Private Course - By Invitation Only
You will not be able to see this course in our shop as it is a Private Course invitation sent by email. Use the link on this page to sign up.
Course Description
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, designed 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 species’ specifics, it’s about the process.
You can spend a few weeks reading and doing some of the exercises, or you can spend a lifetime doing them over and over, and become more and more knowledgeable, over time.
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 about, “how to learn about,” the specifics of your own region. 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.”
Course Requirements
This is an online course. To participate, you will need:
- access to the internet
- software to download and open pdfs
- a smartphone with a camera or a separate camera
- ability to transfer photos to a document
- the ability to convert documents into pdfs and upload them to the internet
- a ruler or a measuring tape
- a notebook and some pens or pencils
The course includes a digital download of The Tracker Mentoring Manual – Introduction to Tracking. As you read through it, you will encounter spaces with short text indicating your Assignments and Daily Routines – when you see those, you should come here, to the private eLearning centre (My Account [Login] >> My Courses >> Introduction to Tracking – An Online Course), to find the downloadable instructions to complete each one. After following the instructions, you will upload your evidence of completing each Daily Routine and Assignment here in the eLearning center, under the same Assignment or Daily Routine number.
Additional Benefits
Also in the eLearning centre, you will find a FREE course, called “Bonus Materials for Mentored Trackers.” Find it on the website at My Account >> My Courses >> Bonus Materials for Mentored Trackers. In it, we are always adding extra, useful things for trackers, such as journal templates, species lists, Advanced (optional) Assignments, etc.
Sign up for our Newsletter and our YouTube channel, where you’ll have first access to newly documented tracks and signs, and upcoming programs.
You can work at your own pace. There is a recommended timeline in the free “Checklist” In the Getting Started section of the course, but it is only a recommendation of what CAN be done, not what must be done. We hope you will see how easy it is to build the Assignments and Daily Routines into a few minutes of your day.
Real Certifications
A Field Guides of Southern Africa (FGASA) endorsed, course certificate is available for students who provide evidence of completing the material and participate in the Tracker Mentoring eLearning Community. The material will help you by providing foundational knowledge that is important to becoming a competent field guide, naturalist, nature enthusiast, or even a scientist.
Our goal is to get you to the point where you will be comfortable and successful in participating in one of our CyberTracker Tracking Evaluations, where you achieve a full certification in tracking! CyberTracker is the internationally recognized gold-standard for certifying wildlife trackers across the world.
Your Tracker Mentors
The course is mentored, among others, by Lee Gutteridge (Wildlife Author) and Dr. Kersey Lawrence (PhD, Tracking), who are both Senior Trackers and Evaluators of trackers with CyberTracker Conservation, the international “Gold Standard” for wildlife tracker training and certification. Lee and Kersey live in Hoedspruit, and run a camp in the Balule where they train guides and trackers.
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“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.