Introduction to Tracking is designed to give you a process for learning that will maximize your “dirt time” wherever you are, whether you live in the city with an occasional holiday into wilder places, or you live a fully immersed life in the bush. Even at times when you can’t get outside, you can progress in your learning through books, journaling, and using our online resources. It’s a “how-to” book to teach you how to develop the skills involved in seeing the world through the eyes of a tracker. There are details revealed about tracks and signs, trailing, behaviours, etc., on almost every page, but this course isn’t about the specifics, it’s about the process. You can spend a few weeks reading and doing some of the assignments, or you can spend a lifetime doing the daily routines, and become better and better, over time. How you use it is up to you. In addition to the stories and instruction, there are 10 Daily Routines and 30 Assignments to guide you in “thinking like a tracker.”
Even though our examples are from Southern Africa, this course can be completed from anywhere in the world, because it’s about the process of tracking, which enables you to learn the specifics of your own region.
You will need access to the internet to participate in the course, and a Facebook account.
The course includes a digital download of The Tracker Mentoring Manual – Introduction to Tracking. As you read through it, you will encounter blank spaces indicating your Assignments and Daily Routines – you should come here, to the eLearning centre to find the downloadable instructions for each one.
You will be expected to share evidence of completing each Assignment and Daily Routine online in the private Tracker Mentoring Facebook group. And remember, just because we only require evidence of completing each task once, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make them habits. After all, that’s the point of giving you a process, so you can use it to develop good habits that will make you a better tracker.
A course certificate is available for trackers who provide evidence of completing the material and participate in the Tracker Mentoring Community.
Extra benefits of enrolling in the course include membership in the private Facebook group and the Tracker Mentoring eLearning centre. Here, you will find Bonus Materials for Mentored Trackers (journal templates, species lists, etc.), first access to newly documented tracks and signs, Advanced Assignments, and a community of peers undertaking the same journey.
The course is mentored online and through social media by Lee Gutteridge and Kersey Lawrence, who are both Senior Trackers and Evaluators of trackers with CyberTracker Conservation, the international “Gold Standard” for wildlife tracker training and certification.
