The Arctic Expert in Canada
Alexandra Anaviapik misses the humpback whales the most.
She often thinks of the moments when the animals blew fountains hissing into the air or when they raised their fringed caudal fins before diving.
Once Anaviapik even saw a whale jump out of the water and clap itself on its back - so close to her boat that salty drops splashed on her face.
"Oh," says the Inuit woman on the phone, "I miss the giants."
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Before the pandemic, Anaviapik worked as a tour guide on cruise ships in the polar seas.
The 32-year-old steered Zodiacs through icy fjords, hiked with the passengers through the arctic tundra, talked about her childhood in Canada's far north at the captain's dinner.
The guests learned, for example, that their father was born in an igloo and that their mother liked to serve raw seal liver - and sometimes polar bear meat too.
It brought Arctic holidaymakers closer to Canada's inhospitable, mysterious north, to which they would not have had any real access without Anaviapik's knowledge, without her explanations and anecdotes.
"The job," says Anaviapik, "was my dream."
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The coronavirus put an end to the dream.
Anaviapik has been living in her homeland, Pond Inlet, a settlement with 1,300 inhabitants far beyond the Arctic Circle for ten months.
"Whales," she says, "are rarely seen here from the shore."
Pond Inlet is considered the gateway to the infamous Northwest Passage, which leads from the Atlantic through the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific.
In the past, a cruise ship anchored at the site every few weeks.
The Northwest Passage attracted tourists from all over the world - and guaranteed Anaviapik a good income for years.
Alexandra Anaviapik worked as a tour guide on cruise ships in the polar seas before the pandemic
Source: Photo by Shelly Evelrum
The woman even continued her last journey before the pandemic 15,000 kilometers: In February 2020, she accompanied an expedition to Antarctica.
Anaviapik worked on board the ship "Ocean Adventurer" of the Quark shipping company.
To stand at the other end of the world once - that had been her wish for a long time.
And Anaviapik is glad it came true before tourism stalled.
"You should stop," she says, half jokingly, half wistfully, "when it's at its best."
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After that trip, Anaviapik took a job in Pond Inlet to make ends meet.
Her current job has little to do with adventure and freedom, rather the opposite: She is now on guard at the local police station.
A quiet job, the two cells of the station are mostly empty.
Anaviapik also began to paint.
Her latest picture, 55 by 85 centimeters, shows washed-out golden shapes on a black background: Northern lights.
"Painting," she says, "keeps me from going nuts."
Because there is hardly any distraction in Pond Inlet.
The few bars are closed, and large gatherings are prohibited.
And that, although the settlement, which can only be reached by ship or plane, has not yet had a single corona case.
Anaviapik hopes that she will get her old life back soon.
“I can't wait to work as a guide again.
And to bring people closer to the secrets of the Arctic. "
She believes the number of polar tourists will return to the previous level as soon as enough corona vaccines are available.
“The Arctic and Antarctic are unique in the world,” says Anaviapik, “there will always be a demand.” Those who want to see polar bears and penguins in the wild have little choice but to travel to these regions.
Polar bears could be extinct by 2100
Climate change could cause polar bears to become extinct in the wild by 2100.
Because of the disappearance of their habitat due to the rising temperatures, the carnivores find less food, according to a study by the journal "Nature Climate Change".
Source: WELT / Jana Strauss
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Even if Anaviapik has to work in the police station of Pond Inlet for some time, the coronavirus can even help her.
“The environment gets a respite.” She doesn't believe that the global lockdowns will stop climate change.
But on a small scale she has noticed changes since the tourists stopped: “A colony of geese that left our settlement years ago has returned.
That's a ray of hope. ”
Stefan Beutelsbacher
A Westphalian explains Mexico
At some point a friend of Gregor Dammeier's had the idea: Hey, call yourself “The Mexperte”!
The native of Lippstadt, who came to Mexico through the hotel business, learned his trade from scratch.
Because in Mexico a travel guide is not just any job, but a separate profession with training.
The now 49-year-old obtained his license from the Polytechnic University in Mexico City, and his studies lasted a year and a half.
Since then he has been working for large tour operators such as TUI or Dertour and taking on VIP support for cruise travelers, for example from the "Europa".
But he prefers to organize alternative trips for people who want to experience something special: “Meeting a traditional shaman, watching the marimba players in the evening while you sip a mezcal - not a tight program, just browsing.” That is the core of his job : "I want to open people's eyes, make them curious, give them experiences that they would never have without a guide."
Gregor Dammeier has not accompanied any guests through Mexico since March
Source: Gregor Dammeier
Dammeier's last tour group took him through the Chiapas rainforest in March.
They visited archaeological sites and explored colonial cities.
The last item on the program was a catamaran trip through the Caribbean.
"17 people, open bar, perfect weather for fishing and snorkeling."
Corona was already in full swing, Guatemala and Costa Rica had already closed their borders.
“My concern was: will I get all of the guests back to Germany?” Some had joked: “Then we'll stay in Mexico.” In the end, he got them all on a plane.
This not only brought the main season to an abrupt end.
While business was still booming in 2019, European tourism collapsed completely with the corona crisis.
It's tough for Mexico, the tourism sector is the country's third largest source of income.
Dammeier has not had a single assignment since his trip to Chiapas.
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“As a self-employed travel guide, you should always create reserves, but many have not done that.
When I talk to colleagues, many are devastated.
Existential worries, struggle for survival, fear.
And anyone who has offered large round trips suspects that this form of tourism may never come back - who will get on a bus with 50 or more seats in the future? "
He is assuming a massive structural change.
Less mass tourism, more quality and time to enjoy: "The trend is towards more private tours, special topics, culinary tours, individual experiences." All of this only works with good guides, which is why Dammeier is reasonably confident that Corona will not die out in the end Profession.
But many of his colleagues will fall by the wayside and try to reorient themselves.
He spent the lull summer with his family and lived off his savings.
He taught his four-year-old son German and let off steam in the garden.
But his order book is also empty for the next main season.
That's why Dammeier has a plan B: “In 2021 I want to open a small, fine bakery with a German baker who lives in Mexico.” When the travel business, as he hopes, picks up again in October, he will also be able to enjoy Mexican schnapps able to offer German black bread.
Airen
Confucius is helping Singapore through the Corona crisis
Until Corona turned her life upside down, she liked to describe her job with a saying attributed to Confucius: "Choose a job that you love and you won't have to work a day in your life." It has been wonderful for three decades works, since the 1990s Josephine Wee, 50, accompanied visitors from all continents as a tour guide through her hometown Singapore.
The fact that she was out and about 60 hours a week with her guests and took an average of 70,000 steps never bothered her.
"I didn't even notice how quickly the time went by. I loved working as a guide, showing people around Singapore and explaining what makes us tick here."
That's why she likes to take guests into the tropical jungle that still exists in Singapore, lets them try the bizarre national dish fish head curry or shows them a "Kopi Tiam", one of those rustic cafés where you can choose between Kopi (Coffee with condensed milk), Kopi-O (black coffee with sugar), Kopi-po (light coffee) and Kopi Gu You (coffee with butter).
Stay optimistic: tour guide Josephine Wee on a test tour in December
Source: Josephine Wee
For Wee, the broadening of horizons is reciprocal: "I quickly noticed how great the cultural differences are between Europeans, Americans, Australians and Asians who visit Singapore, even if we all speak English together." A good travel guide adapts its program accordingly , she says: "Asians, for example, don't want to be bothered with too many facts and figures, so you have to make regular shopping stops on every tour."
Europeans, on the other hand, love anecdotes and stories, "They also want to know how I personally experienced the change in Singapore from a third-world country to a prosperous first-world country." You can read the facts on Wikipedia, but: "Bring the soul of a travel destination across." that create personal references, only a travel guide can do that. "Which is why she likes to treat herself to one on private trips to other countries -" It would be a shame, for example, to miss great, hidden wine cellars in France that are not in any travel book which an experienced guide knows ”.
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In January 2020 it came to an abrupt end: “That was when I had my last tour.
For me as a freelancer, all income fell almost overnight. ”When it became clear in the spring that Corona would not only be a temporary phenomenon, she had the choice between panic and looking ahead.
Josephine Wee chose the latter.
She registered on a digital learning hub and thus laid the foundation for her new second mainstay: a bakery from home.
“I'm good at baking cakes,” she says, the rest - marketing, online sales, setting up my own website (JoBakesGreat.com) - she learned within a few weeks.
Since then she has been baking and selling with growing success, from cookies to peppermint-chocolate brownies to her specialty: Basque Burnt Cheesecake.
Wee continues to believe in the revival of tourism and her return to her old profession. In December, she even took part as a guide in a test run by the Singapore Tourist Board, “with a mask and all possible safety measures, of course”.
But for the foreseeable future, their future will be about flour and sugar.
Your income from the bakery is much lower than before Corona, but Josephine Wee is optimistic.
Because she has cheated the virus.
“I see light at the end of the tunnel,” she says, and again agrees with Confucius: “It is better to light a single little light than to curse the darkness.”
Sönke Krüger
Give and take in Cape Town's township
Again one of the red tourist buses drives past her small house on the edge of the township.
And again Thobeka looks wistfully after Mdlalo.
Usually it stopped just a few meters away, right in front of the police station.
Mdlalo was already waiting there and receiving up to 30 tourists a day - their tours through the Cape Town township of Imizamo Yethu were among the most popular stops on the hop-on-hop-off bus system.
Because of the pandemic, the provider has canceled this item on the program.
The risk for both sides is too great, the number of infections in South Africa has risen sharply again in recent weeks, and recently a rapidly contagious corona mutation was discovered in the country.
Only a handful of tourists are currently sitting in the red buses, if at all.
Hard times in South Africa: Thobeka Mdlalo is waiting for tourists in Imizamo Yethu
Source: Christian Putsch
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Times are tough for the 42-year-old.
For nearly a decade, Mdlalo has guided visitors through her township on foot, “a unique authentic experience,” she says.
In the boom months from December to March, she often earned the equivalent of over 50 euros a day - that made her one of the top earners in Imizamo Yethu.
This income was suddenly lost, and in April she fell ill with corona with severe symptoms and only slowly recovered.
"The situation makes me very sad, otherwise there would be so much life here at that time."
Most people in Imizamo Yethu know the busy woman.
Their tours were accepted in the poor district, after all, the tourists often bought art in the community center.
And food from families who cook South African in the township.
And drinks in the Spaza shops, as small shops in South Africa are called.
Mdlalo also shared a part of her income with the people she visited with the tourists.
She knows the criticism of people who brand township tours as poverty voyeurism.
There are situations in which she is careful not to take photos.
But much more often the residents would invite tourists to take photos together and even to their tin huts.
And ask questions.
Or answer questions.
Mdlalo's motto: At least bring both worlds together a little.
“This is only possible with guides who know their way around,” she says.
“Otherwise the visitors would never, ever dare to come here.
They see the poverty, of course, but they are also impressed by the humanity and the community that they experience here. "
Those who do not want to be visited by the township residents, of course, leave them alone.
“But very few of them are.
Most of them are happy about contacts they would otherwise never have had and about the economic opportunities. "
They won't let themselves get down in Imizamo Yethu, says Mdlalo.
“The people here have the will to improve their own lives.” Recently, dozens of people in the neighborhood organized themselves to regularly collect the garbage on the streets after the city had neglected this task for years.
Mdlalo herself laid out a large flower bed on the edge of a busy street and renovated her house.
When one of the strictest lockdowns in the world was imposed in South Africa in April, she sat at her sewing machine, sewed masks and clothes, and sometimes she sells homemade muffins or grilled sausages.
She earns only a fraction of her previous income.
But she gets by.
As soon as possible, Mdlalo will offer tours again.
“I need the daily exchange, the energy of new encounters and certainly also the money.
But this is not a one-way street: The visitors also get energy back from us and insights into a world that they would otherwise not have.
To do this, they need competent travel guides, it's that simple. ”
Christian Putsch
Holidays in corona times - you should pay attention to this
Despite Corona, many people want a vacation.
The good news: Traveling in times of pandemics is not entirely impossible, but there are a few things to keep in mind.
Source: WORLD
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Source: Welt am Sonntag