourself and your tracker (if you are accompanied by one) courteously?

“Good morning, I’m John and I’ll be your guide for the day. I hope you had a good night’s sleep because we’ll be starting promptly and it’ll be a long day for us all…” Guests like you to address them as individuals and most prefer you to engage in interaction early. Do not leave people out; they usually won’t like it if they feel you are ignoring them. Consider their social and ego needs.

Have you found out any special interests such as birding, or viewing a particular species of big game, amongst your clients? Are they especially interested in any order, family, genus, or species? Have you considered the insects, grasses, flowers that might appeal to a few specialists? This might influence the one or two books you take with you (you can’t carry too many; they’re too heavy!

Have you found out as much as possible from your principals well prior to the walk, noted essential details and planned accordingly? Are there any special health problems such as obesity, heart condition, lameness, eyesight and hearing that will affect your anticipated hike? It must be within the scope of all persons due to participate in it. No-one will appreciate being put in danger, or alternatively, be hampered in their experience because of poor planning.

 

When you meet the group, reassess the situation. Have you also asked your guests about medical conditions; very, very discreetly and sensitively, and make final adaptations. You might have a problem deciding the rights of the group to a rich experience, weighed against the right of a single guest to the protection of their health. Decisions are seldom easy, so prepare for any eventuality prior to the walk and err on the side of safety.

Note that many efficient companies will insist on clients completing a simple form to declare any health or other problems prior to the walk. Ensure that you know about these and plan for them, with company administrators involved if necessary.

Give an initial briefing before the walk. Outline the route (you might use a good map here), warn of dangers and provide routines for safety. Ban alcohol (you can’t allow uncontrolled reactions that might spoil the walk and endanger guests), smoking (the smell of tobacco does not go well with nature), noise (which will chase away the game), bravado (which could endanger a guest or the whole group), and separation (which could break the group up and endanger individuals).

Have you invited open communications of any serious problems, and yet stamped your authority on the group? Getting their respect is usually a result of your obvious professional competence. You should never have to resort to harsh words or even threats. If you have a problem with an individual, take that person aside and deal with them individually; if a group of people presents a problem, only then must you incorporate the entire clientele.

Are signals agreed and repeated by guests: stop (hand up), look (point to eyes, then direction of sighting), listen (hand to ear), sit (hand down gesture), come here (beckon), back off slowly (hand pushes away), quiet (finger to lips, pained expression)! Do you advise them to look at you at intervals, to maintain contact?

Does the party keep closely to the pathways selected by the ranger-guide, as appropriate? Do you avoid thickets, reeds or long grass where unexpected dangers might lurk? Most large and potentially dangerous creatures will give way unless they have young, are cornered or in breeding mode, but it is better to take no chances.

You do not want your group walking abreast and shoulder to shoulder like a spread-out hunting line; it’s inefficient because of obstructions off the path. Nor do you want damage to vegetation away from paths or on fragile banks. You need to know where everyone is. Do check regularly, and perhaps ask a responsible person to be in the rear. If available, a second guide or tracker will usually be there.

 Do you insist that guests keep disruptive sound to a minimum? Note how voices can carry on a quiet day and across open grasslands or a valley. What is the point of a walk in a forest habitat, where everything is at close quarters, if there is continual talking and noise? Are there any irritating jingles and jangles from equipment? Do cameras buzz and whirr at awkward times? Do you need a rule to govern camera use? Do you need to authorize the time of use where camera motors are involved?

Honour conservation ethics so that no litter remains, no branches are broken unnecessarily, and no wild creature is unduly disturbed. Ask yourself; have you really respected the animals’ and even plants’ rights to a secure and largely undisturbed environment? Does your party ‘leave nothing but footprints’?

Are all human senses of sight, hearing, touch, perhaps even smell and taste used to experience the wild intimately? Do your clients get to feel the roughness of bark, the smell of herbs and perhaps the taste of an edible berry or fruit? Usually, we humans rely greatly on sight and to some extent hearing (e.g. bird sounds) and need to use the other senses more if we are to experience the wild most completely.

Do the clients get to appreciate the wild creatures’ acute senses of smell, sight and hearing, and the effect on sightings that a blundering approach can exert? Have you considered the effects of wind direction sufficiently? Have you ever thought about your own disadvantages, when your senses compete poorly against the acute sight, hearing and smell of many wild creatures? Tell your clients some anecdotes to show it, or prove it by observation on the trail.

Are signs such as spoor and faeces (dung; droppings), markings and scrapes identified and interpreted well? Have you got at least one book to help you with this? It is very necessary to interpret flagship spoor and tracks accurately and with confidence, and precise interpretations will impress your clients if you can offer them for the more obscure signs you encounter.

Is there willingness to let nature ‘speak’ to the group, rather than to impose the group’s presence on nature? This means sometimes sitting in silence as Player and Dent often did, stopping all activity except your heartbeats and stomach rumbles and enjoying the sights and sounds that come to you. Do this occasionally, especially if you want a change in tempo.

 

Is safety a priority, with the guide leading only on walks and in areas where he/she is legally entitled to do so? Do you keep a sufficient distance from wild creatures to not disturb them? This implies never entering their ‘comfort zones’? Alternatively, do you give way to arrogance or bravado, forcing the wild creatures in your vicinity to become alert, or alarmed, or to even adopt a flight or defense mode? If you do so, you have failed badly as a nature guide. Always brief guests about the importance of safety, and let them know early that you will not exceed the bounds of good sense.

Obviously, many wild creatures can pose a threat. I recall a walk along a wetland stretch of coastal grassland in the lake St Lucia area of Zululand. My wife and I were winding our way between shallow lakes when we encountered a stretch of water deeper and greater in extent than what we had negotiated. Stretching along the middle of the lake was a long tongue of marshy land that led through shallow water to land on the other side. From the water grasses growing on it, we could judge that the water along the tongue was ankle-deep and quite negotiable.  We began the hike, and with nothing in view, proceeded to about half way along the sodden spit. Then I heard the low, reverberating grunt of a hippopotamus, one of the most prolific killers of human beings in Africa. A huge, dark head had risen to the surface a hundred metres away and fifty metres from the tongue we would traverse. Then we saw a second head, and then another.

We backed away cautiously, eyes fixed on the water to see if any more surprises might surface closer to us. There was nothing, but the bull renewed his threat, gaped his jaws wide and began to advance steadily. The opening of the great beast’s jaws was not a comforting sign; but my wife, an experienced campaigner in these matters, was already backing off. The hippo slowed perhaps forty metres away and eventually stopped to stare motionless towards our retreating forms. There was then no need to run to the trees we had identified as safe havens behind us.

The incident was not a close shave by any means, but it presented a lesson in planning. Had we taken the trouble to study the water in advance, we might have seen the bull surface. I calculated at one stage that, had he charged purposefully, it would have been a close thing. In that sodden environment, I’d have put his pace at twice or thrice what we could muster.

A more serious threat from hippo occurred while I was walking along the shoreline of Lake St Lucia when I came across a spoor that left the water and travelled inland, away from the lake. There was no sign of a re-entry spoor. I backed off. Should the hippo have decided to return as I walked at the lakeside, the consequences could have been unpleasant.

At the other end of the spectrum, in terms of size, are tiny insects such as mosquitoes and flies that can ruin a nature trip. Perhaps my worst experience with the small creatures was with flies my wife and I encountered in New Zealand. We were travelling up the west coast of the South Island, at Haast River, before going further north to hike up to the ice scarp of Fox Glacier. In those conditions, one would not expect flies. However, it was summer and there they were; sand flies in millions. I was stung on the right wrist, and the sand fly might have laid eggs because the festering pinpoint took fifteen months to heal. I am wiser now. If I returned, I’d be in long sleeves with whatever repellent works.

Interpretations take some practice, and nature walks provide a catalyst for the guide to use a wide variety of interpretations that can add interest and knowledge to the clients’ experiences. Check yourself to see if your commentary is sufficiently diverse. Do you use various methods (formal, informal, multi-cultural, storytelling, questions and answers) to give variety and richness of interpretation to your nature trail interpretations?

 

The formal method implies giving a ‘lecture’, perhaps on the dining deck of a lodge, or even in a theatre or library, or during a refreshment stop, on some topic. It means the topic has been chosen beforehand, to be delivered in a formal context. Nature guides use the method very occasionally.

More often used is the informal method, where wild creatures appear and then disappear during the walk. There can be no real formal preparation and the guide relies on his or her innate knowledge. It means a more spontaneous type of interpretation.

Also used frequently is the question and answer method. This will sometimes test you, because it relies on your spontaneous knowledge and ability to do book-research quickly.

The multi-cultural approach means giving interpretations from different cultural perspectives. For a westerner, nature might mean an aesthetic experience. For a person living closer to wild creatures in a wild environment, wild creatures might imply sustenance for their families. Always retain sensitivity.

Storytelling and anecdotes. These may be used at rest-stops, or around a campfire or at a lodge during evening meals. Guests like to hear lively anecdotes from your personal experience. Do work on this, and build up a few humorous stories. Success can define you as a guide.

Dirty jokes, racial comments, continuous babbling without a stop, arrogance, focus on the self instead of nature, and a reluctance to say anything at all, are considered ‘bad form’. Do interpret when you really have something to add to the experience, and don’t ramble on without any pause for the sake of being heard. Guests will welcome quite long pauses without commentary, as they simply soak up the nature experience. Your commentary is most valuable at meaningful and critical times.

Having a good sense of humour is a great advantage. This can be quiet and not uproarious for best effect, but if it is not present, you will have nothing special to fall back on during times when nature is quiet.

I recall a campfire in the wilds of Maputaland where well-known author and photographer Roger de la Harpe and a few journalists each told a joke or two. One was about the king who experienced an unfortunate accident when an ornately carved chair fell out of the roof thatch of his hut and injured him. He learnt that ‘those who live in grass houses should not stow thrones’. Silly, but we laughed for hours at this and other snatches of humour, since it was the right place and time after a tough day for a bit of nonsense. It’s always difficult to relate the funny bits from jokes told because, as someone once said, analyzing a joke is a bit like dissecting a frog. It’s not a pleasant thing to do, and the result when revealed isn’t much fun.

Do you have a sufficient store of back-up knowledge such as found in a contemplation of broader ecological issues to enrich your explanations? When nothing much is being observed, it’s good practice to talk about something like the trophic pyramid, or symbiotic relationships, or food chains or webs as concepts.

Ensure that you conclude the nature experience properly, courteously and decisively with a brief summary and analysis of interesting events, followed by farewells. The worst thing to do is drift away mumbling. Good wishes for the rest of the holiday are usually in order.

Do you write in your diary a brief report on the game walk? Do you expand into detail when reporting on any event that might have been problematic? Have you reported it to your relevant senior? You should do so, for legal reasons!

Have you also considered how well or badly you conducted the walk, and what things you could improve for the next excursion? Quality is not the most important thing, it is the only thing.