International education and research in ecology and conservation, wildlife tracking, and human culture

Inspire – Educate – Connect

Original Wisdom combines ancient and modern skills in international education and research focusing on the intersections of wildlife tracking and human culture, ecology and conservation.

Tracking Is Original Wisdom

Tracking skills carry a dual nature, embodying both the old and the new. The term “Original” serves as a double entendre, encompassing both ancestral and contemporary aspects. Our forebears utilized these abilities to secure better sustenance, clothing, and overall quality of life. In present times, tracking skills persist, serving to verify species identity, population counts, and animal behaviors through direct observation. These capabilities complement technological data, enriching our understanding. This proficiency finds its origins in the teachings and insights transmitted across generations and deeply rooted in all cultures. While variations exist among cultures, the outcome is an overarching wisdom that defies singular definition. Consequently, Tracking encapsulates originality alongside a collective, ever-evolving wisdom.

If you like what we do, feel free to use and share our hashtag:
#trackingisoriginalwisdom

Are You New Here?

start Here

Original Wisdom explores the

“Ecology of Tracking

&

the Culture of Trackers”

as pathways to understanding natural ecosystems and how humans interact with them.

Our TEAM

Most of our programs run in Southern Africa and North America, but we can and do travel to lead other expeditions. Ask us. 

PROGRAMS & Services

FREE TOOLS

Tracking galleries

Our Tracking Gallery is a growing database of searchable images of tracks, signs, and trails, including new discoveries, from all over the world.

Are you heading to a new region? Search on that area.

Want to know what a particular species track looks like, or their feeding signs? Search on that species. 

We also offer monthly Tracking Quizzes in our digital newsletter, so sign up if you want to begin your learning journey or to stay sharp (and to receive our Tracking Resources guide). 

Tracking literature

The Tracking Literature directory is for storing and sharing mostly peer-reviewed literature on tracking that Kersey Lawrence used in her PhD dissertation (download that here, too).

Downloadable files include: Tracks and Signs identification and interpretation, Trailing, technology, mathematics and statistics, qualitative analyses and human dimensions, and animal movement and behaviour.

Literature on both Human and Wildlife tracking are included, as well as from the fields of ichnology, taphonomy, forensics, and more. 

life at the Waterhole

Life at the Waterhole is currently a video series that is part of a larger monitoring and research project that we are developing in stages.

Stage 1 was the renovation of the waterhole.

Stage 2 was the installation of a high quality video recording system.

Stage 3 is to get the video into an online YouTube live-feed.

Stage 4 is to enroll students for monitoring and research, both remotely and at our Kruger Tracker Campus.

EVENTS

These are our reports and musings from the field about what we have been doing. 

To join upcoming events, check our calendar, join our mailing list, or contact us.

Events in Africa

 Follow along on the adventures of our participants in the African bush, or read about what we are learning and teaching.

There is also a short update on what’s coming up – including spur of the moment programs, services, and “events!”

Events in North America

These articles are for our North American friends to see what adventures we are getting up to.

As with the Events in Africa section, you always get a short update on what’s coming up, so that you have time to clear your schedule and jump in!

Human culture & Bushcraft

Some people call these “primitive skills.” We call them bushcraft. Or, simply, Human Culture. Bushcraft includes techniques that our ancestors would have used to find and prepare food and drinkable water, make clothing, shelters, and eventually art, science, and technology. 

Coming Soon from Jacana Media

The Tracker Mentoring Maunal

Tracker Mentoring Manual

The Tracker Mentoring Manual

Introduction to Tracking – Southern Africa, is a downloadable manual and companion to an online course designed to give you a process for learning that will maximize your “dirt time” and provide you with an online community of peers and mentors. Even though the examples are from South Africa, the processes and techniques are relevant everywhere. 

Brandon Willis Legacy Scholarship

In 2017, Brandon Willis joined students from New Albany High School, Ohio, for a trip to South Africa with Original Wisdom. He traveled as a member of a high school class titled “Wildlife Tracking, Digital Photography and Robotic Applications.” Brandon was already an accomplished photographer before he joined us for the trip. He dove into the robotics piece with great enthusiasm and became known for his Monitor Lizard robot which he used to approach and photograph a white rhino in the bush.

In 2020, Brandon left us all too soon. But his passion for wildlife, photography and his love of South Africa resulted in his family creating this scholarship fund in his memory.

One hundred precent of donations made in his name are set aside to help provide for a high school or college student to travel to South Africa to participate in an Original Wisdom program. The student must have a strong passion for photography and/or wildlife tracking and be a part of a program or class that is learning about and working towards conservation. 

Donations are still being accepted for the scholarship fund.