This Time, I’m the Tourist.

I’ve said it before: sometimes in this ridiculously demanding industry of ours, it’s good to just step back and be – a tourist.

The crazy thing is that I almost never go on holiday. I travel often, of course, but it’s always for work. This time, though, I’m the tourist.

So I’m writing to you from Voorhuis – the most beautiful Cape cottage at Sandpiper Guest Cottages in Boggomsbaai near Mossel Bay. It’s early morning quiet – but I guess it’s always quiet in Boggomsbaai – and we’re (blessings!) about to start the second day of our four-day Oystercatcher Trail. Then we’re going on to Botlierskop Private Game Reserve and then – I can’t wait – The Cape Town Book Fair.

What a privilege.

Fred Orban and his crew on the Oyster Catcher Trail have received many accolades for their amazing product – which is really just a coastal walk – but sheez, what a walk! (listen to me! If you can think of any superlatives I might have left out, please insert them here ________ and here ________). But when you take the beauty of this coastline and combine it with deep attention to detail (port on the Voorhuis dining room table, crossed sprigs of fresh lavender on the towels at the foot of your bed, little rolls of energy sweets in your picnic hamper) – it has to be a winner.

But above all, the Oyster Catcher crew (or would that be flock) know instinctively exactly how to treat their guests.

Note the word – “guests.” We haven’t once been referred to as “pax” here – and this is important. I think calling people “pax” commoditises and dehumanises us, and that this goes to the root of many problems of service (or the lack of it) in tourism as we know it.

But here in Boggomsbaai, I’m anything but a commodity. The only “pax” here are the light day pax (filled with costume, water, sunblox and picnix ) that each of us carries on our bax while we walk. Everyone – from owner to guide to cook – has been introduced to each of the six of us in our party (actually it was two parties when we started, but it’s one party now), and all of them have them have used all of our names regularly. Nothing’s been too much trouble, we haven’t been rushed or forced into anything at any time and we’ve learned stuff – about the environment, conservation, property development (very positive and totally negative), archeology, ourselves and each other – along the way.

Mostly what I’m learning though, is the value of simple humanity, compassion and awareness in creating an excellent tourism product. And it’s not just me mouthing off – the Trail is an integral part of Ker & Downey’s ‘Splendors of the Cape’ itinerary, which was recently voted one of the ‘Top 50 Tours of a Lifetime’ by National Geographic Traveler, and BBC Books listed it (as one of only two trails in South Africa) amongst the ‘Unforgettable Walks To Take Before You Die.’ Which puts it in the league of Peru’s Inca Trail, China’s Giant Panda Walk, India’s Darjeeling Tea Trek and Scotland’s West Highland Way.

You see, at it’s most basic, the Oyster Catcher Trail is just a walk along the coast. Of course it’s a bit more than that, though, because of the superb countryside (largely unspoiled, except for the damage done by THAT golf course), the luxurious accommodation and the fact that your luggage is transported for you (- which makes it a portered trail: but not a colonial-style safari with chinless white wallahs sauntering along ahead of a train of black unfortunates carrying boxes on their heads – which is the image I created in one magazine editor’s mind when I told him about the concept. He was horrified! There was no way he was going to be associated with that kind of exploitation!).

But – as always in tourism – it’s the people who run it that make the it great.

The secret, I think, lies in selecting the right people (passionate people – no, really passionate people, not mission-statement, looks-good-on-my-resume passionate), and, if course, in training, motivation and leadership.

If you’re looking for an ideal model for a case study, you’d do well to look at Fred Orban’s Oyster Catcher Trail.

In the meantime, I’m off to walk on the beach – about 12 km from Dana Bay to Boggomsbaai. One day in and I’m relaxing and feeling refreshed already. Imagine what I’m gonna be like on Friday.