The most important people on your safari...

You'll be spending up to eight hours a day in their company and learning all you can from them about the intricacies of African eco-systems and the plants and wildlife that call them home... Which makes the humble safari guide and tracker among the most important elements in your African safari!

The job of the safari guide is a real pivot position that often makes the difference between an outstanding safari or an average one (or worse). And it's a guide's relationship with their tracker that adds an extra dynamic to a superlative safari experience. It's a tracker's responsibility to work with the safari guide to find incredible sightings, picking up the spoor of iconic wildlife species and especially predators and following them to their source, where they can!

This often entails the guide stopping the vehicle and getting out to follow tracks with the tracker, leaving guests awestruck at their ability to follow the smallest of indications that something special walked along a particular path. They are able to judge whether spoor is fresh or old, where the animal was headed and what the chances of a sighting are going to be. 

It's part of the mystery of safari - watching these men and women hard at work, using all of their skills and expertise to work out what's going on from often minute signs on the ground - a partial track here, a broken grass stalk there, the smell of scent marking or scat... And it all adds to the excitement of whether you will find the animal being tracked!

Sometimes you'll be witness to absolute magic as your guide and tracker get back on the vehicle, dive into the deep bush on an off-road adventure and lead you straight to the most incredible lion kill or leopard sighting. On other occasions you'll embark on a lengthy hunt for the owner of the tracks that have been picked up, going down lots of "blind alleys", making a few wrong turns and losing the spoor before picking it up again and finally finding your "target"! Whatever the case, going off on an adventure with the men and women in khaki and beige is never, ever boring!

The guide and tracker work together in a close relationship to provide as many exciting wildlife encounters as they can on each game activity. They're your direct link to the African bush - walking encyclopedias of knowledge and understanding of how Mother Nature works and the intricate web of connectivity that exists in the wilderness. 

Tracking is a fascinating skill that takes a deep understanding of animal behaviour and familiarity with the bush to achieve. Some tribes in Africa are renowned for their tracking skills and are proud of the bushcraft and knowledge that's often passed down over generations. For example, the Shangaan people in South Africa's Greater Kruger region are known to be master trackers with a deep understanding of the wilderness and its inhabitants. Interpreting tracks and signs is part of their culture and their heritage and they are proud of the skills and knowledge they have acquired, often passing this on to the guides they work alongside. 

The San bushmen of the northern Cape in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana are also legendary for their ability to track, as are the Masai and Samburu people of East Africa. 

Of course, not all safari camps and lodges have trackers, which leaves the job of watching the ground for signs of something special to the person behind the wheel. It adds to the challenge, but also the kudos of the guide who finds tracks, uses them to locate their owner and provides an incredible wildlife encounter in the process.

It takes years of experience and no small amount of studying to acquire the ability to successfully track animals in the wilderness, understanding how they move, what motivates them to move, whether they establish territories or not, where those territories are, who their competition is and how they interact with their environment. 

So the next time you climb onto an open safari vehicle and prepare to head out into the African wilderness, spare a thought for the people at the very front - behind the wheel and on the end of the bonnet - who are full of passion and are driven to share its secrets with you. Your safari rests in their hands.

#NewWorldSafaris #TangalaSafariCamp #guideandtracker #travel #safari #explore #safaris #africa