Douglas John Friend
Canadian passport holder
Born in Toronto, Canada, October 4, 1958 to Barry Friend and Irene Douglas. After graduating from high school, Friend attended college and attained an Ontario real estate licence and later a Ontario Brokers licence, becoming one of the youngest individuals to be licensed in the province of Ontario. Friend attended summer classes at Western University and completed the equivalent of the first two years of university economics to support his real estate appraising career. Real estate around the world has been a constant interest to Friend as an investor and consultant.
The following year Friend opened up Friends Restaurant becoming one of the youngest people ever issued a full liquor licence in the province, and 9 years later opened Bob Sharkys Saloon, introducing the first outdoor patio, Stand - up comedy, bottled beer packed on ice, the shooters bar , and numerous other innovations to the industry. But the lure of overseas travel, archaeology and adventure was clearly his passion, so after travelling with another incompetent guide on safari in Malawi, Friend took up the challenge and completed the African safari guiding course and soon after, the P.A.D.I. Divemaster course.
I have travelled extensively or guided tours in the following countries
America (1974-2009) scuba Armenia (1995)
Austria (2012, 2014, 2015) Bahamas (1984)
Belgium (2012)(2015)
Belize (1998-2009) scuba
Bolivia ( 2013 )
Bosnia-Herzegovinia (2014) Botswana (2001)
British Virgin Islands (1979) Bulgaria (2015)
Cambodia (1995)
Canada (1958 - 2012)
China(2015)
Congo (Zaire) (1994)
Costa Rica (2001)
Croatia (2014)
Cuba (1995, 2002, 2010)
Czech Republic (2012, 2014) Denmark (2016)
Dominican Republic (1983) Ecuador (1992)
Egypt (1989)
El Salvador (2014)
England (1989, 1997, 2012, 2015) Estonia (2016)
Finland (2016)
France (2012)(2015)
Galapagos Islands (1992)
Germany (2012, 2014, 2015) Greece ( 2016 )
Guatemala (1998, 2001, 2014)
Hawaii (1982, 2006) scuba
Holland (1993/1995/1997/2001/2012) Honduras (2011) scuba (2014)
Hong Kong (1996, 2019)
Hungary (2014, 2015)
Indonesia ( 2019 )
Iran (2015)
Italy (2012)
Jamaica (1981)
Jordan (1991)
Kazakhstan (2015)
Kenya (1993, 1997)
Kurdistan
Kyrgyzstan (2015)
Laos ( 2019 )
Latvia (2016)
Lesotho (1999)
Liechtenstein (2012)
Lithuania (2016)
Luxembourg (2012, 2015)
Malawi (1997, 1999, 2000)
Martinique (1989)
Mexico (1995, 2011) scuba
Monaco (2012)
Montenegro (2014)
Morocco (1992)
Mozambique (1999)
Namibia (2001)
Nepal (1998)
Nicaragua (2001)
Panama (2012)
Peru (1992, 2013)
Poland (2016)
Puerto Rico (1990)
Romania (2015)
Russia (2016)
Rwanda (1994)
Serbia (2014)
Slovakia (2012, 2014)
Slovenia (2012, 2014)
South Africa (1999)
Spain (2012, 2014)
St. Marten (1985)
St.Lucia (2011)
Swaziland (1999)
Sweden (2016)
Switzerland (2012)
Syria (1991)
Tajikistan (2015)
Tanzania (1995, 1997)
Thailand (2019) scuba
Tibet (1996)
Turkey (1995, 2015)
Turkmenistan (2015)
Turks & Caicos (2011) scuba Uganda (1994)
US Virgin Islands (1998) Uzbekistan (2015)
Vatican City (2012)
Vietnam (1995)
Zambia (1997, 2001)
Zimbabwe (1994, 1997, 2001)
