There is something timeless about the problems of travel with guides and porters.
Stories in Henry Morton Stanley's late-Victorian bestsellers find
their echoes today, and it was instructive to learn that a recent Cambridge
University Expedition to Sangay in Ecuador had the same problems that I had had
on an ill-fated expedition to Sangay ten years before: the local Indians had either
refused to take their mules to the agreed objective or simply defected.
Nevertheless, a local guide is often useful, sometimes indispensable. Small boys
hover outside the souk in Marrakech and we once spurned them only to become
comprehensively lost in the myriad covered alleyways. Rather less useful is the
young boy who tags along on the streets of a Third World city with which you might
be quite well acquainted. He will get into a conversation with you and then offer to
show you the principal sights. Before your tour is finished you may find you are
sponsoring him through school.
Sometimes a guide is obligatory, as at a French
château - and generally provides
good value. Where they are not, a judgement has to be made. In wild, sparsely
populated, ill-mapped country, I would say that a guide was essential, especially
where you do not speak the prevailing language and the local people do not speak
yours. In Samburu country recently, with a map that was far too large in scale, I
needed our camel handlers to steer us to the objective.
How to get the best
Fix your price. If a journey is involved and you require any form of transport for any
great length of time, it is best to find out the cost in advance - if
only to minimise the shock of the often inordinate sum asked. Guides have no
meters and rarely are they governed by any regulations. The price agreed at the
outset, especially if there are other guides in the offing (and thus a choice), is often
substantially less than that demanded at the end. Even in Nairobi I recently fell into
the trap of failing to establish the price before taking a taxi to the outer suburbs
(and was still mightily stung, even after an unedifying argument at the
journey's end). Before you clinch the deal, bargaining is generally
possible and is often expected.
Pick the right man. Your selection of the right guide is very important. Unfortunately
this often involves a snap judgement based on appearances. Women often seem
to have better intuitive judgement than men, I find, and a few quick questions on
the spot before departure are valuable in ensuring you have a good man. For how
things can go wrong, read Geoffrey Moorhouse's
The Fearful Void. Some unscrupulous guides lead their
charges into remote regions and then refuse to conduct them back without a big
bonus. Never entirely trust a guide's navigational ability. He will
not usually admit to being lost, but can often become so. Try to keep a check on
distance covered, note all prominent landmarks and take their bearings from
identifiable points on your route and the time that you took them. Avoid questions
like "Is it far?" or "Will
we get there tonight?" Guides often have more inclination to
please their employers than to tell the sometimes painful truth, and the answers to
these two questions will invariably be "no"
and "yes".
Problems with porters
The days of mammoth expeditions, undertaken with armies of porters, are probably
over. I was once manager and paymaster of a constantly changing team of about
130 porters in Nepal, but smaller, faster-moving assaults are now the order of the
day and they normally require less manpower. The problems are otherwise the
same, however, and most have been hinted at above.
Here are a few further suggestions:
· Be totally familiar with the local currency and its exchange rate
before you embark on any negotiation.
· Try and secure the services of a local
'minder' to help firm up the local
bundobust (a useful Hindi word, meaning
'logistical arrangements'). On a recent camel
safari I took a young NCO from the Kenya General Service
Unit who was excellent in his dealings with porters and headmen. Policemen,
soldiers, students have all served me well in this role.
· Remember that guides and porters have to have food and shelter.
Who is providing this, you or they? You may have to offer advance payment and
provide for their journeys home.
· This goes for their animals, too. Camels often have to carry their
own forage across deserts and yaks carry theirs up the last stages of the climb to
the Everest base camp. Remember that they always travel home faster than they
travel out.
· A head porter or sirdar is often a good idea
if you have a large number in your party. He will be worth his extra pay.
· Only pay a portion of the agreed fee at the outset. Keep the balance
in your money belt until you get there.
· Guides should, of course, lead but porters should take up position in
the middle of your party. This prevents
'disappearances' and enables you to react if a
porter becomes ill or tired.
The brighter side
Finally, if in doubt, take a guide or porter rather than try to struggle on without them.
They add colour to the whole enterprise, are generally honest and good hearted
and could well end up firm friends. It is worth while taking a few presents with you
as a mark of gratitude. Some of your own kit will be much appreciated. Otherwise,
penknives, folding scissors and cigarettes go down well. British commemorative
coins, postcards of the Queen, empty screw-top tobacco tins -
even my old shirts - have proved acceptable gifts.
