Wanderlust's World Guide Awards Celebrates 10th Anniversary as

 Brit Tops Poll for 2015

Wanderlust magazine, the bible for independently-minded travellers, has just announced the winners of its annual World Guide Awards, which honour the very best tour leaders from across the globe. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the awards, presented by legendary author Bill Bryson,saw British guide Mark Steadman win Gold - with another Brit amongst the finalists, as well as guides from Namibia and India.

The awards ceremony, held on 13th October at London's Royal Geographical Society, celebrated the outstanding achievements of the often unsung heroes of the travel industry. Mark Steadman,of Fareham, Hants and now living in Laos,clinched Gold for his tours around Asia with Wild Frontiers. Further awards went to Namibian guide Orlando Haraseb, who received the Silver Award for his guiding throughout Namibia with Audley, and a second British guide, Sue Guthrie, who guides mainly in Ethiopia with Explore, received the Bronze Award. This year, an Outstanding Contribution Award was given to Dheeraj 'Monty' Bhatt from India who works as a guide for Intrepid Travel.

Wanderlust readers, as well as other keen travellers from around the world, were invited to nominate and vote for the guides that they felt were worthy of such recognition. This year, a record number of 1,500 guides were nominated, and a shortlist was judged by a team of industry experts including; Wanderlust Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief Lyn Hughes, Bill Bryson, TV wildlife expert Mark Carwardine, travel expert Derek Moore, Co-Founder of Nomad Travel Stores Paul Goodyear and Peter Antoniou from Swarovski Optik.

Each finalist was awarded with a selection of prizes donated by Swarovski Optik, Powertravellerand Nomad Travel Store, as well as a bursary donated by Swarovski Optik, which finalists will use to fund projects that benefit their local communities.

Wanderlust co-founder Lyn Hughes commented “We were all humbled yet again by the remarkable guides who have each inspired dozens, if not hundreds, of their clients and peers to write in support of them. The Awards are now in their tenth year and, during this time, we have recognised so many truly incredible people who not only go out of their way to make a difference to the travels of their clients, but also to the local communities through which they guide.

The bursaries given to the winners over the past ten years amount to almost £100,000 in total, all going to worthy local projects that each of the winners are personally involved in. As always, all finalists this year were outstanding”.

Gold Award - Mark Steadman

It was smiles all round as Mark Steadman was named the winner of the Gold Award, which he received via video link to Laos where he was in the middle of guiding a group around the country.

Mark entered the world of guiding following a spontaneous trip around Central America during which he realised that the repetition of his job wasn't for him. He then decided to swap his career in the music industry to lead adventure tours around Asia. His warmth and enthusiasm leapt from the testimonials Wanderlust received, and the judges were not only impressed by his guiding talents (knowledge, empathy, sense of fun) but also his bond with local communities. Mark plans to put his £5,000 bursary towards Lone Buffalo, a community project he co-founded in northern Laos, which provides free English tuition and sports facilities to young people living in the most heavily bombed province in the world.

Judge Derek Moore commented “Mark ticks all the boxes: as a guide, a leader and someone who puts back into the communities he works with.”

Silver Award - Orlando Haraseb

Namibian guide Orlando Haraseb picked up the Silver Award to huge applause. After a diverse career in the Namibian Police Force and on the Namibian football team, Orlando decided that his passion lay in meeting new people and teaching them about his home country. He is known as one of the most respected guides in Namibia and he combines boundless knowledge of Africa's history, culture and wildlife with professionalism, enthusiasm and an occasionally wicked sense of humour. He will be donating his £2,500 bursary to Ultimate Safari's Conservation Travel Foundation, as well as enhancing the youth sports academy in his home village, Erwee. He will also undertake a specialised bird-ringing course, to add to his birding repertoire.

Judge Bill Bryson commented “He sounds like an absolutely incredible guy. It is clear he is passionate about sharing his vast wealth of knowledge with people, and does so in an inspiring way”.

Bronze Award - Sue Guthrie
Bronze Award winner Sue Guthrie fell in love with Ethiopia at a young age and has been leading tours around the country for over 12 years for Explore. She is full of energy and enthusiasm and manages to bring the country alive for the people she guides. Her mantra is 'spread peace and happiness' and encourages her clients to engage with local communities in a helpful and sensitive way. So much so, she won Explore's internal Deepen Rai guiding award in 2013, which highlights the guides that have made outstanding contributions to the local community. Sue plans to use her £1,000 bursary to help locals on a grass-roots level by buying medicines and school supplies, as well as funding for a shop to get people off the streets and into work.

Judge Paul Goodyear commented “Not only does she have firm principles and excellent people skills, she sounds like a great laugh - just the sort of person you want to travel with”.

Outstanding Contribution Award - Dheeraj 'Monty' Bhatt

After being nominated and commended by so many readers, each year of the awards, Wanderlust gave their first ever Outstanding Contribution Award to Monty for making so many people's Indian journeys unforgettable. He has been leading tours across India for nine years, and he knows the country inside out. Monty smoothes problems, calms nerves and acts as translator, medic, concierge, history teacher, bodyguard, big brother and best friend as the need arises.

Lyn Hughes commented “Many travellers find arriving in India a culture shock, Monty clearly eases their worries and helps them appreciate all that is wonderful about the country”.

The full results of the World Guide Awards 2015 will appear in the November issue of Wanderlust magazine, which will be on sale from 22 October priced £3.99. For more details on the above, please visit www.wanderlust.co.uk and www.worldguideawards.com. 

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Notes to Editors:

If you would like to book a trip with one of Wanderlust'saward-winning guides, details are below:

• Mark Steadman - Wild Frontiers is offering 14 day 'Laos Unlocked' tours (on 11 Oct 2015, 14 Feb 2016 and 09 Oct 2016) led by Mark, priced from £2,175pp including accommodation on an all-inclusive basis, guided excursions and transfers. For more information, visit www.wildfrontierstravel.com or call 020 77363968.

• Orlando Haraseb - Audley is offering a 15 day 'Kaokoland Discoverer' tour (on 30 November 2015) led by Orlando, priced from £4,895pp including return flights, accommodation on an all-inclusive basis, guided excursions and transfers. Dates in 2016 are yet to be announced. For more information, visit www.audleytravel.com or call 01993 838000.

• Sue Guthrie - Explore is offering 14 day 'Blue Nile & Lalibela' tours (on 22 Nov 2015, 20 Dec 2015, 15 Jan 2015, 07 Feb 2016, 21 Feb 2016, 06 March 2016, 20 March 2016, 03 April 2016) led by Sue, priced from £2,099pp including return flights, accommodation on a B&B basis and driver. Tours run weekly in 2015 and 2016. For more information, visit www.explore.co.uk or call 01252 888733.

• Dheeraj 'Monty' Bhatt - Intrepid Travel is offering a 15 day 'Delhi to Kathmandu' tour (on 06 and 21 Nov 2015 as well as selected dates in 2016) led by Monty, priced from £773pp including accommodation (with selected meals), transport and activities. Dates in 2016 are yet to be announced. For more information, visit www.intrepidtravel.com or call 0808 2745111.

Congratulations to the 2015 Highly Commended Guides:
Hamid Oumezdou - KE Adventure
Asanga Bandara Rajapakse - Intrepid Travel 
Kelsey Tonner - Backroads

About Wanderlustmagazine and the World Guide Awards:

Wanderlustwas launched by Paul Morrison and Lyn Hughes in 1993. The couple were bored on a long flight from South America and decided to sketch out their dream travel magazine on the back of a sick bag. They soon decided that they could it do themselves and there would be no other name for it but Wanderlust. Over the past 22 years, the magazine has established itself as the bible for independent-minded travellers.

After Paul sadly lost a long battle with cancer in 2004, Lyn continued the magazine as a testament to Paul's love of travel. However, she wanted to do more and felt that recognising the unsung heroes of travel in this way was a perfect tribute to someone who always sought out the very best guides in order to bring his travel experiences to life.