Our eTracker Track Identification course is an online course designed to equip learners with the skills they need to be able to start figuring out what creatures crossed their paths. It does not aim to teach trackers what each animal's track looks like but rather what mindset to approach tracks with in order to figure out what left them.

The content is made up of videos, notes, quizzes and short practical assignments. Learners who successfully pass the course will be posted a certificate to verify that they have completed the course.

Get started!  Click here to register for the course.

EssentialGuiding.com is a small owner-run training outfit that specialises in tailor-made short courses for guides. Primarily focused on safari lodges, Alastair Kilpin & Gavin Lautenbach also train guides in other spheres of historical guiding, wine tours and anything else where the value of the guided experience is key to the success of the business. Their passion is coaching guides to reach their full potential. They have a wide-ranging interest in the natural world and qualifications in birding, tracking and big game walking amongst other things. The training is unique, but FGASA qualifications can also be assessed.

Guides and Trackers Direct is a company that provides guides, trackers, employers and other service providers related to the photographic safari industry an opportunity to network through their website www.guidesandtrackers.co.za . It is not a recruitment agency for guides and trackers but simply offers them a platform to make their CV and experience available in the public domain. It also provides information on various services available to those whose business is photographic safaris.

Entabeni Nature Guide Training are offering a one year part time programme for interested nature lovers. It is specially designed not to impact too heavily on your normal working life, with a major focus on tracking, mammals, birdlife, arthropods and all other aspects of nature. For more information on this affordable programme please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and join the adventure!

We don’t sell these books, but if you can’t find a copy in your local book store, you should be able to track one down over the internet.

 

[h3]Scatalog[/h3]Kevin Murray’s Scatalog is a compact photographic aid that will help trackers identify a wide range of Southern African animal droppings. Although identifying dung is not always an exact science, this little book goes a long way to narrowing down the options and extending your dung identification boundaries with a selection of reptile, amphibian and arthropod droppings as well as photographs of scat from most of the medium to large mammals. Although written descriptions are limited, the book contains two tables which neatly summarize some of the characteristics of the various droppings such as size, content and position. A great companion to any of the animal track field guides.

[h3]Tracks & Signs[/h3]Chris and Tilda Stuart’s book is an accessible, well-illustrated field guide that covers a broad range of sign from tracks and droppings all the way to tooth marks and nests. Although it often seems to stop short of any really juicy details, it is a fantastic insight into the complexity of signs that can be left by wildlife and is sure to inspire you to pay a little more attention to your surroundings next time you wander out into the wilderness.

 

[h3]Okavango[/h3]This is a comprehensive local field guide that covers most things biotic and abiotic that you might want to know about this awe-inspiring part of Africa as well as a bit of history and some basic survival skills. The track and sign section contains a wide range of colour photographs of spoor taken in the sandy soils of the Delta. As most of the creatures found in the Okavango occur elsewhere in Africa too, this book makes a handy photographic companion to the more comprehensive tracking field guides.

 

[h3]A Field Guide to the Animal Tracks of Southern Africa[/h3]Louis Liebenberg’s track drawings are without a doubt some of the most accurate available in print. This book contains track drawings of nearly all of the mammals you are likely to come across in the sub-region (except the very small), as well as a selection of bird, reptile, amphibian and arthropod tracks. The text linked to each track presents some basic biology and a distribution map for each creature but hesitates to give away too much about the tracks themselves

The Tracker Academy is a partnership between the SA College for Tourism, Samara Game Reserve and Alex van den Heever. Their 1 year full-time intensive tracking course, led by 3 experienced trainers, is the first of its kind in southern Africa. The course focuses on developing tracking competency, conservation and life-skills, including literacy & positive health.

The Tracker Academy endeavors to contribute significantly to the preservation of indigenous knowledge in South Africa by creating passionate African naturalists. Their aim is to empower the custodians of Africa’s wilderness to preserve the continent’s last remaining wild areas. Their accredited African naturalists aim to bring authenticity and accuracy to environmental education, anti-poaching, eco-tourism, research and conservation.

Contact:
The Tracking Academy
Division of SA College for Tourism
049 892 2244 or 082 783 7943
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it