
With International Tourist Guides’ Day still fresh in our memories, we want to salute one of Montagu’s great guides – Patti van Dyk. Patti is a Field Guide and an Adventure Guide who has the gift of unlocking the magic of nature through her knowledge and playful spirit. Patti is an exemplary ambassador of what South Africa and Montagu have to offer.
Fitting in a chat with Patti is not easy because of her very busy programme. When I called her on Friday, she was already making preparations to take part in the Cango Marathon (42,2km) this past weekend, which she completed successfully.
Patti is a registered Field/Nature site guide and Adventure guide. She explains the difference and what this type of guiding entails.
“My profession as a Nature/Field guide covers a big part of conservation, sharing my knowledge of the environment as a whole (fauna, flora, ecology, archaeology, etc) education to promote sustainability, protection but also enjoyment of what nature offers us as humans.
Adventure Guiding is a specialized field (in my case mountain biking) which focuses on giving people who love adventures/activities and who are adrenaline driven, an experience to fulfil that dream or achieve those goals. It’s good for people who want to challenge themselves for self-worth/development.”
It is always interesting to look into the journey that people take to fulfil their dreams and reach their destinations, I am very curious about Patti’s path, and she shares with a smile and honesty:
“Since high school I wanted to pursue a career in Nature Conservation. The opportunity didn’t come to me at first, due to certain circumstances. At first, I was admitted at Saasveld College as the 1st and only female amongst 40 1st year and 40 2nd year students, studying Forestry. At that stage it was just a Forestry college. I was only there for one year and registered the next year to do a National Diploma studying Nature Conservation, which was a dream come true! A few years after that I was offered a contract by a forestry class mate to work as a fire-fighting training instructor for Working on Fire. I’ve been traveling and training in all fire prone areas all over the country (Nelspruit, KZN, Free State, Eastern, Southern and Western Cape). I’ve been doing this for more than 10 years. In-between I have done an intensive course in Nature site/Field guiding as a speciality, and recently qualified as an Adventure mountain bike guide as well.”

Being out in nature and having fun for a living is most likely the dream of many, thus the question (tongue in cheek) “Do you have a day job, or is guiding actually your day job?”
Patti admits, with just a hint of more dreams in her eyes : ”Unfortunately not. If the circumstances were different, I would have loved to make this my permanent daytime job. Currently I work at an estate called Galenia, and part of my responsibilities is to take the guests staying here for short guided walks on the Estate. The more serious guiding is a sideline business in my personal capacity, and at this stage can only be done via reservations.”
Knowing Patti a little better from working with her on various projects before, I can vouch for her absolute passionate personality – and passion can take you a long way towards your dream, so no surprise when she confirms: “I have always been passionate about nature and I think what helped me achieve these goals was my dedication, endurance (no room for giving up that easily) and my love for sports, running, cycling and fitness in general, because it’s an essential part of guiding.“
As said before, if you love what you do, you won’t need to work a day in your life – so I’m very interested in what a day in the life of Patti van Dyk looks like?
“Usually very busy, never a dull moment! I’ve got a very active lifestyle. A run or cycle in the morning or after work, day time job or investing/contributing in community or volunteer activities,” says Patti.
While we’re celebrating our uniqueness this month, the conversations leads to what makes Patti unique?
With that slight, shy smile Patti starts off saying she is humble (which is very true of this person who excels on so many levels), but she adds, “also passionate, trustworthy, knowledgeable, dedicated, good sense of humour, happy spirit, skilful and fit.”
And those are all very uniquely true traits that I’ve also experienced of Patti in the years that I know her. But I know that these all contribute to making Patti a successful guide.
Patti, in her always honest yet humble way, explains how these heled her to be a great guide.
“From the reviews that I’ve received, it seems like I’ve mostly given people a wow factor because of the way I interact with people, making them feel included, special… using my sense of humour, making it a fun experience – not making it seem like it’s just another job. Lots of people said they come back because the experience is usually not what they expected, it is informative, and they become aware of the smaller things I point out to them. It is surprisingly good. They can see the passion in my eyes, and that rubs off in a desire to know/learn more. As a guide, you need to have that “wow factor’.”
And Patti can Wow you if you give her free reigns to talk about the things she loves so dearly. We’ve seen her operate in front of the Kwela Camera while making a video about Montagu as Western Cape Town of the Year.
Patti is a valuable member and contributor to Montagu-Ashton Tourism as well. Her unique combination of passion and skills makes her a unique person indeed, and Montagu is lucky to have her around in service of nature and also her incredible commitment to fire fighting.
Patti literally lights up when she talks about fire fighting, as she expands on the subject:
“As I mentioned earlier, I have worked for Working on Fire, a poverty alleviation program, for more than 10 years, training firefighters in Wildland fires, doing fitness training, as well as Environmental Education. When I saw the opportunity to join the Montagu Volunteer Fire & Rescue team, it was just obvious for me to join and offer my experience. I believe that, since the MVFR team started operating, they have played a big role in preventing very big disasters in terms of fires, made a huge difference in people’s perceptions, and created more awareness.”
Patti’s advice to anyone wanting to pursue a career in tourist guiding is invaluable.
“Guiding is an exciting career and can be very fulfilling, but it requires passion, a lot of dedication, endurance and fitness, because it’s hard work. It can be strenuous, especially in specialized Adventure guiding. In some instances, it can be very challenging and dangerous, and the best is to equip yourself with the necessary skills and training to qualify and register yourself to operate legally.”
I can only end this story with Patti’s own words.
“I never regret the choices I made to become a Conservationist, Nature Site & Adventure Field guide.” … Patti van Dyk