Giza Mrembo, Swahili for “Beautiful Darkness,” stepped into the red spotlight of the other vehicle. We saw her as a moving shadow in the night, hunting. The melanistic (black) leopardess, softly but confidently padded through the dry acacia scrubland of Laikipia Wilderness in Kenya. Without the spotlight, even in partial moonlight, she stood out, unable to hide herself against the golden soils in the open landscape.
This photo was taken by by Dylan Bernstein, our Yogi Guide in February’s Ashtanga Yoga, Tracking and Nature Guiding Program. Read more about this program in our Events in Africa section.
Original Wisdom conducts international ecological education and research in wildlife tracking and ecology, bushcraft and human culture.
In this newsletter you will find:
Our March 2024 Tracking Quiz & February 2023 Answers
Events in Africa
Events in North America
Online Events & Resources
Teaching Moment – Bagworms!
Life at the Waterhole video – a baby elephant wallows!
A relaxed female leopard lounges on the top of a large termite mound. She was in the process of dispersing from her mom (gaining her independence) in a private reserve of South Africa.
This photo was taken by by Dylan Bernstein, our Yogi Guide in February’s Ashtanga Yoga, Tracking and Nature Guiding Program. Read more about this program in our Events in Africa section.
Original Wisdom conducts international ecological education and research in wildlife tracking and ecology, bushcraft and human culture.
In this newsletter you will find:
Our March 2024 Tracking Quiz & February 2023 Answers
Events in Africa
Events in North America
Online Events & Resources
Teaching Moment – Bagworms!
Life at the Waterhole video – a baby elephant wallows!
We will be following the elk and the deer again in the Northwoods as the land is on the cusp of turning from leaves to snow. You never know what you are going to get and it’s always a full-body, full-brain adventure with our kith and kin. Trailing is a love song to, Read More
I’m not trying to sell you our course, but to let you know that the processes we follow are really helpful (many of them, I’m revealing for free here in this Newsletter). That’s what we aim to be… helpful. We want more people to become trackers (and naturalists, guides, teachers, and scientists) because we, Read More
When it comes to tracking, the most important thing to learn well, and the largest field to study (it’s endless, really) is track and sign aging. If you can tell that a trail is fresh, you’ll have more success following it and finding the animal. As a general rule, fresher tracks stand out more, Read More
When it comes to the trailing aspects of tracking, predominantly following and finding animals, even Master Trackers lose the trail. To me, that’s a refreshing idea. It makes me feel better about things when I lose the trail as a Senior Tracker, and it makes my students feel better when they hear this and, Read More
October Answers to our #WeeklyTrackingChallenge Interested in online and correspondence tracking courses? Visit us at TrackerMentoring.com! Answer list: An African wildcat track from South Africa, Crested francolin feathers from South Africa, and Mud-dauber wasp sign collecting mud in Connecticut in the USA. (Sorry for the delay on these answers for October while I was, Read More
Whoops, we slipped a bit! This newsletter covers questions posed in both July and Aug, 2020. We’ve moved to a monthly newsletter format for #TrackerTuesdays, so a new question SHOULD be posed every Tuesday, and answers SHOULD be published on the first Tuesday of every month. We apologize for the delay in publishing this, Read More
We’ve moved to a monthly newsletter format for #TrackerTuesdays, so a new question will be posed every Tuesday, and answers will be published on the first Tuesday of every month. Answer list: Spotted towhee from the Channel Islands in California; Namaqua rock mouse nest from the Republic of South Africa; zebra tracks from the, Read More
Here’s a link to our newsletter at Original Wisdom, with detailed answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge. Answers for 20 – 25 May 2020 This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. We post a question a day, except for Tuesdays because that’s Answer Day!, Read More
Answers to our Daily Tracking Challenge This is a time to create and share content that engages, entertains, educates and inspires the world. We post a question a day, except for Tuesdays because that’s Answer Day! Answer list: Bennett’s wallaby tracks from Tasmania; grey squirrel tracks in snow from Connecticut in the USA; lilac-breasted, Read More
Answer Day for 6 – 11 May 2020 Answer list: African tree squirrel tracks from the Republic of South Africa, two different sizes of caterpillar frass from the Republic of South Africa, European mole mounds from southern England, regurgitated pellets of an Abyssinian long-eared owl from Ethiopia, sapsucker feeding wells from New England in, Read More
Q and A for 29 Apr – 4 May 2020 Answer list: scrub hare skull from South Africa; rainbow-koppie skink scat from South Africa; black bear tracks from the USA; leopard tracks from South Africa; fallow deer bed and tracks from England; Geoffrey’s cat scat up in a tree from Chile Amongst our global, Read More
I awoke the other night in the wee hours before dawn. It was extremely bright due to our moon waxing towards full. My bare feet padded silently to the window on the cool cement floor. I looked out upon a large grey body. I had to soften my vision to see her clearly, so, Read More
One of my favorite moments this winter here in South Africa was with a group of trackers from White Pine Programs from Maine in the USA. We did a sunset “sit spot” one evening in the Waterberg Mountains. Sit spots are just a time where you sit by yourself, in silence, and push your, Read More
Share This: While in the USA recently, I was interviewed by a reporter, Amanda Hutchinson, from The Day newspaper in Connecticut. Here is a link to the article that just came out today: Ledyard native a top international wildlife tracker
Share This: I was recently in New England on a brief stopover home to visit family, and had a singular opportunity to get into the woods on some deer trails with Nate Harvey, who is also a Senior Tracker and Evaluator for CyberTracker. Nate is one of my mentors, and runs a trailing school, Read More
I was recently invited to spend another blissful weekend feeding my tracking addition with like-minded folks at White Pine Programs in southern Maine. As an alumnus of their first ever Tracking Apprenticeship in 2007-2008, and a former Teaching Assistant for the program, I’ve been invited back for a few years now to help teach, Read More
In the summer of 2015, students from Hopkinton and Bow High Schools (NH), went to South Africa to study the ecology and culture. We spent 21 days out on safaris, walks, on trips to the local villages and two days at one local high school – where, Read More