Tracking in Africa 2026

A typical day on the program

We will do at least one walk or game drive each day, giving you opportunities to see (and track) some of fantastic and charismatic African wildlife! A game-drive is the classic, open-air vehicles that you’ve no-doubt seen in the movies as an “African Safari!” Each day begins at sunrise and ends after sunset. Coffee and tea are provided at wake up, as well as simple cookies, toast and fruit. Then we head out to read the “tracker’s morning newspaper,” of tracks and signs left behind in the sand, and to watch animals for 3-4 hours before returning to our home base for a hearty brunch. After brunch there is time for a shower, a short nap, or some journaling time. Often, there will be a mid-day activity to facilitate your learning. Around 3 or 3:30, we will head out for another 3-4 hours, either on foot or by vehicle. If we traverse by vehicle, we often come back just after dark, spotlighting for nocturnal animals along the way. If you wish, and you are dressed professionally, you can take a turn in the “tracker seat.” The tracker seat is a metal chair mounted to the front of the vehicle that’s perfect for seeing tracks by day and spotlighting animals at night. Returning to the lodge, a hot dinner awaits, or a traditional South African braai (bar-b-que). Then, we often sit around the campfire listening to spotted hyenas laugh, owls hooting, or the other night sounds, sharing stories or chatting about the stars in the inky sky overhead. Sometimes, we might be awakened in the middle of the night to the sounds of roaring lions or the calls of leopards!

A large herd of elephants, mothers, babies, and young bulls, comes down to a river to drink.

Africa is the undisputed birthplace of tracking!

Here, tracking in its myriad forms has been practiced for many, uncounted and undocumented millennia. No-one truly knows when or how tracking began, but it is safe to assume that the art and science of tracking has been going on since a time well before humans, in our current form, took their first tentative steps on the soils and sands of this planet. We are Trackers, and that’s what we do. We will track constantly, while we drive and walk, or while we eat, teach, and practice other, inter-related skills – tracking is all about observation, curiosity, and making sense of patterns. It has been called the oldest science, and has been forever practiced in the art of storytelling. You will see that it’s impossible not to track on our programs. Tracks and signs of animals are everywhere and we are tracking-obsessed.

As is fitting for all of our programs in the bush, mother nature often has a different plan than we do. As such, we create intentions, instead of a plan. For example, our intention on one morning might be to go down to the dry river and sit for an hour as the sun rises and watch and listen to the animals around us. Then, we discover a fresh leopard trail along the road. We might abandon our original intention and follow the leopard trail. Our intentions change based upon new information! This happens often on our programs and we enjoy this flexibility and ability to spontaneously take advantage of exciting opportunities. Our schedule is fluid, much like that of our ancestors who would have walked the landscape before us, hunting and gathering as they went.

Thus, our intentions for this program are to…

• Watch wildlife and study animals and their natural behaviours, both on-foot and from vehicles. We will talk about and practice sitting quietly and observing in various environments on the land.

• Continually practice our awareness skills, paying attention to animal alarm calls and other forms of Animal Communication. Some people call this bird language, but we know that it’s much older and much bigger than just birds, because all animals are always communicating with each other. The birds, African tree squirrels, vervet monkeys and chacma baboons are always speaking, and the silent giraffes stand sentinel while the impalas snort and carry-on. We will learn what to tune in to, and how easy to learn these important skills are. We will also practice using our other senses to keep us safe and satisfy our curiosity. Sometimes, we might conduct what we call an Observation Point (some people call this a sit-spot), to tune our senses and then we will compare our “notes” afterward.

• Learn tracking! Your study of tracks and signs will progress from simple identification to interpreting short scenarios of behaviours and identifying fresh trails. We might even get an opportunity to follow clear footprints and speculate on animal behaviours as the tracks fade away in difficult or dangerous areas – leading us through or around these areas and to the animals. We will study everything, from the micro to the mega, and your program will culminate in a CyberTracker Track & Sign Evaluation - an opportunity to earn a qualification for this ancient skill in South Africa where the system was originally developed. CyberTracker is the original tracker certification system, and has become the international gold-standard for certifying the skill of wildlife trackers. While you are not guaranteed a certification (many people do get one), you will be surprised at what you can learn in such a short time through this teaching style and evaluation process, and at how that translates to learning your own ecosystem and species back home.