10 Reasons to Become A Nature Guide
- Love Nature, Learn from Nature
Nature is all around us; yet few of us make an attempt to connect with her. Do we know about the bird singing the sweet song for us in the morning or the tree giving us shade? Do we know what value our forests provide us or what we can do about climate change? Becoming a nature guide entails developing an in-depth appreciation of local flora and fauna, including identifying different species and understanding their behaviors and habitats. It also includes learning about the environment in general. As you begin studying nature, it will begin enriching your life in countless ways.
- Collector of Local Stories
Everyone loves a good story, especially your guests when you’re out in a beautiful field. Becoming a nature guide, involves studying local history and culture from the nature perspective. To collect facts and stories of interest, that make a place come alive. This provides a well-rounded experience to the guests.
- Living life on the edge (safely)
There are several risks in the outdoors, but a nature guide is made to prepare for them. When you train to become a nature guide, you are taught how to manage risk and respond to emergencies in the outdoors, including first aid and wilderness survival skills.
- Nature Education – The Fun Way
Nature is beautiful by itself, but you will help make it memorable. Your work is to make things interesting for your audience. I think the best skill a nature guide can have is to explain something difficult in an easy and fun manner. As easy as it sounds, it is equally difficult. Becoming a nature guide will help you improve on your skills of creating engaging and interactive activities for your guests, including scavenger hunts, outdoor games, and team-building exercises.
- Time for a Green Job
You may have heard of blue-collar and white-collar jobs, but you’ll be entering green-collar territory with a nature guiding career. According to the United Nations Environment Program – “jobs in business that produce goods or services that benefit the environment or conserve natural resources are green jobs.” An engineer who works with renewable energy, a climate change scientist, an ecologist are all examples of green jobs. As Nature Guides, you help increase the public influence for the benefit of the environment, supporting education, training and public awareness. It’s as green as it gets!
I’ll be doing a post on Green Jobs on the website very soon. Stay tuned.
- Speaking and Leading with Ease
Practice your communication skills by leading nature walks and tours, and learn how to tailor your language to different audiences. You will be in-charge in several situations in the field. Develop your leadership skills by managing groups of people and making decisions on the fly.
- Train the Photographer’s Eye
Develop your photography skills to capture the beauty of nature and provide lasting memories for your guests.
- Become a Lifelong Learner
Embrace a lifelong learning mindset by continually expanding your knowledge and skills, and staying up-to-date on the latest developments in the field.
- Get Good with the Outdoors
Learn how to read maps and navigate different types of terrain, including mountains, forests, and rivers. How to pitch a camp and how to light a fire.
- Get Connected to Nature Guide Network
Network with other nature guides and professionals in the industry to learn from their experiences and build your reputation.
Would you like to start your journey as a Nature Guide? I know a great place to begin. It’s the same place that trained me and opened up the world of nature for me.
Fill this form to be contacted by them
The Naturalist School is a social enterprise that works to upskill nature guides, interpreters, forest staff, educators, naturalists and hobbyists. They offer short-term and long-term courses on Wildlife and Nature Interpretation, including India’s first Certified Nature Guide program. They also work with local and tribal communities to nurture & promote sustainable livelihoods, training in fields of ecotourism, nature education and entrepreneurship.They have trained Nature Guides across 7 states In India.
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All graphics created by Nayanika Bhatia, using either images found in open source or after crediting the creator.
