My name is Henry. I am a level 7 local guide and live in Ndola, one of the cities in Zambia.
I met the Google Local Guides program purely by chance. I receive a lot of emails from many different companies marketing their business online, but the one from Google caught my attention because it was talking about me becoming a Google Maps local guide. I use Google Maps a lot and being a local guide for the maps just inspired me.
I love traveling a lot, many times for work and other times for pleasure, and being able to share my adventures with the world felt so great I could not wait to start taking pictures.
I started slowly, posting a few pictures and reviewing some places, and when I got my first response from the place I had reviewed, it just fired me up and wanted to do more. As life might have it, I happen to be in the business of selling agricultural lime and helping small scale farmers understand its use and the benefits of using it. I travel around the country extensively, and during one of these trips, I stopped over in Lusaka, the Capital City of our country and was amazed to see the beauty and majesty of the Hilton Garden Inn. I toured it and wrote a brief review about it. Not too long after my review, I got a response from the General Manager of the Hilton Mr. Kudzayi Nheweyembwa. By then I was in Mansa, residing at Mansa Hotel. I determined I had to go back to Lusaka to meet Mr Nheweyembwa so I could match my words in my review of the Hilton with pictures.
I received a warm welcome at the Hilton and was quickly granted permission to take as many pictures as I could and assigned a security guide to take me round. I had a feast with my eyes and this was a game changer for me.
I would like to go round our beautiful country, but most of all, visit and show off the many beautiful places that are little known by the world. I have friends in USA who still ask me if there are lions roaming our back yards and I would like these pictures to open their eyes to the reality of life in Zambia. I promise to open up our hotels, lodges, guest houses, and all other attractions for the world to see, and being invited to the Connect Live event would be icing on the cake, as I am sure the meeting with other local guides would provide more inspiration and insights into how to become an even better local guide.
In short, the Google local guides program provides a platform for me and others to really show off the many places that our visitors, both local and foreign have no idea exist and just how beautiful these places are. Take a look at the many pictures I took at the Hilton and you will have no doubt that we do have world class places to boast about, apart from the world renowned Victoria Falls, one of the 7 Natural Wonders.
by Henry Safeli
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Hey @Hensaf ,
You may be new to Connect or writing to share a post for your Connect Live application. If you’re applying to Connect Live 2020 be sure to share a link to a new Connect post responding to this year’s application prompt. You can find everything you need to know about writing a post for Connect Live 2020 here. If you think you are missing some of the points mentioned, you can always edit the post and add them.
For more information on the forum please check Your guide to Connect.
P.S. I will relabel your post to Local Stories, where all applications should appear.