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« Let me make a list as why Jess is an exceptional guide and I will join her tour any time as long as it fits my interests.

Keen sense of wildlife.  More than a few times Jess was the first to spot a wildlife whether it’s a tiger, a bird, a monkey or something else. This is after all a safari tour and we need this kind of keen sense of wildlife to enjoy it. Her quick spotted a tiger resulting me be not only the first but also the only one who caught a full front face shot of a famous tigress in one safari trip with beautiful photos and none other photographer caught it. It’s a precious image and I couldn’t be happier.
Outstanding coordination. This is not an usual trip which everything was set and planned ahead. It’s more like a day-by-day, safari-by-safari go with the flow tour. It’s how local works and operates and there is nothing Jess could change it. Because of this dynamic situation, we need a highly skilled, patient and capable person to coordinate among the local agency, guides, drivers and hotels. It’s not an easy task. However, Jess made it looked easy, updating us with progresses and I enjoyed it 100%.
Positive attitude. It’s almost impossible for a foreign trip to satisfy or make everyone happy but Jess always had positive attitude and made me felt upper lifting even under stress. I like this kind of attitude. There is no reason to be stressed out on things out of our control especially about wildlife but we shall focus on what we have in front of us. Kudos to Jess.
Catering to our needs. I personally have blood sugar issue so I request Jess to ask hotel staff to serve fruits instead of sweet desserts after a meal. I request Jess once and received fruits after all meals. I couldn’t ask for better.
Local knowledge. Jess didn’t just take us to any spot. She took us to where she thinks it’s suited our interests and, more importantly, introduces local feature to us so we could see what’s the best in each area. For example, she would pick a place where have both tigers and leopards and sure enough we saw a hard to come by leopard. She also took us to a place where was famous for its black leopard. Even though we didn’t get a chance to see it. However, without going there there is guaranteed we wouldn’t have a chance to see it. Without her local knowledge, we wouldn’t have a chance.
Attend to details. After the trip Jess sent us a list with detail information on which day saw which tiger, what’s the name of the tiger and how many cubs she has if it’s a tigress along with from which gate/area. This is very valuable information and it’s very hard for us to document them ourselves while focus on our cameras, lenses and all the gears.
Conservation in mind. During one of the safaris the local guides and drivers didn’t know better and trying to find a spot where would disturb wildlife’s welfare and Jess refused to attend the request. It’s true that fighting a best spot/angle is important to see a tiger but so as wildlife’s wellbeing. We shouldn’t and couldn’t sacrifice wildlife’s wellbeing just because we want to take a few photos. This is just not ethical nor right. I respect Jess and 100% support her to hold her stand on behalf of wildlife to do the right thing.

Overall, I asked myself why wouldn’t I go under Jess’s guidance at all with so many excellent qualities? I couldn’t find any reason not to. Yes, if her tour fulfilling my interests, I would sign it on again without a doubt. »