Riaan Fourie from Royal Malewane has been announced as the overall winner of the Safari Guide of the Year 2019, which recently held its 8th annual event at NJ MORE Field Guide College in South Africa.
Mike Karantonis from Africa Direct, co-founder of Safari Guide of the Year, said: “We just wanted to give something back to all safari guides who work so hard and are great ambassadors. Field guides are professionals and deserve recognition for their hard work and contribution to the tourism industry.”
“The culmination of the final awards we experienced during the week really brought the competition to a new level. It’s raised the standards and we all had the most exceptional experiences with the most outstanding, professional guides,” said Michelle Du Plessis, Field Guides Association of Southern Africa MD.
The Safari Guide of the Year event is an Africa Direct initiative, collaboratively endorsed by FGASA, with the prime goal of giving recognition to guiding excellence.
The competition honours professional guides within the tourism industry who are highly qualified and experienced FGASA guides, nominated by leading lodges and training providers within Southern Africa.
A consistent performance over all the categories saw Riaan emerge victorious. Riaan becomes the second Royal Malewane guide to win the trophy, following Nikolas Vounnou in 2012.
The competition focuses on categories such as game-drive experience, ambassador award, Big Five guided walk, birding, storytelling, creativity award, track and sign and advanced rifle handling.
Riaan has been a professional guide at Royal Malewane for nearly 13 years. He holds a National Diploma in Nature Conservation and is a FGASA Level Three Professional Field Guide with SKS-Dangerous Game and SKS-Birding. He is also a Level Two Tracker.
The judges include some of the region’s most experienced and respected guides: James Steyn, Juan Pinto, Brian Serrao, Quinton Coetzee and Mike Karantonis.
