Apr 2001
In this issue:
Wander of the world
Jordanian Yamaan Safady places in the top three for global tour guide award
Issue: Oct, 2009
You know when you’ve been on a hike guided by Yamaan Safady: your thighs, calves and hamstrings scream at you about it for about three weeks afterwards. The Jordanian adventure travel expert has been leading marathon trails over, around and occasionally through the Kingdom’s rugged terrain for half a decade, often spending four nights out in the open to reach the likes of Petra by the most circuitous route possible. But the rewards always outweigh the crippling soreness. And now his skill – and stamina – has been recognised.
The 2009 Wanderlust Paul Morrison Guide Awards, voted for by readers of Wanderlust, Britain’s leading adventure travel magazine, and The Daily Telegraph, which isn’t, seeks to find who is the best tour guide on the face of the earth. And Yamaan not only made the initial top five, he was then placed in the top three by a judging panel that included the bearded brilliance of Bill Bryson and Monty Python-turned-multi-passported Michael Palin. Not bad, right?
“I’d actually never heard of the award before,” admits Yamaan, “never mind that I was even nominated. The first I heard about it was when I got the e-mail from the magazine.” He finds out whether he was won at a gala function in London on October 13th, held at the Royal Geographical Society.
Judged on a range of criteria – knowledge, enthusiasm, communication and all manner of marketing fluff like “customer appreciation” and enviro-friendliness – Yamaan’s name was put forward by a British tourist and her husband, who then made sure that others who had booked him through the specialist tour company Walksworldwide voted also. “He was encyclopaedic in his knowledge of Jordan and was able to compare Bedouin culture and values to those we were more familiar with,” said one trekker who strode around Jordan in his company, while another said: “Although he has been to Petra many times, he made us all feel as though it was his first visit, just as it was ours.”
That, according to Yamaan, is what makes hiking with him or his specially trained Bedouin guides a bit more special. It’s not just hiking well off the beaten track, into ravines and gorges you never knew existed, but making the familiar seem even more exceptional – not least, perhaps, because reaching them after three or five days of scrambling, swimming and hiking is an achievement in itself. “I think it’s about the enthusiasm for what you do and where you do it,” he says. “But to be honest, this is more of an accolade for Jordan than for me personally.”
And if he had just one day to show the people of the world how great Jordan is? “I’d probably say Wadi Hasa... or maybe Wadi Araba. The route from Dana to Petra is one of the most amazing things about Jordan, and takes in waterfalls and swimming pools that are full even at the height of summer – and so few people even know they even exist.”
Maybe they’ll be more clued-up by October, Yamaan. He’s certainly ready for the extra business – if your calves are.
