Nqabohlanga “Winston” Fani is a trailblazing South African tourism professional best known for being Africa’s first officially qualified blind tourist guide.

He was born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa. After losing his sight at a young age due to glaucoma, Fani did not let blindness stop him from pursuing his interests. Passionate about culture, history, and storytelling, he worked hard to enter the tourism industry, a field where visual perception is often assumed to be essential.

With the support of Cape Town Tourism and other local partners, he enrolled in a formal tourist guide training program and successfully completed the required certification in 2023, earning official recognition to operate as a licensed guide. This achievement made him the first person in Africa who is blind to gain an accredited tourist guide qualification.

Fani now leads guided walking tours, especially in culturally rich areas like Salt River in Cape Town, using his strengths in verbal description, deep local knowledge, and sensory awareness to bring places to life for visitors, including people with visual impairments. His work is widely seen as a powerful example of inclusion and accessibility in tourism, showing that expertise and passion can overcome traditional barriers.

According to the internet