Mark Homann
As part of our blog series, Q&A with Professional Safari Guide, Mark Homann, we interviewed Mark on his early years as a guide and how it has shaped him into the safari guide he is today.
Raised in Zimbabwe’s farming community, Mark earned his Professional Guides license at the young age of twenty-two. His formative years as a safari guide were spent managing camps and leading specialized safaris for companies with a heavy focus toward sustainable, community-based natural resource management.
Mark works as a safari consultant to organize safaris in Eastern and Southern Africa and is also available as a personal safari guide by special request.
Below is a Q & A with Mark:
1. What inspired you to become a safari guide?
I grew up outdoors on our family farm and went to boarding schools, which all provided me with lots of outdoor experiences. As kids we spent most of our holidays on the Zambezi River and on Lake Kariba. From as early as I can recall I had a fascination with early explorers and wildlife. I remember going to Hwange Safari Lodge in 1981 and going to their bush camp—the guide there took us on a walk and I was immediately hooked.
2. When did you begin training as a safari guide and what did the training entail?
When I left school I went to work in Hwange in 1991. I started out in the workshops and accompanied the qualified guides on game drives in the morning and evening.
Zimbabwe requires all guides to go through an intensive qualification process. The first step is to write a written exam that covers the following:
- The country’s laws governing the wildlife industry
- Firearms law and firearm ballistics
- The habits and habitats of wildlife.
Once you pass this exam you have to apprentice yourself to a qualified professional guide (a professional guide may only have two apprentices at any one time) for a minimum of two years. This apprenticeship allows you to conduct game drives on your own but under the direction of your tutor.
During these two years you must gain as much experience as you can in the field, learning about camp and vehicle maintenance, camp management, guest relations, photography, client safety and first aid, and, of course, all aspects of all fauna and flora. One is expected to get as much experience as possible dealing with dangerous animals. We did this through the National Parks Department by assisting them with problem animal control. This type of control involved chasing crop-raiding elephants out of villagers’ fields at night, and dealing with animals that needed to be put down (mainly injured animals fit this bill but it can also included livestock-killing lions and rogue elephant and buffalo).
When your tutor feels that you are ready, you write another set of exams covering the same topics but more involved. Once you pass these exams you’re ready to go on your proficiency test.
Walking safari safety.
The proficiency test is extremely important in a young guide’s life. Once a year, all the candidates travel to adesignated area, setup camp, and undergo a week of intense examination. The examiners are drawn from the industry and from the National Parks’ staff. They do everything they can to make your life difficult. I recall on my proficiency test walking in the pouring rain day after day until I had blisters the size of quarters on my feet. They push you into dangerous situations to test your ability to remain calm and under pressure so as to ensure that you can handle any eventuality. Only a small percentage of guides pass this, but once you do you are legally qualified to lead and run safaris, as well as conduct walking safaris in dangerous game areas. I completed my professional Guides license in 1994.
3. What was your most frightening moment during your training?
The most frightening moment during my training was when I had to stop a large, bull elephant walking aggressively towards us. I shouted far louder than needed. It was quite frightening but also exhilarating standing in the dark in the middle of a surge field hearing elephants all around us as we prepared to chase them out. We did this by making as much noise as possible (usually a volley of gunfire). Then, in the silence that followed, all we could hear was the stampeding of elephants all around us as we stood together in the darkness preying they would not pop out in front of us. Villages in remote districts of Africa have elephants that eat villagers’ crops on a regular basis. The villagers have no choice but to rely on the National Parks Department to chase these animal out of their fields.
4. What is your favorite part about being a safari guide?
There is no one thing. I love the sense of renewal and discovery of walking in the early morning, the thrill of tracking a black rhino on foot, the wonder of sitting in a vehicle parked right in the middle of a herd of elephants, the beauty of an elusive leopard sighting, the adrenaline of hearing lions roar from your sleeping bag, and the peace of canoeing a river like the Zambezi –I really could go on and on.
But, I would have to say that the most rewarding part for me is being able to relive these experience though the excitement and wonder of my guests as they experience these things for the first time.
5. What advice would you give to aspiring safari guides?
My tutor always told me that the most important thing about guiding is keeping the client safe, happy, and entertained. Today, I see some guides going on training courses that are heavily focused on learning the tiniest details about everything in the bush. This is important but a waste of time if you don’t understand your clients and what they are looking for and wanting to experience.
Have a question you’d like to ask Mark? Let us know in our comments section and we’ll compile an interview with Mark based on those questions.
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