Learning During Wildlife Tours in Protected Areas: Towards a Better Understanding of the Nature of Social Relations in Guided Tours

Abstract

This article explores guided wildlife tours in Protected Areas (PAs) in the context of free-choice learning, social relations and environmental stewardship. Free-choice learning refers to people’s informal learning that occurs without requisite external assessment such as schools or workplaces. While the literature argues that guides on wildlife tours in PAs should make visitors aware of a set of achievable on and off-site actions the informal nature of such educational activities is difficult to measure. Research on guided tours on Tiritiri Matangi, New Zealand highlights the complex nature of social interaction between tour participants and the factors that impact on learning during a guided tour. The nature of the social relations that inform guide visitor interaction (GVI) is discussed in the context of Relations Model Theory and freechoice learning.

Keywords

• Guided tours
• Learning
• Protected areas
• Social relations
• Relations model theory
• Wildlife tours