Friday, July 29, 2011

335. Professional Tour Guide School - PROTS 1995.

Welcome to The Professional Tour Guide School (PROTS 1995).

Our Contacts:

P.O. Box 12582, Arusha - Tanzania, East Africa.

E-mail: v_izoba@yahoo.com

Our Mobile Phones:
Mr. Vedasto Izoba, Principal - +255 754 894 077

Mr. Victor Bubelwa, Tour Director - +255 754 046 196,

Miss Angel Izoba, Operations Manager – +255 754 507 077;

Miss Jacquline Minde, Secretary - +255 782 930 700

Our Family:

Welcome to the PROTS Family.

PROTS was established and Registered on September 15, 1995.

We are situated in Sanawari Area, Arusha Town, Tanzania. (See City Map, below).

For the past 14 years we have worked hard and produced competent guides working with prominent companies and organizations all over Tanzania and in other foreign countries.

Producing professional guides has never been an easy task (in the absence of a National Curriculum). With our contributions and efforts as a member of the Technical Team the National Curriculum is in place - THE CURRICULUM FOR TECHNICIAN CERTIFICATE IN TOUR GUIDING NTA Level 5. Incorporating this National Curriculum our Core Curriculum (below) is very intensive and extensive for most of the needs in the tasks of Professional Tour Guiding & Leadership.

Being guided by the industry demands for Professional Tour Guides we thrived to become trend setters and leaders for tour guides training colleges.

This success is also due to our decision to specialize only in Tour Guiding and Leadership and focused all our efforts and resources in tour guiding training.






Our Location:

We are located in Sanawari Area, Arusha Town, Tanzania.

We are indicated on Arusha City Map as below:






Our Role:

Tourism is growing at a good pace and therefore Professional Tour Guiding has a great role in the tourism industry and the national economy because of the fact that from the time the tourist arrives in the country, goes around the attractions and facilities until he leaves the country, he is in the hands, trust and care of a tour guide.

We welcome you to join PROTS and become a Professional Tour Guide.

Our Mission:
Our Mission is to produce Professional Tour Guides and make Tour Guiding a recognized Profession in Tanzania.

Our Vission:

Our Vision is to become a high learning Institution and Center of Excellence for Professional Tour Guides. These entails a lot of strategies, efforts and innovations and we intend to share it with you in our blogspot.



Our Motto:

"There's No Substitute for Field Experience!"

We provide tourist groups to interact with our Students on Safari, Mountain and Cultural Exchanges.

Photo: Authentic Explorers guiding team ready to conquer Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Authentic Explorers is a sister company of PROTS.
Its early achievement is establishing a Scholarship Fund that has already sponsored more that 10 students at PROTS.

Field Trips:

We have three types of Field Trips

  • Ones organized by students to National parks.
  • Trips with Tourist Groups for the Real Field Experience
  • City Tours from Via Via Cafe with tourists guided by our Students.



Photo: A visiting group of tourists exchanging ideas with students in the grounds of the school, before departing for a hike in the village and the base of Mount Meru.


Our Professional Development:

We are working closely with the Government and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism. Our trainers attended several training sessions by the Government and International Organizations. Below are the International Trainers from the Ministry inspecting our class during the Tanzania Teacher's Development Program.






Our Maturity:

Core Curriculum:

We have developed a Comprehensive Curriculum (see end of this Page) that has been tested for the past 16 years of our existence and has produced competent professional tour guides many of them holding responsible positions in leading tour companies.

Our Core Curriculum has 11 main Modules as follows:

  • General Information - Compiling the Information File.
  • Professional Tour Guiding & Leadership Skills - Level One - Standards.
  • Professional Tour Guiding & L Skills - Level Two - Guide's Guide to Guiding.
  • Wildlife Ecology & Natural History - Photographic Commentaries.
  • General Identifications of Animals, Birds and Plants.
  • Outdoor Leadership & Wilderness Survival Skills - Level 1 - Don't Die in the Bush.
  • Outdoor Leadership & Wilderness Survival Skills - Level 2 - Wilderness First Responder.
  • Camp Management.
  • Languages - Spoken English & German. Other Extra/Optional Languages, e.g. French, Spanish.
  • Projects for Graduation in Advanced and Diploma Level.
  • We also conduct short seminars on Job Search & Interviews with Mock Interviews recorded with Sony Video Cameras.

Our Flexibility:

Rolling Program & Tuition Till Success:

We have a Modular Rolling Program that enables a student to join anytime he is ready and graduate only when he attains the optimum Graduation Standards.

Our Marketing & Publicity:

Students Blog Pages:

To enhance employment chances for our graduates, we maintain a Students' Blog with a Page for each student and graduate that displays all his success documents like:

  • Field Trips - Photos, Reports and Recommendations from Tour Leaders.
  • Examination Papers & Results.
  • Personal Details like CVs, etc.
  • Projects, Articles and other documents Graduation Documents
  • Licenses - Driving, Mountain Guiding, etc
  • Travel Documents like Passports.

Displaying these details on the Web has helped Graduates a great deal in during their Job Search. The pages also helps Sponsors, Parents and Guardians to follow up the progress of the student.

Through Google you type the name of the Student with a blogspot link and the page will open like Ramoth Itaeli Shangali.blogspot.com.

Tour Operators and other prospective employers can visit them and choose candidates for Interviews.

Our Graduates:

We also publish information for Individual Pages for our Graduates.

We have a very good number of graduates working with many reputable companies and we are proud of their representation. They are our Ambassadors.

Please visit the graduates website for more directions at www.protsgraduate.blogspot.com


Photo: PROTS has examples to show that we can do it. The Tanzania edition of these famous Discovery series DVDs were filmed under the Professional guidance of Stanford Millinga - PROTS graduate.



Our Perfection:

Our approach is the Competent-Based Education & Training (CBET).

This polishes the Skills, Knowledge, Attitude & Performance (SKAP) gained from the course.

Our students are recorded with our State-of-the-Art equipment and DVDs recorded are used to polish their presentation Skills.

Left: Charles, a student doing his presentations on Photographic Commentaries for Wildlife Ecology & Natural History.





Below: A group photo of Staff, Students and a visiting Tourist group from Joker, Belgium.

Our Participation:

We have a remarkable participation record in National and International projects. We have trained in about 35 projects all over Tanzania under the Tanzania Cultural Tourism Program; African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), FINNIDA, UNESCO and four International training projects like Bale Mountains, Ethiopia and St.Lucia Wetland Park (now iSmangaliso) in Kwa Zulu, Natal - South Africa.

For more info visit the respective pages in this blog.


2 photos Above: Mr. Izoba in Mbeya at Mkapa Conference Hall, during training of tour guides and other stake holders in Southern Tanzania. These seminars were organized by

  • Tanzania Cultural Tourism Programme,
  • Tanzania Tourist Board and
  • the Ministry of Natural Resources & Tourism

and funded by the

  • World Tourism Organization - UNWTO.



Our Transparency:

School Blog:

A lot is going on at PROTS and we will can't wait to share it with you. Whilst Websites are complicated to maintain and to update, blogs are easy to operate and it really fun to upload latest events and we just can't keep anything away from you. We opened this blog March 2009 and already pages are piling up. But then our space got full and we had to separate it into four Blogs:

The School Blog: www.protschool.blogspot.com

The Students Blog: www.protsstudents.blogspot.com

The Graduates Blog: www.protsgraduate.blogspot.com

The Distant Learning Blog: www.protseclass.blogspot.com


Essentially, the School Blog gives priority to the following areas:

  • Highlights: Current events: Like New Programs (Photo Commentaries); Short Seminars; Special Training Programs for Female Guides; SOS Page for Students in Urgent Needs.
  • General Info: Core Curriculum, Joining Instructions, Fees Structure, Registration Form.
  • Scholarships: AE - Educational Fund, Friends of PROTS, California, Sponsored Students, Supporters of PROTS.
  • Courses & Programs: Gen. Knowledge, Prof. Guide Skills, Wildlife Ecology, etc. Field Trips, Training Aids.
  • News: Teacher's Dev. Program, National Curriculum Development, PROTS Projects. Government Projects.
  • Staff Profiles: Staff CVs, Profiles, Qualifications and progress trends.
  • Others: PROTS: Photo Social Events & Photo Album, Izoba Family, Jokes, Volunteers, etc.

Please don't hesitate to give us your feedback and comments.

At the end of this page you can see a list of Contents.

Mr. Vedasto Izoba, Principal.

Karibuni sana.

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Core Curriculum 2011.

PROFESSIONAL TOUR GUIDING & LEADERSHIP – ADVANCED CERTIFICATE COURSE - CORE CURRICULUM 2011.

Incorporating the National Curriculum for Tour Guides NTA Level 5.

1. GENERAL INFORMATION & TOURISM - Information File – Reference Tool.

Alphabetically compiled Information - ready to use notes on different major sectors.

Attractions: Protected Areas, Attraction, Facilities and Amenities. Relevant info on what tourists ask and you can’t depend on your brain. History: Pre-Colonial, Colonial & After Independence; Important details about Geography: Political, Economic & Physical.

2. PROFESSIONAL TOUR GUIDING & LEADERSHIP SKILLS. – Level One, Professional Standards.

Tasks & Duties: Dealing with Arrivals & Departures; Luggage Pull; Transfers to Hotels, Check-ins, Check-outs & Billing; Pre-tour & Post-tour Briefings & Presentations.

Professionalism: Qualities of a Prof. Tour Guide, Customer care, Tour procedures, Evaluation & Tour Reports,

Presentation: Communication Skills, Listening Skills, Body Language, etc.

Procedures: Preparing a Tour, Conducting a Tour, Managing Clerical details of the Tour, etc.

Problem Solving: Managing Diff. Situations, Handling Complaints, Emergencies, Lost Items & Lost Passengers, etc.

3. PROFESSIONAL TOUR GUIDING & LEADERSHIP SKILLS – Level Two. Guides’ Guide to Guiding – Experiences in Guiding Duties.

Professional Tour Guiding Experiences:

What’s Guiding all About, Tourism, Where to Begin,

The Learning Curve, Preparation, Game drives, Walking safaris,

Guiding Principles & Camp Etiquette, Medical Matters,

Photography & Equipment, Female guides,

Freelance Hints, Enjoying Guiding,

Traveler’s Expectations, etc.

4. WILDLIFE ECOLOGY & NATURAL HISTORY. Pyramid of Life – Animal Behaviours.

General Identification: Progressive Lists on: Animals, Birds, Plants, etc.

Pursuit of Food: Grazing, Browsing, Migrating, Hunting, Co-operations, Competitions & Scavenging.

Reproduction: Courtships, Male-Rivalry, Mating, Gestations, Young & Passing Genes into the Next Generation.

Survival Strategies: Avoiding Death, Weapons, Speed & Precision, Camouflage.

Social Organization: Families, Pairs, Solitaries, Communications, Populations, Habits.

5. OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP & WILDLIFE SURVIVAL SKILLS. Level One. Don’t Die in the Bush – South African.

Photographic safaris: Photography & Equipment, Game driving skills, Comfortable Driving of Clients, Game viewing speed, Spotting animals, Seat rotation, etc.

Walking safaris: Wilderness survival & Mountain climbing skills, Safety Awareness,

Safe & Vehicle care,

Route planning, Leadership & Morale; Equipment, Kits & Clothing;

Accidents, Hazards, Injuries, Illnesses & Attacks, Evacuations.

Equipment: Radio, Tents & Camping gears, Care, Transportation & Repair.

Environmental Studies: Mini Impact & Leave no Trace Approach; Outdoor Living Skills, Time Controlled Plans, etc.

Wilderness Survival Skills: Route planning, Leadership & Morale; Equipment, Kits & Clothing; Accidents, Hazards, Injuries, Illnesses & Attacks, Evacuations, etc.

6. OUTDOOR LEADERSHIP & WILDERNESS SURVIVAL SKILLS. Level Two. The Wilderness First Responder - American.

Wilderness Emergency Medical Care,

Legal Issues in Wilderness Medicine,

Patient Assessment, Airway & Breathing, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation,

Bleeding, Shock, Injuries - (Spine, Head, Chest, Abdominal, Athletic, Soft tissue),

Fractures, Dislocations, Cold-induced & Heat-induced Emergencies,

Altitude Illnesses, Immersion & Submersion Incidents, Lighting Injuries, Bites & Stings,

Emergencies- (Diving Cardiac, Respiratory, Neurologic, Diabetic, Poisoning, Allergic Reactions & Anaphylaxis, Abdominal), Communicable diseases, Common Simple Wilderness Medical Problems.

7. CAMP MANAGEMENT.

Managing Permanent Camps, Mobile Camps & Public Campsites:

All job description of Camp staff from Watchman to Camp manager. Client Relations skills, methods required to perform Camp duties. Enhancing job performance, encouragement to improve. Learning new skills with a view to promotion, Codes of Conducts, etc.

8. LANGUAGES:

English – Spoken English – Core.

Extra languages: Optional & when available: French, Spanish, Italian, German, etc.

9. PROJECT: Before Graduation, a student will be required to work on a PROJECT from the provided topics related on one of the above modules. Current successful projects are like

  • Photographic Commentaries.
  • Maasai Culture.
  • Comprehensive Details of Animals.
  • Comprehensive Details in Birds.
  • Tracks & Signs of the Wild;
  • Reproduction in Birds
  • Reproduction in Animals
  • Phenomenal Strategies in Wildlife, Reptiles or Insects;
  • Documentary Hi-Lites;
  • Plants – Medicinal & Other Uses;
  • Tanzania Nat. Parks & other Protected Areas.

And many more.

NB: All the above is taught using modern training aids, like Computers, Slide Shows, Home Theatres & projectors and state of the art Sonny Digital/DVD Cameras and beamers.

To top it all we provide tourists who are guided by students to National Parks for the inevitable Field Experience!

And much more like Job Search & How to Prepare and Win an Interview.

Our School blog (above) will keep you Up To Date of the school activities, and individual student’s progress. His daily activities like class participation, field trips, efforts and achievement.

Please visit it every time you have a moment.

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FEES LIST & JOINING INSTRUCTIONS - 2011.

FEES LIST. (Special Offer up to Dec 2011)

  • Professional Tour Guiding & Leadership Advanced Certificate. $1,000. = per year, $85. = per month.
  • Cost Hostel Facilities (Full Board): $1,000. = per year & $85. = per month.
  • Total cost for fees & Hostel $ 2,000. = per year. $170=.
  • Diploma: Professional Tour guiding & Leadership Diploma (18 months)(US$ 4,500) Paid in two installments.
  • e-learning is US$25 per month.

Hostel facilities - Full Board - (Incl. Room, Bed, Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner) Utilities - Water & power.

Note: - Full Board Students need to come with mattress (3’ by 6’), beddings and personal toiletries like a bucket for shower, utensils, mosquito net, etc.

JOINING INSTRUCTIONS:

  • One joins as soon as he pays. We have a rolling modular system that makes this possible.
  • One graduates only when he acquires enough graduation standards.
  • A project must be done on any of the provided topics.
  • Tuition till Success: One studies until he attains a graduation level. We abide to a SKAP basis (Skills, Knowledge, Attitude and Performance).
  • After every three months we do Quarterly Evaluation Reports. And in the last 3 months, one joins the graduation group where we assess his overall performance. This includes the Job Search Seminar.
  • There are Periodical Examinations and a final exam before graduation.
  • A field trip with tourists and an evaluation report from a tour leader is an added advantage.
  • Employed trainees can enroll and attend lectures whenever they have time, and graduate only when they have attained a SKAP level.
  • Classes are from 8.00am to 6.00pm. Monday to Friday.

Items to bring when joining:

  • 3 Passport size photos,
  • 3 Counter Books and other stationeries.
  • 1 Mattress (3” by 6”) if staying in Hostel, Personal Items like toiletries, Utensils, Water bucket, Mosquito Net, etc.

Mode of Payment:-

  • The whole amount may be paid or at least 50% of the fees must be paid upon registration. The remainder must be paid as agreed by the School Management. Individual arrangements can be done between the Sponsor and the School Management.
  • Diploma (US$ 4,500.) Paid in TWO Installments.

Scholarships: Some Scholarships may be available on the following:

· PROTS Certificate – Advanced Level & Diploma: May be partly sponsored by PROTS based on the weight of individual cases and availability of funds.

· Field Trips: Field Trips with real tourists to National Parks are sponsored by PROTS or Karavaan and Joker Tourisme of Belgium see: www.G0-26.be .

  • Language (Spoken English, French, Spanish & German) Tshs 15,000. = per month.

NB: This Information Package is given FREE of CHARGE! And if you are sponsoring someone please make sure you get our bank details so as to send the fees direct to us. We will not be responsible for any misappropriation of fees sent through a student.

334. Field Trips with Tourists Photo Album - July 2011

Welcome to the Photo Album for our Students/Tourists Groups.
In July 2011 we received two groups from Belgium.

Several students were selected to interact with these tourists.
The results were a rich, exciting and learning adventure!
Their Day to Day activities are published in

The Go-Minus 26 Tourist groups:

http://protsstudents.blogspot.com/2011/06/139.html

The Joker Family Groups:

http://protsstudents.blogspot.com/2011/06/138.html

We also maintain special blog pages for each student.
These pages are used to publish the progress of our students.
Below are the link to the individual pages for the Go-Minus 26 - 2011 students.

Please visit the when you have a moment.

Joker Family Groups:

Heri Sele: http://protsstudents.blogspot.com/2011/04/64.html

Frank Gabriel Mshana: http://protsstudents.blogspot.com/2011/03/30.html

Hassan Mpendu: http://protsstudents.blogspot.com/2011/03/25.html

Sia William Masuki: http://protsstudents.blogspot.com/2011/04/114.html

We have allocated this page to photos from the two trips.
Most of the photos don't need explanations! Enjoy!



















Above: The tour leader Marijke, a.k.a Chocomama giving a briefing as to what to expect, to do and how to do it. She also recommended the "Leader of the Day" system whereby each student will be responsible for preparations and briefing for the next day's activities. This was every student will have an opportunity to learn and experience the leadership skills.































Joker Family Tours.


This is a special group of family members who are bracing themselves to come to Tanzania and interact with local people and PROTS Students.

We will use this page to keep you up to date with the progress of their special cultural experience.


This is a special group this year:

it’s a family-trip:

the ages of the members are totally different:

There will be children and adults with too:

Peter (51y) & Ilse (44y) (daddy & mom) and the children:

Wannes (17y), Seppe (14y), Robbe (12y)

Lieve (52y) & Marc (53y) (couple)

Bart (23y) & Anouchka (21y) (couple)

Kevin (22y)

Marc (46y) - Tour leader.

Marc - Tour Leader.


Above & Below: Sunday 17th July 2011 - The Tourists and the PROTS Students on their way to Sapuk, they stopped by the school to give pole to Mr. Izoba, the Traininer who was suffering from Malaria and Typhoid!



Above: Herry. Sia and Hassan all smiles as they gear themselves up to hike to Sapuk! I'm like "I told you, this is a great job!" and they go like "You are damn right, Izoba!"


Above: There they go!


Below: Hans Makiluli, Graduate.


Hans traveled with Marc in his previous trip to Tanzania. He will be joining the group on some of the days.

Below are students who will be joining the group and their personal details will be published soon.

Sia William Masuki, Student.


Heri Ahmed Seleman, Student.


Above: Heri is among our students we consider mature. He is cool and a very responsible person. No wonder he has been given a supervisory role of the other students in his group.


Hassan Mpendu, Student.

Mr. Hassan has been a very close Office Assistant for the past four months and he has displayed a great deal of diligence and dependability. We are happy to have him on this trip as it will equip him the field experience he needs.


&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&


Frank Gabriel Mshana, Student.






We are still waiting for the Photos from Frank & Marc the tour leader who are now in Zanzibar!