Tour Guide and Leading Skills Training for Rangers and Private Sector Guides in Con Dao

Group leading in the forest

As part of the UNDP Con Dao Sustainable Use Project, WWF asked me to develop curriculum and deliver an ecotourism and guiding training programme for staff of Con Dao National Park and tour guides from the main hotels and resorts on the island.

The course was a week long vocational training programme, backed up with theory in a classroom situation followed by practical sessions in the National Park.  Key knowledge and skills included:

Classroom discussion

Basics of tourism
Introduction to Ecotourism
Objectives of Guiding - Who, where, when and why
Cultural awareness
Interpretation skills
Risk assessment planning
Emergency scenario planning
Guiding skills
Delivering a good talk

Team building excercise

Environmental education skills
Specialist groups
Leading school groups
Follow up training

The course was well received by participants, especially tour guides from the commercial sector.  Click here for pictures.

Hon Mot Community Based Tourism

Judging the cookery competition

A small project I put together as part of the Hon Mun MPA Project was working with local ladies on Hon Mot Island to provide basic tourism training and infrastructure for visitors.  The focus of this was organising cookery  classes (which had the added benefit of sneaking in nutritional and hygiene training too), to which I was the judge in the final competition.

The training remit was simple - teach local participants to make good, cheap, tasty food from locally available ingredients, market it well, and sell to the passing boat trade for a good profit.  The project actually worked well, there was enough trade from independent boat trips to use the facilities on the island, and a small trade developed in providing deck chairs and sun-shades.  Click here for pictures.