I do not know about you, but nature has always been a big wonder for me. The caves, waterfalls, valleys and mountains all sculpted by a mighty hand. The richness of our African land intrigued me. The fact that soil could be black, red and brown. Not only does it feed us but the variety of animals we are blessed with. The diverse cultures, from the boondoos to the cities. This made me wonder, what lies beyond our borders. .
Growing up, tourism was miles away from our little town in the North central part of Zimbabwe.
Surrounding our post-independence-built townships were tracts of farms cultivating oranges, corn and
cotton. Weekends were always hugely awaited as that was the time, we got to play street football and
also disappear into the nearby bushes with our dogs to hunt for deer and rabbits. We seldom caught
any, but it made our youth just to see the dogs give chase while we gazed in awe at Usain Bolt in the
form of a deer!
A trip to the Victoria falls or Hwange national park was just too far away and not mentioning that it
would also have costed a leg and an arm. The closest attraction we could visit were the Chinhoyi Caves
of which I visited once on a school trip. As children we had a tendency of chanting songs as soon as we
set our foot on any moving vehicle and since I had traveled a bit on school sports trips, I knew a lot of
songs and I became the lead singer! One of my favorite songs was sung to encourage the driver to get
the 4 wheels moving but it also left me with a burning sensation in my heart, I really wished that I was
the one driving! Fast forward to when I came to South Africa, after I got my driver’s license and moved
in with a friend in Cape town. I happened to stumble upon the tourist guide profession and I fell in love
with it. I guess love at first site does exist. I quickly learnt about the history, geology and culture of this
beautiful country and I have now been conducting tours in Cape town, Garden route and Johannesburg
since 2015. I have also learnt that that travelling should be a human right because of how much
knowledge one can pick up along doing so. I have not traveled much outside Zimbabwe and South Africa
but being able to meet people from all corners of the world is almost as good as travelling the world as it
does gives one a much broader perspective on a lot of subjects.