Tracker Mentoring
Correspondence Courses for Trackers
From novice to expert, in the city or in the wild
Welcome to Tracker Mentoring, a place to find comprehensive online and correspondence tracking courses, with a community of learners and expert mentors to guide you.
“Tracking isn’t particularly hard, it just takes time and practice. A mentor helps to speed up the process by giving you a solid foundation, and redirection when you need it. Let us help you to break it down, and build you up.” – Kersey Lawrence and Lee Gutteridge, CyberTracker Senior Trackers and Evaluators.
We practice teaching and learning in the CyberTracker style.
CyberTracker Tracker Certification is the international “Gold Standard” for certifying the skill level of trackers.
Why “Cyber”Tracker? The original concept was software that allowed non-literate San trackers to collect data, in-the-field. This allowed them to use their expertise in employed opportunities for wildlife and land management. The Tracker Certification System followed, as a means to verify the skill level of trackers.
When you think of your TRACKING SKILLS, do you ever say,
"I don't know where to begin?"
- Do you want to learn about the animals that are living in your garden but you rarely see?
- Would you like to learn what animals are busy doing when you aren’t watching them?
- Do you want to build your confidence in, and knowledge of, the natural world?
- Would you like to learn a process to teach yourself how to track?
- If you are already a tracker, would you like to improve your knowledge and skills?
- Would you like to become a part of an international community of trackers?
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Are you planning a visit Southern Africa and want to study before you get here?
- Do you want to prepare for a CyberTracker evaluation?
Let us help you, one track at a time!
Learn From Industry Experts
CyberTracker Conservation - Est. 1994 by Louis Liebenberg
At a time when traditional tracking skills are being lost, we may require many thousands of certified trackers to monitor changes in the environment due to climate change, pollution and habitat destruction.
This intensive, highly educational process is globally recognized as an unparalleled tool for learning about local wildlife and landscapes while preserving and advancing tracking skill.
The objectives of the CyberTracker Tracker Certification include:
- Promoting the cultural, social and economic benefits of the art of tracking.
- Stimulating an interest in tracking among children, young people, adventure students and the general public.
- Develop tracking into a modern profession by maintaining the highest standards in tracker certification.
- Promoting the employment of trackers in education, ecotourism, conservation management, search & rescue, anti-poaching, wildlife monitoring and scientific research.
- The recognition of traditional knowledge, the pursuit of new knowledge and the highest levels of excellence in the art of tracking.
Tracker Mentoring is endorsed by FGASA, the standard-setting organization for nature-guiding in Southern Africa, and Lee Gutteridge and Kersey Lawrence are both Accredited Evaluators for CyberTracker, the international gold-standard for Tracker Certification.
Click on the links below to find a Certified Tracker, an Evaluator, an Evaluation, or a Training Program near you!
Featured Tracker Mentoring Courses
The Tracker Mentoring Manuals
in the Southern African Tracking Series
While we recommend that you start with The Tracker Mentoring Manual, Course #1, Introduction to Tracking in Southern Africa, before attempting additional courses, due to the detailed learning and basic ground work presented there, the courses can really be taken in any order. If you have a particular interest, for example, in invertebrate tracks and signs, this can be your starting point.
Course 1. Introduction to Tracking
An interactive course designed to give you a process for learning that will maximize your “dirt time” wherever you are...
Upcoming Courses
An interactive course that guides you through the details and differences in the tracks and signs of the mammal species…
An interactive course that guides you through the details and differences in the tracks and signs of the “species without a spine,” a.k.a. invertebrates…
An interactive course that guides you through the details and differences in the tracks and signs of over 200 species of our “feathered friends” …
Trailing animals in Southern Africa is an interactive, “how-to” course from Tracker Mentoring about following tracks and signs to find animals…
Tracking is much more than just examining little scratches in the dirt.
The art and science of tracking develops creative and critical thinking skills, and curiosity and empathy, which also help us to better understand our place as caretakers of this beautiful world. The full expression of tracking includes more than just identifying tracks and signs. It also includes the interpretation of behaviours from tracks and signs, and the following and finding of animals (or people) using tracks and signs.
Our Logo
The Buffalo Thorn
(Ziziphus mucronata)
It’s especially relevant to tracking, where we must remember to look at the small details as well as the big picture, to follow the tracks as well as look ahead and maintain awareness of our surroundings, and to learn from and pay attention to our last tracks.
Philosophically, the metaphor of the buffalo thorn could be applied to many things in life.
Tracking requires us to really see the environment, and each other, and to reconnect to fundamental systems of living, which include knowledge of self, and connection to community (including non human communities) and land. Tracking IS original wisdom. It’s both ancient, and new. Our ancestors tracked animals for food, clothing, shelter, and better quality of life, so it’s original in that it’s one of the oldest wisdom. Today, we push the frontiers of tracking forward by including technology and new discoveries, so it’s original in that it’s one of the newest wisdoms. Following and finding, or trailing, also builds confidence and leadership qualities in individuals, and teamwork among groups. One of the best things about tracking is that the “book of nature” is so vast that we can never know it all. It’s always exciting and always humbling.
At the end of this life, what tracks do you want to leave behind you?
To Know More
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
Tracker Mentoring is run by CyberTracker Senior Trackers and Evaluators Lee Gutteridge and Kersey Lawrence. CyberTracker is the gold standard for evaluating the skill of wildlife trackers in the world. We will use this channel to post instructional videos and exciting new discoveries in the tracking world. Go to TrackerMentoring.com to enroll in one of our distance learning courses.
Testimonials
Tracking is an infinite subject, and at times it can be difficult, frustrating, and humbling. However, even subjects that may otherwise seem daunting feel possible when they teach it. Lee and Kersey lead you to ask the right questions to further your learning. Once you feel that you have gone as far as you can go, when you hit a wall, they guide you to the next step, allowing progress beyond that wall and to new discoveries.
– Kristi Freese, Washington, USA. Veterinary Technician, Tracker 2, South Africa; Level 3 Track & Sign, USA