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Lessons from Nature

on Jun 07, 2023

In our modern lives, it has become too easy to get lost in our thoughts, distracted, and we forget to be present in the moment. We get disconnected from the paths we had set for ourselves. We lose sight of our purpose and goals with our head down grinding away forgetting to look up and be fully present and aware using all the tools at our disposal, ignoring the fine details. 

A couple of weeks ago Lazarus and myself went on a tracking exercise, we found fresh rhino tracks, our guests had yet to see a rhino and we were desperate to get a glimpse of these majestic creatures. We decided to take our guests along. We jumped off the vehicle and did a quick briefing about the risks and guidelines for the exercise. We needed to be aware that although we were tracking rhino there are still other potential threats that we needed to be constantly aware of. 

Our expert guide, Lazarus, standing before another beautiful African sunset
Photographed at Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve

Laz started with outlining the fresh track in the sand explaining the foot structure of the rhino. Rhino bull tracks are large, around 290mm in length and 280mm wide. They have three distinctive toes with thick sturdy toenails, with two smaller outer toes situated close below the large middle nail. This would be the baseline for us to follow.

The sheer beauty and size of this Rhino track found near Sabi Sabi is incredible
Jason Street - SABI SABI PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

The first 100 meters were easy, the ground was still wet with dew from the night before, leaving a clear track to follow. We followed it until we hit our first obstacle, there was no more sand. The rhino had moved off the path and started to graze. What now? Should we give up and find a new path? Laz went onto explaining that rhinos are large animals, if you lift your head, you will see the path the rhino has moved in leaving bent grass in the direction of its movement. Once we knew what we were looking for it was easy again, we followed the path again for a couple hundred meters.

Guides and guests tracking wildlife on foot in the Greater Kruger area
Jason Street - SABI SABI PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

A large breeding herd of elephants had moved through the area flattening all the grass. We all stopped not knowing which would be the right path to follow. Lazarus told us to think back to when we were tracking in the sand, the sand was wet, he bent down and pointed out grains of sand that the rhino had picked up between its toes and left behind on the grass, we were once again on the right trail. 

Lazarus has exceptional knowledge of animals and predicting their movements coupled with an intimate knowledge of the lay of the land, he predicted this bull would head straight to a midden which was in the general direction of the movement of the rhino. Rhino bulls use middens through their territory which contain large piles of dung deposited by the bull where they will also spray urine, defecate, and then scrape the dung along the ground using their hind feet leaving two drag marks. Sure enough there were fresh signs of the rhino bull being there shortly before us, you could smell the freshly dropped dung and feel the moisture and heat still contained in the dropping. We were hot on his trail and getting closer. 

Finding a midden on safari can tell our expert trackers many things
Jason Street - SABI SABI PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

The bull was not alone at the midden with clear evidence of a cow and calf moving through the area too. They had defecated just on the perimeter of the midden. We could be sure this was a cow as she had not kicked the dung and it was still whole. We were no longer tracking one rhino, there were now three moving in the same direction.

The bull again stopped briefly to graze; Laz pointed out the blades of grass that had been cut down by the rhino. These blades had not yet been dried out by the morning sun that was now getting hot, we were close. 

The typical chirrr chirrr call of oxpeckers from a nearby Tamboti thicket was the final clue as to where these rhinos were. They had moved off into the shade to rest. The bull had joined up with the cow and calf. We viewed them from a distance with an overwhelming sense of achievement. There was no need to get closer and disturb these animals that were conserving energy in the heat of the day. We moved out to a distance and there were high fives all round, we had successfully tracked down one of Africa's finest icons using only our knowledge, senses, and situational awareness.

Tracking various wildlife on a walking safari at Sabi Sabi is an exhilarating experience
Jason Street - SABI SABI PRIVATE GAME RESERVE

This was a timeous, painstaking process and looking for finer clues of bent grass and grains of sand was not easy. Laz never got distracted by obstacles thrown in his path, he stuck to what he knew and the end goal at hand. He focused on fine details left behind while never losing sight of his goal as well as the other potential dangers that could be lurking.

Our senses are key to experiencing and understanding the world around us, by using all our senses we gain a better understanding of our situation, this is called situational awareness. It is easy to lose focus of the goal at hand and get distracted. What is important is to recognise you are anxious, distracted or disconnected, take a step back, refocus, look for clues and choose the desired path.

Blog by Jason Street (Bush Lodge Ranger)

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