In January I attended a Tourist Guiding course run by the Tourist Guiding Institute, with a theoretical as well as a practical content, and received my Certificate last week, the issuing thereof much delayed due to the Covid-19 Lockdown. I am qualified as a Cultural Tourist Guide, as well as a Wine Tourist Guide, for the Western Cape as well as Port Elizabeth and the Garden Route, and guide in English and in German. I have created a Facebook page, calling my Guiding Service ‘My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide’.

A year ago I saw a Facebook post, sent by a friend, in which a Canadian Tour Operator required German-speaking Tourist Guides in Cape Town. I had never done this before, but having lived in Cape Town for 30 years already, and having run my former tourist accommodation business for 20 years, I thought that I should give it a go.

The Canadian Tour Operator connects its Cape Town Guides with tourists wishing to see the Cape Town city centre in the main, on a walking tour. There are no prescriptions as to what to see and where to go, only a length of time being set, in accordance with the clients’ booking. I receive the client contact details, and message them, welcoming them to our beautiful city, and enquiring what they would like to see.  Most clients leave it up to me to show them what I regard to be the highlights of the City centre. Many clients book a longer tour, so I encourage them to take a drive with me around a part of our Cape Peninsula.

I’ve seen my city with new eyes, not only from what I learnt on the course, in walking through the city streets, but also from the questions asked by my tour guests. The Bo-Kaap remains a colourful highlight of the tour, popping into Atlas Trading, many clients buying a spicy reminder of Cape Town there. Honest Chocolate with the gin bar behind it, Gorgeous George, the City Hall with the statue of the late President Mandela, De Waterkant, and the Silo District are the highlights of the Tours, according to my clients. As a Food and Restaurant writer, I recommend restaurants, and take my clients to food tastings.

A personal benefit for me has been how much I have learnt about my City, for example designing a Historical Camps Bay Tour as one of my class projects. I live in Camps Bay, and had no idea that The Roundhouse is our oldest building, dating back to the 1700s, and thstbit on e was home to Lord Charles Somerset, a Governor of the Cape. And my German is being polished regularly, and I receive first-hand news of life in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland from my guests. And I got to know lovely classmates (Photograph right), a number of us being able to work together in future.

Just prior to the Lockdown I completed the Garden Route, Northern Cape, and Port Elizabeth exam. I also fortunately had done the required First Aid course just prior to the Lockdown. During Lockdown the Tour Operator took great effort to connect us Tourist Guides with colleagues acound the world, in small Zoom meetings, sharing similar Guiding experiences with each other.

According to Lockdown Level 3 regulations, Tourist Guides are allowed to work again as of Monday 1 June.  Sadly our country’s international borders are still closed and will be for a while, but I would be delighted to show local visitors my beautiful city.

 

My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide. Cell 0825511323 Facebook: My Cape Town Guide/Mein Kapstadt Guide Instagram: @MyCapeTownGuide

 

Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.chrisvonulmenstein.com/blog Tel +27 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@Ulmenstein Facebook: Chris von Ulmenstein Instagram: @Chrissy_Ulmenstein