`Safari guide initiates other tourists`

By Emily Lackey
Herald News Intern

Imagine sitting on a bus, casually looking out the window, when a lioness strides over and sits under the bus for shade. In the distance, exotic birds and animals relax in the sun. Dr. Gene Wilhelm doesn’t have to imagine. He’s been there. The Slippery Rock man hosts African safaris in association with Plaza Travel, Hermitage, and has been showing local travelers the highlights of other countries for 25 years.

“We are so weighed down by European ancestry, and we rarely get such an influx of African culture, so we get the misconception that it is all hot, buggy, and black, which is not the case,” he said.

One popular tour is the ecotour, which differs from other types of travel because it aims “for the sensitivity of people to experience nature that is relatively untouched by humans,” he said. Wilhelm said ecotours aid the cultures in which they travel because they always use native African drivers and stay in native-owned lodges and hotels.

Wilhelm explained that although they try to bypass international hotel chains as much as possible, exceptions are made in large cities, like Nairobi, where they are more likely to stay in an internationally-owned lodge. Outside of the cities they have more one-on-one interaction with the native Africans.

The tour groups try not to interfere with animals or people. One goal of an ecotour is to cause minimal human impact on the surrounding area, Wilhelm said.

“It’s a learning process for people,” he said. “They come back changed, and often they want to return to an ecotour type travel.”

“There are very few societies left that are native without the human impact of western civilization,” he said. “More and more people recognize that we are running out of native cultures and wildlife, and many people are trying to get glimpses of it.

His wife, Joanna, said Africa is a much more diverse continent than most people realize. “I get so upset when people think all of Africa is the same,” she said. “Each country is as different as Nebraska is from Florida.”

Wilhelm said East Africa is the center for animals, West Africa is more cultural. “It is a vast continent of multiplicity,” said Wilhelm. “It is the most exciting continent.” He said West Africa is overflowing with different people, customs and art. “It’s beautiful but it doesn’t have the wildlife,” he said.

Nigeria has over 100 native tribes. Each has its own language and most of the tribes can’t understand each other.

During their travels they have crossed the equator several times, and people are usually shocked that it can be so cool, he said.

“As soon as you go inland you start climbing and every 1,000 feet there is a 3.3 degree drop in temperature,” he said.

Wilhelm said the seasons are divided according to precipitation and not temperature change. The four seasons consist of two short periods — one rainy and one dry — followed by two long periods — one rainy and one dry.

The Wilhelms go to Africa in February, after the short rain and before the long because the resulting lush grass causes the animals to come to eat. It’s the best time for viewing animals, as 3 million migrate 500 miles between Kenya and Tanzania.

“It is the most beautiful country in the world,” Mrs. Wilhelm said. “I wish everyone could see it.”

Wilhelm worked as a research consultant for the United Nations environmental program, whose headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, from 1977 to 1982. He studied human impact on national parks and animal behavior with humans. The Wilhelms used to live in Sierra Leon, which is in West Africa.

Wilhelm’s next safari will be to Tanzania in February. He is also going to Copper Canyon, Mexico in October. He also travels throughout South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

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Updated July 17, 1999
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