The Kalahari San Bushmen are renowned for their incredible wildlife tracking skills. What appears to be a smudge in the Kalahari sand to any mere mortal can easily be interpreted by a skilled tracker as not only a particular species, but sometimes even the sex and age of the particular animal that left the track. They can even look at a track and sometimes identify an individual animal whose tracks they have seen before. Sadly, this is an indigenous knowledge system that is becoming rare within the San communities, as modernization reduces the need for these traditional skills. CCB’s research team regularly engages with the trackers in our target communities, hiring them to help us count spoor (footprint) tracks on the sandy roads throughout the Kalahari, which enables us to estimate population densities of wildlife species in the area. This work is critical for us to monitor wildlife population numbers and keep an eye on increasing and decreasing trends in species like cheetahs, lions and African wild dogs and their prey. Unfortunately, it is getting harder and harder for us to find skilled trackers as this talent slowly disappears.
In line with our mandate to support communities in the transfer of their wildlife-friendly indigenous knowledge, we facilitated a tracker training session in April. This 2-day training camp, saw youth from our target communities team up with researchers from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to learn how to improve their tracking skills from some of the area’s most celebrated trackers. This training not only helps to preserve this indigenous knowledge, but equips local youth with the skills needed to assist us with further spoor surveys in the area. With regular spoor surveys needed for our research and wildlife monitoring, this tracker training session capacitates more of the local community to be employed in our research activities, creating income opportunities from wildlife-based activities. The more income that can be derived from wildlife-based economies, the more communities are motivated to help preserve the natural world around them. Well done to the tracking teams!
In line with our mandate to support communities in the transfer of their wildlife-friendly indigenous knowledge, we facilitated a tracker training session in April. This 2-day training camp, saw youth from our target communities team up with researchers from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks to learn how to improve their tracking skills from some of the area’s most celebrated trackers. This training not only helps to preserve this indigenous knowledge, but equips local youth with the skills needed to assist us with further spoor surveys in the area. With regular spoor surveys needed for our research and wildlife monitoring, this tracker training session capacitates more of the local community to be employed in our research activities, creating income opportunities from wildlife-based activities. The more income that can be derived from wildlife-based economies, the more communities are motivated to help preserve the natural world around them. Well done to the tracking teams!
The participants, from CCB, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks and youth from the community, investigate some carnivore spoor
Passing on traditional knowledge like wildlife tracking has been a top development priority for communities in the area
The participants walk away with a greater understanding of spoor (footprint) tracking, helping them to conduct wildlife population monitoring and to more accurately identify animals involved in conflict reports
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