Did you know that Marumo Nene has been been a Wildlife ACT monitor since we first began?
Marumo has a wealth of bush experience and knowledge, so we asked her to share some of her top tips for wildlife tracking:
1. It all starts with respecting animals and nature as a whole. Learn to feel the heartbeat of the environment.
2. Develop your senses – get good at feeling, seeing, listening, tasting and smelling. When you’ve honed in on your senses, they will combine into one super-sense: intuition.
3. Learn the landscape. Getting to know where the food, water and barriers are will help you to find good tracks.
https://youtu.be/dWKNrM-kuhY
4. Get into the mind of your subject. Try to think as the animal thinks."
5. Keep an eye out for tracks in soft and sandy patches of ground. Be sure to pay attention to trails that lead to waterholes or rivers too.
6. Know what to look for - keep your eyes peeled for colour changes in the bush. Your eyes will be drawn to the obvious differences and once you've noted them, start looking for the less-obvious signs.
7. Watch the birds - they carry messages of intent from a hunting predator.
8. Study up on identifications, especially when it comes to species with similar tracks like Lions and Leopard.
Learn more about wildlife tracking and monitoring with Wildlife ACT here:
https://www.wildlifeact.com/about-wildlife-act/wildlife-tracking-and-monitoring/