Tracking With Ray – Londolozi Blog

A recent goal of mine has been to improve my tracking, and there is simply no better person to learn from than my companion and tracker, Ray Mabilane. Blessed with a rare morning off without guests, I thought I would grab this opportunity with both hands and work on my tracking. With very little convincing needed, Ray and I came up with a plan to head out together, bumble around and see if we could find any fresh tracks to practice my trailing skills, and if all else failed – Ray would test my knowledge on smaller mammal and bird tracks. With the goal of myself tracking, and when I invariably lost the tracks Ray would step in and hone his skills.

Ironically, when we Rangers do have a guest-free morning, rather than a sleep-in – we often relish the opportunity to venture into the wilderness. Pursuing what drives us, and more often than not allows us to reconnect with the very essence of our passion for the bush.

After a quick cup of coffee in the Rangers’ room, as the sun peeped above the horizon, we headed out to the causeway. Heading up to the northeast corner of the reserve, there is a long and straight road with soft granite-based soil (perfect for tracking). A road notoriously favoured by trackers, yet feared by the Tracking Academy students (and myself today!). Fast-paced tapping on the front of the vehicle, and a tracker leaning forward to get a closer view could only mean one thing. Leopard tracks! 

Fresh evidence of a leopard that has just walked down the road early one morning. Leopards will often use roads as pathways upon which they demarcate their territory through scent marking and scraping of their hind feet. Follow the footprints for long enough and they will come to an end – where the leopard lies.

Heart racing with anticipation, we followed the tracks no more than 100m down the road – listening carefully as we went. I have been incredibly lucky to have many unique moments and memories I’ll cherish – but tracking a leopard with a close friend, the birds announcing their morning chorus, the sun warming your back, not another soul in sight, you look ahead and down the road walks a male leopard oblivious to our presence, that’s one that will stick with me forever.

Ray and I shared a short high-five, fetched the vehicle and followed the Tortise Pan Male – completely alone. I have no doubt that Ray has seen more than a thousand leopards, myself in the hundreds, yet what happened that morning was special. The power of silence. Two friends quietly in awe, appreciating and reflecting. In the presence of such raw beauty, words seemed inadequate, and we sat in reverent silence, lost in the wonder of the wilderness and our own thoughts.

Born in 2016, this male spent his early years in the south-east of Londolozi, but began moving further afield in late 2019.

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Buoyed by our encounter, we continued on with the plan of finding something else to follow, and perhaps test our abilities more. In the same manner as before, and not too long after seeing the leopard, Ray stopped us for tracks of rhino that looked fresh. Climbing out of the vehicle, we started to follow. They cut off the road, and tracking became more difficult, following tracks of at least three rhinos meandering through the long grass, feeding as they went.

Through thorn and thicket, grass and sand we tracked, learning as we went. What paths were they choosing? What grass did they prefer? Which rhino did all the other tracks come back to join? The excitement built as we followed them to a mud wallow – seeing the imprints of where they lay, and fresh wet mud left on the grass as they left. When I lost the track, Ray was there to point me back in the right direction.

And then, after more than two hours and four kilometres of tracking, our perseverance was rewarded! In a secluded clearing along the sand river, their massive forms silhouetted against the dappled sun in the east. Breaking out of the trace of following the path – it was a moment of pure magic and one that will be imprinted in my mind for years to come.