Interpreting nature through guiding
One of my biggest passions has been nature guiding. In 2019, while being Viceminister of Tourism, I led the project for the creation of The Illustrated Training Handbook for Nature Guides in Colombia. This book made in partnership ProColombia, USAID and PuntoAparte aims at improving evidence-based nature interpretation in one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. It includes the Handbook itself in English and Spanish, as well at 50 podcast and 100 infographics. The following is my presentation of the book and the link to download it for free. I hope you like it.
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of looking at things,” asserted American writer and artist Henry Miller. And he was right, because travel is not only about physical journeys to places other than where we live, but also about inner—intellectual, emotional and spiritual—journeys that give added value, meaning, and significance to our travel experiences, making them unique, memorable, and ultimately transformative of our lives. The secret, then, of a good travel experience is one’s ability to connect our physical journey with our inner journey.
When it comes to nature tourism, that connection is made through three practices: contemplation, comprehension, and conservation. Contemplation consists of awakening the senses to discover the exuberance of nature and our place in it. Observing a landscape, listening to bird songs, feeling the sea breeze or breathing the pure air of a forest are the simplest ways in which we can enjoy and value our natural environment.
We comprehend when we come to understand that the planet is a living, dynamic being, with principles, systems, and processes. We gain comprehension, for example, when we understand the effects of the climate and its variations on biodiversity and on the behavior and ecological function of an animal species, including human beings, or when we develop in-depth knowledge of the medicinal or mystical properties of plants.
Finally, conservation begins when having contemplated and understood nature, we decide to contribute to its preservation. We thus enter into a circular and intimate relationship in which we are no longer separate from nature. Accordingly, we adopt sustainable consumption habits, we make rational use of water and energy; in short, we become part of the solution to the environmental challenges we face as humanity.
This is the great contribution that nature tourism can make and the best footprint a traveler can leave, while also helping to create wealth and well-being.
The guides’ mission in this context is fundamental, as it consists of leading the hundredsof thousands of people who seek to undergo this integral and enriching experience. And, to do so, they need to have the most accurate information at their fingertips.
It is in this context that we need to understand the remarkable value of the Illustrated Handbook for Nature Tourism Guides in Colombia presented here. An innovative tool, with a scientific and didactic foundation, based on which to interpret the country’s natural heritage, with a focus on conservation.
Aimed at guides, but open to a multiplicity of readers, the Handbook is intended to collect the stories behind the natural history of one of the most biodiverse nations on the planet. We hope that reading and using it will contribute to quality, sustainable, and transformative tourism that inspires many people to discover and love Colombia as an extraordinary natural treasure.
Julián Guerrero Orozco FLS
Project Director
Vice Minister of Tourism in Colombia