"In the end we will conserve only what we love;
we will love only what we understand;
and we will understand only what we are taught."
- Baba Dioum, 1968
About Us
We understand that to travel out into the African bush can be difficult, expensive, time consuming and just not always practical on a daily, weekly, or even on a monthly basis. Yet, just as there are doves and dogs in Johannesburg, learning their tracks and signs can be a beginner’s learning opportunity that teaches you how to conclusively identify when the rarely encountered leopard wanders through the city. Tracker Mentoring is an idea made into reality by Kersey Lawrence and Lee Gutteridge. The initial material, including this website, the Tracker Mentoring Manual, and the Southern African series of 5 correspondence tracking courses were designed by Kersey and Lee. However, our bigger, longer term goal includes having many more courses available, including from other highly skilled, CyberTracker certified trackers. Over time, we will add more courses and more mentors, without sacrificing high-quality content and by focusing on user-friendly, distance-education techniques and technologies.
Kersey Lawrence
Kersey Lawrence is the first woman in the world to earn the title of Senior Tracker in the internationally renowned CyberTracker system. In addition to her decade-plus of guiding experience, Kersey also has several degrees in science and education, and completed her Ph.D. on trackers and tracking, through the University of Connecticut, where she also received an award for excellence in teaching.
Kersey owns Original Wisdom, an education company offering both local programs in the USA and study abroad programs in Southern Africa. These programs focus on ecology, culture and tracking. Courses are custom designed according to the academic requirements and adventurous desires of the visiting faculty, professor, or group leader. Kersey’s passionate approach to interpreting tracks and signs in nature and following trails will amaze and inspire you, as you spend time with her in the Africa she now calls home.
Kersey's Published Research
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Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation "What We Can Learn from CyberTracking: Applications of an International Tracker Evaluation System for Professional and Citizen Science, and the Theory of Original Wisdom"
Published: 2020
Master of Science Thesis “Global Navigation Satellite System Wildlife Tracking Collar Positioning Accuracy”
Published: 2009
Journal Article
"A Moving-Resting Process with an Embedded Brownian Motion for Animal Movements"
Published: 2012
Journal Article
"An accuracy assessment of global navigation satellite system wildlife-tracking collars in the southern Chilean Patagonia"
Published: 2011
Lee Gutteridge
Lee Gutteridge has spent all of his adult life in the African bush, with more than 25 years of dirt-time. Lee is currently the highest qualified field guide in Southern Africa (a Scout guide on the FGASA system, with many additional specializations) and the author of six published natural history books. Lee’s company, Nature Guide Training began over fifteen years ago as a training school for field guides in the safari industry in Southern Africa and has a well-earned reputation as an industry leader whose graduates are employed by some of the finest lodges across Africa. As a respected guide and trainer of guides, a Senior Tracker and a wildlife author, Lee will educate and inspire you with passionate tales of African animals, wildlife trails and close escapes.
Lee’s published books
South African Bushveld, A Field Guide From The Waterberg
Published: 2008
Okavango Field Guide
Published: 2010
Bushman Rock Art
Published: 2011
South African Bushveld – including the Kruger Lowveld
Published: 2012
Southern African Mammals And Their Tracks And Signs
Published: 2013
The Invertebrates of Southern Africa and their tracks and signs
Published: 2017
A Tracker's Tale - A memoir of how I became a tracker in the South African Army
Self-Published: 2019
Birds of Southern Africa and their Tracks and Signs
Published: 2020
Tracker Mentoring
An idea born from a dream, and many years of experience and planning
After decades of practicing and teaching the art and science of tracking, in all its forms, and in many places, with myriad people, Lee Gutteridge and Kersey Lawrence are both Senior Trackers and accredited assessors for CyberTracker. Lee and Kersey have been working together since they met in Africa in 2008.
Together, they design and implement custom educational adventures, across the world, in wildlife tracking and ecology, bushcraft and human culture – with special emphasis on Southern Africa and North America.
Kersey has decades of teaching at wilderness schools and as a university level educator. She’s received awards for her teaching after putting into practice her years of formal instruction on classroom teaching, online, hybrid, flipped, and experiential learning. We combined this with Lee’s authored books, and his enthusiasm for a wide Southern African tracking and naturalist knowledge base.
We believe this has culminated in an outstanding educational series, leading you down the incredible rabbit-hole of tracking – in the safety of your own home. We truly believe that through this medium you can learn, prepare, absorb information, build routines and start to grasp the intricacies of the world’s oldest (and newest) art and science.
“We really love tracking, and believe that trackers are some of the most fun, humble, and curious people that we meet. Nature is so vast that you can never know everything, and there will always be times where you don’t know an answer, or are completely incorrect, or lose an animal’s trail, no matter how ‘expert’ you become. That’s all part of the fun. It’s always different and never boring. We want to share our passion for tracking and nature with as many other people as possible, and make it affordable to do so. More than that, though, we hope that your newly found understanding will ignite your senses of wonder and curiosity about the natural world, and inspire you to find your place in it and to protect it.” – Kersey and Lee
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Testimonials
“Lee and Kersey will take you as far as your passion drives you. They love to teach and invest deeply in their students. It drives me to learn more and I could not ask for more patient, supportive and, yes, demanding teachers. They never stop and as a result, I never stop learning. I highly recommend their programs to anyone who is serious about becoming a better tracker and for those looking for mentors that are also fantastic teachers.”
– Sandy Reed, Educator, Ohio, USA, National Geographic Certified Educator and Inquiry Ambassador, and participant in five different Southern African tracking and wildlife programs, and a CyberTracker Tracker 2 in the USA, Track & Sign 2 in South Africa.