TOUR GUIDING NOTES

1. Introduction to tour guiding

Tour guiding is the process of leading visitors to places of interest while providing information, interpretation, and ensuring their safety and satisfaction.

Roles of a Tour Guide

1. Information Provider – Offers historical, cultural, and practical details about destinations.

2. Interpreter – Explains the significance of sites in an engaging way.

3. Leader – Organizes, directs, and manages the group during tours.

4. Entertainer – Creates a fun and enjoyable experience.

5. Safety Officer – Ensures the well-being of tourists

1.1. concepts of tour guiding

 a) Tours
A tour is form of travel from one place to another with multiple features that can be packaged and 
sold as a single unit.
A trip with visits to various places of interest for business, pleasure, or instruction complete trip, 
usually including fare, accommodation, meals, ground transport, tour guides services, taxes, etc., 
in one all inclusive price.
This is an organized journey from a point of origin to another place which is the destination for 
various reasons e.g. sightseeing, business, and medical purposes among others. 
b) Tour guide
A tour guide is a professional who provides assistance, information on cultural, historical and 
contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, and 
educational…
Tour guiding is the process of leading visitors to places of interest while providing information, interpretation, and ensuring their safety and satisfaction.

1.2. components of tour guiding

1.Attraction

2.Visitors 

3.Guide

4.Accommodation

5.Transport

6.Food and Beverages

2. Life skills

Life skills are abilities which enable an individual develop adaptive and positive behavior so as to deal effectively with challenges and demands of everyday life.

Objectives of life skills education

Life skills Education should enable learners to;

Here are the main objectives of life skills education:

1. Develop Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving

   • Help learners make informed decisions and solve everyday challenges effectively.

2. Promote Effective Communication & Interpersonal Skills

   • Enable individuals to express themselves clearly and build healthy relationships.

3. Enhance Self-Awareness & Emotional Management

   • Encourage understanding of oneself, managing emotions, and boosting self-esteem.

4. Encourage Responsible Decision-Making

   • Equip learners to make ethical and responsible choices in personal, social, and professional life.

5. Promote Healthy Living & Well-Being

   • Instill habits that support physical, mental, and social health.

6. Develop Coping Skills

   • Teach ways to handle stress, peer pressure, and other life challenges positively.

7. Foster Social Cohesion & Citizenship

   • Encourage respect, empathy, teamwork, and active participation in society.

8. Prepare for the Workplace & Adulthood

   • Build skills needed for employment, entrepreneurship, and independent living.

2.1. Benefits of life skills education

Here are the main objectives of life skills education:

1. Develop Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving

   • Help learners make informed decisions and solve everyday challenges effectively.

2. Promote Effective Communication & Interpersonal Skills

   • Enable individuals to express themselves clearly and build healthy relationships.

3. Enhance Self-Awareness & Emotional Management

   • Encourage understanding of oneself, managing emotions, and boosting self-esteem.

4. Encourage Responsible Decision-Making

   • Equip learners to make ethical and responsible choices in personal, social, and professional life.

5. Promote Healthy Living & Well-Being

   • Instill habits that support physical, mental, and social health.

6. Develop Coping Skills

   • Teach ways to handle stress, peer pressure, and other life challenges positively.

7. Foster Social Cohesion & Citizenship

   • Encourage respect, empathy, teamwork, and active participation in society.

8. Prepare for the Workplace & Adulthood

   • Build skills needed for employment, entrepreneurship, and independent living.

2.2. Categories of Life Skills

Here are the main objectives of life skills education:

1. Develop Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving

   • Help learners make informed decisions and solve everyday challenges effectively.

2. Promote Effective Communication & Interpersonal Skills

   • Enable individuals to express themselves clearly and build healthy relationships.

3. Enhance Self-Awareness & Emotional Management

   • Encourage understanding of oneself, managing emotions, and boosting self-esteem.

4. Encourage Responsible Decision-Making

   • Equip learners to make ethical and responsible choices in personal, social, and professional life.

5. Promote Healthy Living & Well-Being

   • Instill habits that support physical, mental, and social health.

6. Develop Coping Skills

   • Teach ways to handle stress, peer pressure, and other life challenges positively.

7. Foster Social Cohesion & Citizenship

   • Encourage respect, empathy, teamwork, and active participation in society.

8. Prepare for the Workplace & Adulthood

   • Build skills needed for employment, entrepreneurship, and independent living.

3. Survival skills

Definition of Terms
Bush craft: The skills needed to survive in the bush, and by extension in any natural environment
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants, known as campers, leave urban 
areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights, 
usually at a campsite, which may have cabins. Camping may involve the use of a tent, a primitive 
structure, or no shelter at all
Survival skills: are techniques a person may use for an indefinite duration in order to survive a 
dangerous situation
Wilderness: a wild and uninhabited area left in its natural condition. Also a large wild tract of land 
covered with dense vegetation or forests.
Navigation: the skill or process of plotting a route and directing a ship, aircraft and motor vehicle 
along it. Navigation is about getting from one place to another. It is no more difficult than using 
the following few basic skills

3.1. Safety and Bush Craft In The Wild

Safety And Bush Craft In The Wild
(i) Managing or avoiding risky situations in the wild
Different areas have different animals, but animals are not too excited about getting near humans. 
Yelling or blowing the whistle is usually enough to chase an animal away, if one even has the guts 
to come near you! 
Do avoid snakes – never try to handle them or pick them up or scare them. 
Above all, don’t panic. Understand that shortly after you realize you are lost, so will the groups 
you are with. They will tell the ranger, or call the police and all sorts of people will begin to look 
for you. 
Basic Survival Skills
1. Fire making 
It is a core survival skill
Survival techniques are plentiful, but there are five basic survival skills that everyone who ventures 
into the outdoors should understand, and be fully aware of their potential need and use. One of the 
most important elements of survival is between your ears – your brain. Of all survival techniques,the most important is DO NOT PANIC, use your wits and practice all elements of the five basic 
survival skills before you may need to rely on them.
Fire is the king of survival techniques! Fire can purify water, cook food, signal rescuers, provide 
warmth, light, and comfort. It can also help keep predators at a distance and can be a most welcome 
friend and companion. As a survival technique, it is one that is essential. Each and every person 
who ventures into the outdoors should have a minimum of two ways to start a fire with them – one 
on their person at all times, and the other with their gear. A few small fires provide more heat than 
one large fire. Collect firewood you think you will need for the night and then collect the same 
amount again, experience shows you will need it. Conserve fuel by making a “star fire”; where the 
ends of large logs meet in the fire only, push inward as more fuel is needed. Make a reflector from 
your space blanket on the back wall of a shelter to reflect the heat from your survival fire to your 
back, sit between the fire and the back of your shelter wall..
2. Shelter
Shelter is the survival technique by which you protect your body from excess exposure from the 
sun, cold, wind, rain, or snow. Anything that takes away or adds to your overall body temperature 
can be your enemy. Clothing is the first line of shelter protection, have the right clothes for the 
right environment. Always have a hat. Do whatever you can to keep the layer closest to your body 
dry. Layers trap air and are warmer than wearing one thick garment. Do not expend energy making 
a shelter if nature provides one. Practice building a quick lean-to shelter in case you cannot find 
your campsite, do not wait until you need to make one. Use a space blanket to prevent dampness, 
to insulate your shelter, or to wrap yourself up in a sitting or squatting position to concentrate your 
body core heat. 
3. Signaling
Signaling is unique among survival techniques in that it gives you the means and ability to alert 
any and all potential rescuers that you are in need of help. Fire, flashing light, bright color markers, 
flags, mirrors, whistles can all help you be found. Three fires in a triangular form are a recognized 
distress signal. Carefully bank your signal fires to prevent the igniting of your surrounding area. 
Use regular signal mirrors only when you can see a plane, or people in the distance. Use an 
emergency strobe light at night to help attract attention from those that may be in the area. Make 
smoky fire with organic material over the fire during the day to attract attention. 

3.2. Camping

Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, with or without shelter. 
It mostly involves leaving developed areas to spend time outdoors in natural surroundings.
Camping kit
Should contain at least the following:
- Sleeping bag (bed roll)
- Clothes (relevant to the destination)
- Toiletries (toothpaste, toothbrush, deodorant, soap) towel
- Extra pair of shoes (in case the pair the wearing gets wet)
- Bug spray
- Sunscreen
- First aid kit
- Mess kit (unbreakable dishes and utensils)
- Bottled water (a lot of the time you do not want to drink the camp water)
- Rain gear (rain coat)
Types of Camping
1. Traditional Tent Camping
Tent camping is one of the most common and basic kinds of camping. All you need to do is head 
off into the countryside and pitch a tent. You can sleep there for one or more nights, as you prefer. 
You can stay on campsites or venture into the wilderness or beaches. This is a really good option 
for families who have kids. It allows the children to experience and learn about nature, as well as 
how to respect it. It also allows the family to bond together and learns to share work. Even the 
smallest children can be assigned responsibilities so that it is more fun for everyone involved.
2. Backpacking/Hiking
This type of camping consists of walking during the day with all of your gear and (most often) 
a lightweight tent on your back, sleeping outside in a tent or a hammock when you find the rightplace, and most often moving on the next day. This kind of camping could last from one afternoon 
or one night up to several months.
This camping type often serves as therapy, because you won’t be spending time within the 
campsite, but you’ll constantly find something new and learn something different about nature 
along the way.
3. Survivalist Camping
This is the most extreme type of camping, one should not try to do until they’ve mastered all the 
camping techniques and learned to deal with any possible problems on the road. There are two 
different types of survival camping – base camp survival camping and walk-out survival camping, 
but their goals are the same – stay alive. 
 Base camp survival camping - includes finding an isolated, lonely spot, even better if 
it is unknown, setting your tent up there and spending some time at that place. This also 
means you’ll have to catch your own food, whether by hunting, fishing, or simply 
finding anything you could eat. But also, you’ll have to make sure you don’t distract 
other wild animals that could hurt you.
 Walkout survival camping - means you’re being dropped off at some place in the 
wilderness, and your mission is to find your way back to the civilization. It is by far the 
most challenging type of camping, and having to find the food and water source every 
day in an unknown territory doesn’t make it easier.
4. Canoe Camping
This is basically backpacking, but instead of the hiking trails, you’ll be traveling by water in 
your canoe. This way you’ll be able to travel a greater distance and visit some places you won’t 
be able to reach on foot. Don’t go before checking the weather, because the rain could change the 
character of a waterway, and always have a backup plan and emergency exit place, so you could 
get out of the water as fast as possible if you have to.
5. RV & Van Camping (Dry Camping/Boondoking)
It combines the camping part with the mobility provided by a vehicle. It has some advantages, 
some disadvantages. The advantages are that you’re more mobile, so you can visit more places,