TIP 6: EYE SPY
Photo Credit: (c) T J Allen Art
Eye Spy
If you are lucky enough to go on safari on a private game reserve, your game drives will be led by a qualified ranger but you will also be accompanied by an experienced tracker too. Trackers are often local bushmen who, not only know the area like the back of their hand, but most importantly, have an unbelievable sixth sense and connection with the bush and everything in it.
My best experience so far has been with a tracker called Solly from the Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve in South Africa. He stands out for many reasons and taught me a lot so he definitely deserves a separate blog all to himself in the future!
360 Vision
The trick to embodying your best ‘tracker persona’ is to keep your eyes moving. Look on the ground. Look up in the outer tree branches. Look in the background distance. It is instinctive to focus your gaze just ahead of where you are walking but there is a whole world happening outside of that peripheral bubble. If you narrow your awareness, the animals will have already spotted you and moved away by the time your gaze eventually lands on their now vacated space.