Our focus during this trip is to find and follow animals using their tracks and sign until we find them in person! There are also opportunities to participate in vehicle based game drives to locate and observe wildlife.

This course is a collaboration between Lee Gutteridge, Kersey Lawrence and John Rhyder and takes us to the heart of the Kruger National Park in South Africa. It is a vast landscape of 2 million hectares and home to a varied diversity of life including the iconic African mammals. Every tracker should make the effort to visit this continent at some point in their life, it’s the cradle of mankind and therefore also the birthplace of tracking.

The number of course participants is limited to six which really maximises our chances of being successful in our aim to get as close as possible to wildlife.

Course Content

Although each day is different, our intentions will be the same. To find a trail, to track and to find the animals.

Trackers identify, interpret, follow and find…and this summarises our goals. We want to learn how to do this better. All of us.

A ‘typical’ day may start with a “reading the morning newspaper” tracking walk with Kersey, John and Lee. We will do this on foot, as a single, small group. This is a special opportunity to orientate you to the types of life directly around the camp, and would include tracks, smaller animals, birdlife, and potentially some of the local antelope species which will be commonly encountered around our rooms. While the CyberTracker system, by necessity for assessing, separates the aspects of track and sign identification from trailing, we will practice the holistic art and science of Tracking, which seamlessly requires us to identify small details in order to interpret behaviours and find animals. Rhino, lion, buffalo and others may visit the small water hole at the camp, and perhaps our first trail could begin right there!

During the afternoon we will probably board our game viewer, and head out onto the reserve to seek out a trail, and, if we run up dry on fresh spoor, we will search for wildlife. Watching animals from the vehicle helps us to understand how they walk, what they do, to recognise their gaits and track patterns, and much, much more. We will be in radio communication with other guides and seek out some of the larger mammals which abound in the region.

These drives can be cool during our winter months, especially around sunset, and can produce some exciting opportunities to view wildlife. We will return after dark, with our spotlight to aid us in our nocturnal search for animals.

Accommodation

Our accommodation is simple and comfortable, in a beautiful little, brick and mortar lodge located on the banks of the Makutswe River, in Eastern South Africa. It is in very close contact with nature in a beautiful ecosystem. The camp is unfenced, and allows for close interaction with a range of wildlife in a big game environment. Black rhino, lion and elephant are just some of the animals we could encounter in camp or when out on our walks. We have three rooms shared across the group so you would need to be prepared not to have a room to yourself.

An example itinerary can be found here.

Dates 2026

We are running this trip in 2026,  Details will announced late summer 2025. Contact us if you are interested

Getting there:

We provide ground transportation from our pick-up points in Hoedspruit to the reserve and return to the same locations in Hoedspruit, or to Eastgate (HDS) airport in Hoedspruit.

You will need to arrange your own flights to and from Hoedspruit to arrive on the 22nd and leave on 28th June 2025

Price per Person

Cost: £2400 – £2550

Course Dates