How can an inside out knowledge of Africa help you get more from your Australian travels? Rob Barber talks travel tech, and transferring skills from the Kalahari to the outback.
If there’s one thing the Adventure Travel Show teaches you, it’s that for every square mile of earth you’re passionate about, there’s someone else equally passionate about somewhere entirely different. So while we can talk till the wombats come home about Australian travel, just spending 5 minutes with someone like Rob Barber of Golden Africa can have you packing your bags for another continent entirely.
Rob was born in the southern highlands of Tanzania. His first stomping grounds were in Ruaha National Park, Tanzania, where the family would regularly go camping. After finishing school, Rob went on to work in Ruaha guiding for a season at a lodge with family friends. This is where he knew that a life of guiding and working in the bush was unquestionably the one for him.
Rob left Ruaha to study in Bristol, UK and graduated with a BA (Hons) but the bush was always calling. Before leaving the UK for good and returning to his roots, Rob was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS). He came to Botswana and was immediately taken by the incredible wilderness and diversity of the country and soon realised that this was to be his new home.
He went on to start up Golden Africa, and today, as director of the company and a fully licensed professional guide of Botswana, he continues to work throughout the country. We met Rob at the ATS 2015 and swapped notes…
What are your feelings about travel technology?
I love it! The more the better, and I can’t wait to see what else comes out. I am very lucky to have been taught a core set of skills early on, which were totally separate to technology, such as tracking, bird calls, trees and plants, navigation by the sun and stars etc. There are now all sorts of amazing and fantastical apps out there which can really help, but I am a firm believer that these are ultimately useless in the greater world around us, without that foundation of knowledge.
I am also really looking forward to being able to sit and develop an app which is directly useful for me and my safari guests, with everything from their flight details, through to bird calls, and animal checklists etc. I’ll be the one giving them the baseline data in the field, and they’ll be using the technology to add extra info on their terms.
Do you use technology when you head off on an adventure?
Absolutely! I always take my GPS, both iPhones, iPad and satellite phones. However, they are only employed as a last resort, except for the bird calls on my iPad. I used to guide safaris with a library of over 10 different books, weighing in at over 10kg, and now I do it all from my iPad, which saves space, keeps my books in a decent condition (!), and means that I can embrace the benefits of the technology for its merits, and not as a substitute for my guiding in the bush.
What items of technology do you use?
I have tried multiple different products in the field, but most are designed in a comfy, warm lab, and probably not field tested to the extent that they need to be. Things break in the bush, and I have discovered that the more you pay, the better the product. If you think something is good value, it’s probably low standard. There is very little wearable tech which stands the test of time much past one season. The most useful piece of tech kit I have is a waterproof USB charger unit made by Yell!, which gives me 2 full recharges on both an iPhone and iPad.
What are the drawbacks of travel tech?
Because I make sure that tech fits in with me and that I never rely on it, there are rarely drawbacks.
Is there some item on your wish list that manufacturers haven’t created yet?
Yes. A combo of smart phone for apps, super accurate GPS for the bush, satellite phone for emergencies, LED torch with a range of at least 20-30 metres, all with a high efficiency solar panel for recharging.
If you could create an Australian Bucket List, what places/experiences would be on it?
As someone who has never been to Australia, I would have to go for the regulars of Uluru, Great Barrier Reef, and the outback.
Having learned some incredible skills from the Kalahari bushmen, I would be very interested to spend some time in the Australian outback with an Aboriginal bushman, to learn some of their skills, and see if there is anything transferable to the Kalahari.
What skills and knowledge do you think are transferrable between Africa and Australia? Tell us what you think here.
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