Tracking is one of the most important skills of a great guide. These are one of the most telling signs (but there others!) when it comes to knowing what animals are in the area, which way they are heading, and how close they are. Tracks show you the species, as well as the moving pace, and many other clues.

So, this track is clearly a cat track. Given the large paw size as well as the large paw finger sizes, as well as the depth of the tracks (due to the cat’s heavy weight), this is a very clear lion track as Pierre spotted it a few days back.

Our guides at the Vuyani Safari Lodge constantly look out for these tracks, as they tell a story, and to the trained eyes, these stories are unfolding in their minds, while the untrained eye barely spots these clues. Learning to identify the most common tracks (such as lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, …) and in fact any others, is a lot of fun, and our guides are always happy to show and teach our guests. With hundreds of species on our reserve, one never runs out of new tracks to learn about!