Wanderlust announces best local guides

On Thursday, GreenTraveller was invited along to the 2007 Paul Morrison Guide Awards at the Royal Geographical Society. Like last year, it was another well run (and for industry awards - refreshingly short) presentation - and great to see last year's winners come up on stage and tell the audience what it meant for them to win.

The overall award winner this year was shared between Selwyn Davidowitz, who guides in the Western Cape area of South Africa, and Danut Marin, a guide from Romania who specialises in the Carpathian Mountains. The runner-up was Goyotsetseg Radnaabazar, from Mongolia.

(Above, from left: Selwyn Davidowitz, Goyotsetseg Radnaabazar, Lyn Hughes, Danut Marin, Bill Bryson)

The winners were selected from more than 160 guides from around the world. In addition to cash awards and equipment, Selwyn and Danut will both receive a bursary from Wanderlust of £5,000 to spend on community or self development projects. In addition, a further £5,000 has been given by the U Foundation, to be spent on local development projects, further education or overseas travel by the winning guides.

The judging panel was led by Bill Bryson and included Michael Palin, Lyn Hughes of Wanderlust, naturalist Mark Carwardine, and Mark Ellingham, founder of Rough Guides.

The annual award was created in 2006 as a tribute to Paul Morrison, Wanderlust’s co-founder, who died in 2004. Lyn Hughes, Paul’s widow and co-founder and editor of Wanderlust, said: “I am thrilled we have had such a great response to the awards. A travel guide is the one person who can inspire you to climb that mountain or get as excited about spotting an elephant shrew as an elephant. More importantly they can often be an important bridge between your travel experience and an understanding of the local community.”

Judge Bill Bryson said: “We have heard some amazing stories about our guides from their many testimonials. It is these individuals who create life changing experiences for us all as we travel, which is why these awards are so precious.”

The full results of The Paul Morrison Guide Award 2007 will appear in the November issue of Wanderlust on sale from 12 October.

To book a trip with one of the award-winning guides, contact:

Selwyn Davidowitz – South Africa, Western Cape
Independent bookings via www.ilovecapetown.com

Danut Dan Marin – Carpathian Mountain, Romania,
Escorted group trips with www.exodus.co.uk – the 8-day Carpathian Conservation, Culture and Wildlife trip

Goyotsetseg Radnaabazar – Mongolia
Tailormade travel itineraries with Mongolia specialist Panoramic Journeys www.panoramicjourneys.co.uk. Goyo also helped provide the fabulous inspection notes for the two Mongolian places in Alastair Sawday's Green Places to Stay.

See last year's Paul Morrison Guide Awards.