Tracking

Rarefied or relevant? - The role of tracking and the modern tracker

"spoor" - the trail of an animal, notably its tracks, but also other signs of its passage
"tracker" - one who is able to follow spoor, interpret it and ultimately find the animal

The concept of tracking sounds simple enough. Every animal - including ourselves - leaves signs of passing, whether this be actual footprints, dung, feeding or the reaction of other animals. The trick is to identify the sign, interpret it and then follow it. For example: What species left the sign, was it male or female, adult or young, was it hungry, was it feeding, moving slowly, running, what time of day was it, how fresh is the spoor, where was it going? Sometimes the hardest part is just to see the sign itself!

Art: There are not a lot of people in the current day and age that can track. There isn't really the need and so, in most communities, the art has stagnated and died out. There continues, however, even in the modern world, to be a place for tracking and people who practise the art. It is principally in conservation that tracking continues to be relevant, and one example where it is in some cases indispensable, is the eco-tourism industry (particularly in an African context, but also elsewhere such as India or Nepal), hunting, anti-poaching and scientific research.

"spoor" is Afrikaans for track/s

Food

Hunting relies on being able to find the desired animal and is probably where tracking evolved as an essential skill - in providing food for traditional hunters. In the modern era of hunting, questions of age, sex and size are very important in the initial process of locating a suitable trophy animal. Depending on the skill of the hunter, tracking skills might also be needed in the event of having to follow up on a wounded animal. Poaching, as another form of hunting (by definition an illegal form) also employs tracking skills such as interpreting the most often used game trails, where the porcupine is holed up for the day (or the warthog for the night), the approach used by impala on the way to water and where the rhino has disappeared to after wallowing. The right kind of trap or snare to set will be governed by a correct interpretation of tracks as to the animal's species, age and size.

Anti-poaching strategies: Fighting fire with fire is perhaps the best strategy to combat poaching. In other words, the best anti-poaching strategies employ the use of tracking and this is another role for the modern tracker. Perimeters of reserves are patrolled for evidence of incursion. Where this is found, tracks are followed with the aim of either catching up with the poachers or to at least discover where snares have been set, where a camp has been established, where caches of equipment, supplies or bounty have been left or where to set up an ambush to catch the poachers themselves. Poachers frequently use devices such as walking backwards through a fence (to make it appear as if they have left the area), or simply rub out their footprints with branches. Activities of scavengers such as hyenas or vultures may still betray their presence and activities, though. All of these tactics can be interpreted and reacted to by anti-poaching teams skilled in tracking.

Research

Scientific research also benefits greatly from the skills of a tracker. This can be as simple as having to locate a specific animal for scientific observations or can be even more involved. Much of an animal's habits, habitat and food preference, mating behaviour and reproduction can be interpreted through the sign that that animal leaves behind. A skilled tracker can contribute vastly to studies; by finding an animal, knowing when it has young, whether it is aggressive because of mating, is feeding in a certain area etc.

Contributing: Tracking for science was pioneered in the sands of the Kalahari in studies on lion in the 1960s and leopard in the 1980s. Much of the data gathered, was obtained directly through interpretation of a specific animal's spoor, and has been used with great success in Southern and East Africa in gathering data on the diet of the black rhino which is occasionally irascible and anyway feeds in thick bush where observations can sometimes not be made with any reliability or consistency. This approach can obviously be subject to some bias in the understanding of the spoor by the tracker, but has the advantage over direct observational studies in that there is no impact on the behaviour of the study animals caused by the presence of a researcher. Increasingly these trackers are being credited as co-authors of any scientific papers that arise from such research and this greatly enhances the value, perception and pride of such a skill.

Tourism

This brings us to another important area where the modern tracker has a significant role to play - the growing nature-based tourism industry. Let's take the South African lowveld as an example. One of the important skills in the local Shangaan culture for time immemorial has been the ability to track. Tracking enabled the men of small communities to provide their families with meat and was a corner stone of local economy and diet. The formation of first the Sabie and Shingwedzi Game Reserves in the late 1800s and then the proclamation of the Kruger National Park in 1926 meant that "hunting" was transformed to "poaching" and this aspect of subsistence outlawed. Although restricted, hunting activities, and the tracking skills that accompanied them, continued and the tradition remained ingrained, albeit to a far lesser extent than times past. Many tracker/hunters gained work with the new white landowners of the area often as trackers for someone else's hunting, but from the 1970s as hunting safaris began increasingly to be replaced by photographic safaris, the emphasis changed slightly.

Keeping the skill alive: Instead of tracking an animal so that it could be destroyed, the object was to find and observe that animal and attempt to photograph it. This ethos has remained and is the foundation of the modern photographic safari in the region. A superbly camouflaged leopard - high on the wish list of most visitors - might move in a territory of 2500-6000 hectares: The proverbial needle in a haystack! Without tracking skills the chances of seeing such an animal are left to fate, luck and coincidence. With a skilled tracker the chances are significantly increased. Given the opportunity for tourist dollars and a regular salary, this profession is probably the most lucrative for the modern tracker and as such attracts large numbers of established and experienced trackers and also those wanting to learn. In this way the age-old art of tracking is not only sustained but is also promoted, resuscitated and extended.

Ironic, then, how such an ancient skill, essential to our own evolution, has come to play such an important role in modern conservation, protecting animals formerly hunted and ensuring that they are appreciated for generations to come.

- Chris Roche -

Posted: Other by CC Africa, Date: 21 November 2006