At first glance, HonorineUwayo does not strike one as a very busy safari guide since the 21-year-old so easily passes for a carefree college student with scant responsibility and no steady job.

But that opinion quickly changes once you get to know her and spot the traits that set her apart from the many Millennials inhabiting campuses across the country. First, this young woman routinely works busy schedules, being one of the only four licensed female safari [tour] guides in a country with 122 qualified guides.

And she loves her job, "very much.”

After finishing high school, three years ago, Uwayo opted for a five-month internship stint at a local tour company. She was intent on networking and exploring after which she decided to free-lance.

"I defined my journey in tourism because I love tourism. As a free-lancer I work for and with different companies and individuals. You tell me what you want and I book for accommodation, arrange for vehicles, take you to the park, and so on. I am not attached to any tour company but I work with all of them,” she beamed as she told her story.

In some ways, Uwayo is self-taught and being a self-directed learner looks certain to make a huge difference in her personal success.

The first born in a family of seven, she made tremendous efforts to teach herself English at an early age.

"I don’t know how to explain this. I didn’t go to schools such as Green Hills Academy where it is easy to learn languages quickly and properly,” she says.

Honorine Uwayo with a colleague pose for a picture during a bird watching session at Monfort Secondary School in Nyamata District.  

"I went to nursery school in Rulindo District and later to GroupeScolaire de Rugando in Gasabo District for primary.”

She was at EcoleSecondaire de Kacyiru (ESK), in Gasabo district, for O Level, then later "luckily” joined Kigarama Technical Secondary School in Ngoma District, for A Levels, where she studied tourism.

Her good English, she explained, was mostly self-taught. Watching National Geographic’s stories about animals at a young age, reading and using a dictionary all the time, she said, worked magic.

"From watching national geographic, I also watched translated movies. I watched these movies with a dictionary and whenever I saw a new or difficult word I checked it out. I learnt English mostly by myself.”

But, as they say, you cannot learn English from a book. Like driving a car, you only learn by doing and, the most natural way to learn grammar is through conversation. But she faced challenges whenever she tried to speak.

"I was always trying to speak and, you know, my age group would always say ‘she is trying to be a white; she doesn’t want to speak Kinyarwanda.’ But I knew what I wanted. I was never put off.”

Uwayo has also previously enrolled at Kwetu Film Institute, a local multimedia and hospitality school, to study digital film making and boost her skills. While there, she also fell in love with acting.

Lately, she is learning German and wants to go for further studies in Germany in future.

Honorine Uwayo and colleagues during a recent birdwatching session at Mukungwa River in Musanze, Northern Province.

Animal channels inspired love for tourism

But it is Uwayo’s love for tourism that has an amusing and somewhat surprising origin, watching animal channels when she was young.

Uwayo said: "I remember fighting with my siblings because they wanted to watch cartoons when I wanted to watch animals, or fighting with dad because he wanted to watch football. I just loved birds, wild animals, and everything in that genre. Love for tourism is something that developed from watching national geographic and other animal channels”.

Before she enrolled at Kigarama Technical Secondary School, Uwayo thought she would end up somewhere else studying to be a doctor or a pilot, things she really never liked. Her parents preferred she study science subjects and the thought troubled her.

"When O level results were released, I scored good marks and the government sent me to a technical vocation school for tourism. I was so excited because this was a dream come true. It was a miracle. They gave me a school that I did not choose. And they gave me tourism which I always wanted.”

Tourism has helped her make lots of connections and get more exposed, she said.

"It also helps you think wisely as we are always reading widely to be informed. You are not a walking encyclopedia but you need to read and know something about everything. That’s how you become a good tour guide. You need to be an entertainer, have good communication skills and lots other skills.” 

And the pay is very good too. In an off peak season, Uwayo earns a minimum of Rwf 450,000 a month.

"I earn far much more, of course, during the peak season.”

And the best part of it all, she said, it is a job she loves very much and she never tires while at it.

"I love what I am doing.”

Honorine Uwayo benefited from interacting with Carmen Nibigira, a seasoned regional tourism policy expert, when they met last month during the former’s tour of the Volcanoes National Park famed for its rare mountain gorilla. Courtesy

Few women tour guides

Despite the fun and decent financial rewards, Uwayo is not pleased that very few women are safari guides. The entire tourism sector continues to be generally regarded, she observed, as a man’s domain. A negative societal mindset is to blame, she opined.

 "We have challenges just like in any other industry, and we are very few. But we are looking out for more women to join the sector. It is our mission. Women safari guides are determinedly searching for other women to join because, among other reasons, it’s very bad when clients are looking for a qualified female guide and can’t find one.”

"Our parents and neighbors think that a girl or woman can’t go to a 10-day safari. You go out for 10 days, sleeping in hotels and all that, and people think that you could be sleeping with a man. It doesn’t make sense for a married lady to go out on a safari for long. That is our society and that’s how people think, which is very wrong, very bad.”

But Uwayo and colleagues are striving to change this. They are determined to "tell our family and friends” that women are able to do the job and be good respectable mothers, sisters and citizens.

"We know what we are looking for. We also want more women onboard because they can do this. Parents and society need to know that this is not a profession for males only. If there is any female out there who wants to join the industry and develop a career I am more than ready to support. Many people think that if you get married, and you are female, you cannot pursue a tourism career. This is a very good well-paying career.”

Honorine Uwayo leading a boat cruise with western tourists in Lake Kivu in November 2017  

All that anyone requires to thrive, she said, is a positive attitude, communication skills, and basic knowledge about tourism and current affairs, among others.

Carmen Nibigira, a seasoned tourism policy expert who was given a tour of the Volcanoes National Park by Uwayo last month, calls the latter "a brilliant champion in the making.” But Nibigira, now a Tourism Policy Analyst and Project Director at Horwarth, is also perturbed by the number of women in the profession.

"This profession has been associated with men only. The nature of the job requires that you go on safari for long days and nights hence making it difficult for girls. The society and cultures expect girls to work and come home and not spend the night outside.” Nibigira said:

"Second, most tourists are white and people think if you are with them you are a loose woman. What we need to do is to demystify all those assumptions and demonstrate that it is a great career path, with benefits and a good future.”

The former regional coordinator of the Nairobi-based East African Tourism Platform has 18 years’ experience in the hotel and tourism industry in Africa and Europe and knows that women safari guides are on demand.

Honorine Uwayo bird watching and boat riding in Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda

"Trends are showing us that female guides are on demand and we should encourage this by choosing them whenever possible, something I do all the time.”

 "In Africa especially, women guides are few and this is why when tourists come here they value that experience. Second, I may be wrong, but female guides add a charm and a female touch to the experience. We are more caring; we often solve problems and are great tour guides.”

According to Jean Marie Vianney Ngenzi, one of Uwayo’s former teachers at Kigarama Technical Secondary School, Rwandan women just need to be "energetic enough as Honorine” in the line of work. Second, he said, professionalism is important. Ngenzi also warns against laziness if one is to succeed in the profession.

He added: "The only thing to do to turn the situation around is to encourage Rwandan girls to handle any kind of job. Tourism is tiresome and adventurous. Dealing with people from different countries and cultures is no easy work.”

editorial@newtimes.co.rw