Course Overview
Tracking is the oldest science on earth, and the bushveld
still examines its students personally. The Tracker Skills
Programme trains professional trackers for the conservation
and eco-tourism industry — built around more than nine
hundred hours of field experience, most of it spent
tracking predators on foot, on 200,000 acres of working
conservation land in Bandelierkop, Limpopo.
The practical tracking is the core. The rest of the
curriculum teaches students to apply it where the industry
needs it: animal monitoring, wildlife protection, predator
habituation and eco-tourism.
Course Facts
- Duration: 30 weeks full-time, in three stages
- Field experience: 900+ hours, most of it tracking
predators on foot - Intakes: Two intakes per year, January and July
- Location: on campus, Bandelierkop, Limpopo — students
live and train on a working conservation reserve
Programme Structure — Three Stages
The programme follows the tracker’s natural development,
each stage building on the last:
- Stage 1 — Basic Tracking (6 weeks)
Track and sign foundations: reading individual spoor,
substrate and ageing. (US 8460) - Stage 2 — Systematic Tracking (12 weeks)
Following spoor methodically across country — trailing
discipline, sign interpretation and animal monitoring
in the field. (US 8518) - Stage 3 — Speculative Tracking (12 weeks)
The advanced art: anticipating the animal when the spoor
runs out — predicting movement, trailing predators on
foot, and applying tracking to wildlife protection.
Thirty weeks of full-time training — a duration that
matches the programme’s registered credit load (119+
CATHSSETA credits) hour for hour.
Accreditation — CATHSSETA Unit Standards
Training is aligned to the following registered unit
standards. These represent the minimum accreditation; the
programme exceeds the required training outcomes.
- US 8460 — Track animals and identify spoor using easily
recognisable spoor (40 credits) - US 8518 — Track animals and identify spoor using
moderately difficult spoor (50 credits) - US 8440 — Conduct a guided nature experience in a
limited geographical area (21 credits) - US 252462 — Identify and monitor local wildlife
(8 credits) - US 335979 — Conduct a guided experience to view
potentially dangerous animals
Accredited Subjects
- Trailing — following animal trails
- Track and sign interpretation
- Tree and plant identification
- Theory of tracking
- Animal monitoring
- Man tracking and wildlife protection
- Guiding theory
Additional Subjects (non-accredited)
The bush asks more of a tracker than the unit standards do.
Alongside the accredited work, students are trained in:
- Hunter-gatherer techniques
- Birds and alarm calls
- Medicinal uses of trees and plants
- Situational awareness
- Conservation ethics
- Life skills, basic English and financial literacy
- Presentation skills and data collection
Where This Course Leads
Graduates work in animal monitoring, anti-poaching and
wildlife protection, predator habituation projects, and
eco-tourism operations across Southern Africa. The
programme is designed to meet the real needs of the
conservation industry — because it was built inside one.
Try Before You Commit
Not sure yet? Take our free one-hour online course,
Introduction to Animal Tracking: Track & Sign Basics —
certificate included:
https://limpopowildlifeecocollege.com/courses/introduction-to-animal-tracking/
How to Apply
Write to us through the Contact page or visit the college
in Bandelierkop — we answer personally.