You will be met on arrival at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport, and transferred to your Guest House close to the airport.
For Self Drive option:
Transfer after breakfast from your Guest House back to the airport, where you will collect your rental car. Follow the driving directions provided, to your course camp.
Selati Camp
Located on the banks of the Selati River, in the 33 000ha (81 545 acres) Selati Game Reserve, to the west of the Kruger National Park. The Selati Game Reserve is a large reserve, with diverse topography and biodiversity. In the east there are large granite hills, where Verreaux’s eagles and klipspringers can be found.
The dominant vegetation types are Combretum and Mopane woodland. This habitat is well-suited to the large elephant and giraffe population found there.
The reserve is bisected by the Selati River, which dries up into large rocky pools of water in winter. There is a lot of space to conduct walks and get a true sense of wilderness.
Special species occurring here include sable antelope and eland. Students are also able to visit the sable breeding programme run by the management of the reserve.
Pick an animal and you’ll find it here – lion, leopard and elephant, as well as special species such as sable and eland. General game such as giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck, kudu, impala, baboons and monkeys are plentiful. For the birders there is more than enough of the feathered kind to be heard and spotted.
The camp consists of 10 simple dome tents, each with two mattresses and single pillows (two learners per tent). There are shared bathroom facilities and a central communal area overlooking the Selati River.
Please bring a sleeping blanket, additional blanket and pillow should you require them. There are no mosquito nets available at Selati.
Makuleke Camp:
Situated between the Limpopo and the Luvuvhu Rivers in the northern section of the Kruger National Park is the Pafuri region, an area spanning 24 000ha (59 305 acres). Within the Pafuri area is the Makuleke Concession, the ancestral home of the Makuleke people and the most diverse and scenically attractive area in the Kruger National Park.
The Makuleke Concession is not accessible to the ordinary tourist visiting the park. This area belongs to the Makuleke community, who were removed in 1968. After a lengthy process, however, it was finally returned to the community in 1998 in what was a historical event for South Africa.
This area is certainly the wildest and most remote part of the Kruger National Park and offers varied vegetation, great wildlife viewing and the best birding in all of the park, and it is filled with folklore of early explorers and ancient civilisations.
This is a true wilderness area, steeped in history and situated in the remotest part of Kruger, in one of its most biologically diverse areas.
Scenery ranges from the beautiful, quietly flowing Luvuvhu River, shaded by nyala trees and fever tree forests, and teeming with hippos and crocodiles, to the awesome Lanner Gorge, palm-fringed wetlands and rocky outcrops with thousand-year-old baobab trees.
All the wildlife that one would expect to see in a great national park such as Kruger can potentially be encountered on the concession. Plains game such as zebra, kudu and impala are common, while lions and leopards are a special sighting. Herds of elephant, a few rhinoceros, African buffalo, nyala antelope and also seldom-seen animals such as eland and bushpig can be seen.
This part of Kruger is known to be one of the best birding areas in the park, and is home to rarely seen species such as the Pel’s fishing owl, Three-banded Courser and grey-headed parrot.
Twenty students are accommodated in comfortable thatched, tented rooms, placed on wooden decks in the shade of large nyala trees. Each room has an en-suite bathroom consisting of a shower and washbasin with hot running water and a flush toilet, as well as a veranda overlooking the surrounding bush.
The camp is not fenced, which means that animals do move through it from time to time.
EcoTracker offers you the ultimate wilderness immersion. Through the ancient art and science of animal tracking – possibly the world's oldest – you will connect with the iconic places and wildlife of Africa on foot.
This course takes place in remote wilderness areas of South Africa. EcoTracker will engross you in all aspects of tracking wild animals: track and sign identification, trailing and survival techniques of wildlife. The courses are mostly hosted by engaging and expert Shangaan trackers.
In many parts of Africa, the ancient survival skills of tracking wild animals have disappeared at an alarming rate – alarming because without these skills, humanity’s connection to the Earth is significantly reduced. The time-worn skills of animal tracking taught human beings to live consciously with an appreciation and respect for the natural world. With urbanisation and technology, much of this profound ecological intelligence is being lost at a time when it is most important to our long-term survival.
EcoTracker aims to contribute to the preservation of indigenous wilderness skills and the conservation of the Earth’s last wild places. The instructors are certified by the acclaimed Tracker Academy – the first and only accredited tracker training school in South Africa. Visitors to EcoTracker will get a taste of this knowledge from Shangaan trackers who have dedicated themselves to mastering the skills of traditional hunter-gatherers.
What is Tracking_
There are two major aspects to tracking of wildlife – track and sign interpretation, and trailing (following animal trails). EcoTracker includes hunter-gatherer techniques as part of the course. All aspects of tracking take years to master.
Track and sign interpretation – this component of animal tracking looks at the signs left by invertebrates, amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals. All learning takes place in the field using field guides, photographs and presentations to supplement practical training.
Trailing – this component involves following tracks to find the animal. Mastering trailing takes years, and this aspect of the course requires a relatively high level of fitness and an ability to focus mentally. EcoTracker’s instructors are among the best animal trailers in South Africa, and pride themselves on their ability to teach this complex skill.
Students will have the opportunity to practise trailing wild animals themselves – under the watchful eye of an EcoTracker instructor. Interpreting mammal and bird alarm calls, animal behaviour and assessing the age of tracks form part of the trailing skill set.
Hunter-gatherer techniques – Southern Africa’s indigenous peoples survived off the land for centuries. EcoTracker’s instructors will teach you how to build traps using only natural materials, show you how to find birds’ nests, water and edible fruits. Through sharing of their experiences growing up in the wilderness, the instructors will immerse students in the wild.
This 7-day course is designed to give the student a basic understanding of track and sign interpretation. The assessment at the end of the course is endorsed by FGASA (Field Guides Association of South Africa) for those who wish to try and achieve certification. Depending on the seasonal movement of animals in the area, students may be afforded the opportunity to follow or trail animals on foot.
You will be based in camps in prime wildlife areas, and partake in wilderness walks or game drives twice a day.
Your last day in camp. After saying your goodbyes, Self Drive back to Johannesburg. Tour ends at Johannesburg's International Airport.
If you would like to extend your stay in the region, maybe at a safari lodge, please contact us for details.
