Taking A Private Guide On Safari – Worth It?

As part of my recent trip to Tanzania (twas lovely, thanks for asking), I hired a professional photographer to come with me. Why? Well, people will only spend time with me if I pay them, is the most obvious answer. Secondly, I feel like my photography has become rather stagnant, and when I look at my pictures from three, or five, years ago, they’re just as “good” as they are now. It was time to do what I know best: throw money at something and convince myself it will make me a better person.

Now, you may be thinking that a professional photographer is a rather different beast to a private guide, but luck was on my side, as my wonderful companion was also a qualified guide. Two for one. Although it would have been nice to hire him for only the thing I actually asked for. We’ll come back to that in another review.

And as someone who was deeply sceptical of the purpose of private guides, in an industry where, statistically speaking, 103% of the population will become one at some point, I’m willing to put my hands up and admit I was wrong about the pointlessness of their job.

What He/She Actually Does

First up, let me explain what one is. A private guide is someone who flies in to meet you, travels with you camp to camp and country to country for the entire trip, and eats every meal at your table. Don’t worry, they get their own food, you’re not suddenly hunting to fight off the starve demons. You pay for their flights, their guide room, their day rate, and you must take a private vehicle at each lodge. So it’s very much like having children, except they have to pretend to like you, even at the end of the trip.

Now, yes, you might be right to think a private guide guides. That would save a lot of writing. But, they also help with a few other things. The first is continuity. A camp guide gets a few nights with you. He learns your names, that one of you likes birds and that somebody’s knee is bad — then you fly off and all of it evaporates, and ninety minutes later you’re introducing yourself from scratch on another airstrip. Do that four times in a fortnight and you’ll realise you’ve spent a decent chunk of your trip being a stranger. A private guide ain’t gonna be pointing out the impala or repeating the same facts over and over.

The second job is logistics, if you just want someone there to hold your hand. Weight limits, park fees, two currencies, a border post manned by someone with a stamp and a grudge. Or just somebody to do the shouting at other human beings whilst you sit back and get fed grapes by your entourage.

Not All Guides Are Created Equal

I’ve said before that when it comes to guides, it’s more a personality match than a knowledge point. Most luxury camps are going to be there, or thereabouts, on knowledge. But I’ve had some truly shitty guides, even at high-end properties. Or guides who I know are giving out wrong information. The industry is expanding fast, more and more camps are coming online, and there’s going to be an inevitable number of turds bobbing to the surface.

Most camps won’t let you pick your guide in advance, which is understandable, as that guide may need time off. Bloody rude. Or any number of other reasons. Nervous breakdown, having last guided me? Anything is possible. So you are at the mercy of the rota. Which means your guide might be extraordinary. He might also be perfectly pleasant right up until you discover he handed his notice in last Tuesday, you are his final ever guest, and he’d quite like to go out in a blaze of glory — which is how you end up on foot at forty metres, watching a man scream “I drink your milkshake!” at a lion.

First things first, if you hate your guide, ask to change. People find this unthinkably rude and it simply isn’t. You are spending a preposterous amount of money and any decent camp would far rather move you quietly on night one than read about it later. Trust me.

But the point still remains: over a week you will spend more waking hours with this man than with anyone except the person you arrived with. That is a lot to leave to a rota. Some people want a walking encyclopaedia. Some want somebody funny who elevates the experience with their “pull my finger” routine. Some want to be left entirely alone until four in the afternoon. Getting that match right is the most underrated part of what makes a safari work.

And secondly, specialism. There are private guides who are serious photographers and will be all about position, light, camera set-ups, you name it. There are obsessive birders who can identify a species from the noise it made hitting your windscreen. Walking specialists. Big-cat people. Wild dog heroes. Conservationists. You can try requesting that at a camp, but there’s no guarantee they’ll have those people on site, or that they’ll be what you were after. Request it at the hiring stage and it changes the entire texture of the trip.

My Experience

But let me talk about my experience, rather than some generic borefest.

I used a lovely chap called Cathan Moore via Oryx Photo. I have no relationship with them beyond having used them, there are no affiliate links or kickbacks on this website, and I paid as a full paying customer, so I can give an honest view.

And that view is: Cathan is awesome. I could come back and tell you Oryx are awesome, and everything they did was, but ultimately I can only judge them on the guide I had — much like I’m always told “XX safari lodge has the best guides” by people who have been there once. Maybe every other guide on their books is Robin Williams from One Hour Photo mixed with Jake Gyllenhaal from Nightcrawler. We shall never know.

From a photography perspective, it was incredibly enlightening to have someone who could anticipate what the animals were going to do, and who fully understood light, vehicle positioning, settings, composition, and on the list went. I learnt an absolute tonne. Purely on that, it was worth it, and I’m going with Cathan again next year on an even more bloodsoaked adventure to Botswana. I am determined to find his breaking point.

And remember me grumbling that I’d have liked to hire him only for what I asked for? I withdraw it. From the guiding perspective — the bit I hadn’t actually paid for — it was brilliant to have two experienced guides sharing knowledge, all of us learning something and seeing extraordinary things together. Even for someone as experienced at travelling as I am, it also made everything that bit easier and smoother, and it linked the stays together beautifully.

Conclusion

When I started writing this, I’d have told you that staying in a top lodge negates the need for one entirely. In 95% of cases I still think that. Ask to change your guide, and save yourself the money. But I’m a willing participant in the game of “OK, maybe I was wrong”, and in that other 5% I can now see it clearly. I’ll be suggesting it to the right client.

Who is it not for? Two obvious ones. If hiring a guide means trimming the budget elsewhere, don’t — that’s not a good idea. And if you’re only doing one lodge, it might not make the most sense.

Otherwise, I think it works whether it’s your first safari or your tenth. Your first, if you want the hand-holding. Your tenth, if you want something very specific.

As for me: six days of expert instruction did make me a better photographer.

It did not make me a better person. Cathan tried.