What follows is Part 1 of a two-part blog, chronicling the life-changing opportunity for Cataraqui Conservation’s Senior Conservation Educator Stana Luxford Oddie, who travelled across the Atlantic Ocean and the equator to learn how to track and identify wildlife – African wildlife – during a recent sojourn to South Africa. Luxford Oddie is a Certified Forest Therapy Guide as well as an educator and was able to incorporate her training and experience as a guide into this trip.
A South African Slow Safari: Where Tracking and Forest Therapy Meet
After two years of planning and preparing, I kept having to pinch myself throughout my many hours in the air, starting in Toronto, then to London, United Kingdom before arriving at my destination of Johannesburg, South Africa.
It wasn’t a dream anymore. My adventure to visit the South African bush was truly happening! In 2022, Sandy Reed trained and earned her certification as an Association of Nature and Forest Therapy (ANFT) Guide. I had the good fortune to be one of her trainers. As a long time Tracker, Sandy devised the idea to blend the practices of Forest Therapy and tracking together. Kersey Lawrence, Lee Gutteridge and Sandy Reed of leading tracker training organization Original Wisdom invited me to weave the practice of Forest Therapy into one of their South African tracking programs that they call ‘Slow Safari.’
While I have been guiding Nature and Forest Therapy since 2016, and training people since 2018, I had no idea what to expect as this was my first time to the continent of Africa. Being able to experience the coming together of the two practices of Forest Therapy and Tracking, especially on the land in the wild South African Lowveld (pronounced “Low – felt”, meaning low grassland or field) region, which contains the massive Kruger National Park, was the opportunity of a lifetime.
Our group spent the first two nights at a sweet resort which felt like a garden sanctuary for humans, birds and plant life called the Sunrock Guesthouse in Kempton Park, which is a suburb of Johannesburg. We had cultural immersion in Joburg [what the locals call the city]. Our time there would require a separate blog to unpack that experience.
The next day, we drove about five hours across the country to the central highveld over the Great Escarpment of the Drakensberg to the lowveld bush. We reached the gate of the Makalali Private Game Reserve just as the sun was setting. There were two open air vehicles referred to as ‘game viewers’ waiting for us.
With the wind touching our skin, our bodies being jiggled by the bumpy, sand-covered road and the sounds of birds singing goodbye to the day, during our drive in we caught glimpses of lions and other beings on our way to what was to be our cozy farm-style brick bungalow home based at the Siyafunda Research Center. Upon arrival we were greeted by some munching giraffes right beside the camp and the friendly sight of lit buildings and a glowing campfire.
The orientation to our new home included a reminder to always use our flashlights to scan the surroundings for any glowing eyes. We were instructed to immediately go back inside if we noticed any, since animals could roam into our camp at any time. We also were cautioned to exercise awareness whenever moving in and out of buildings around the camp. It was the ultimate example of mindful walking. From that night on we dined outside, feasting on wonderful brunches and dinners made by our chef, Ozzy and his kitchen team, Kelsey and Mapula in the great outdoors at a family sized harvest table. It was complete with glowing solar table lanterns and string lights; my all-time favourite way to enjoy food!
Photo Credit: Sandy Reed
Our first night in Makalali, I was buzzing with excitement, I just couldn’t fall asleep. Suddenly, I heard rustling sounds outside my shared room. I peered outside to see large silhouettes outside the window. I whispered to my roommate, Allison, to see if she was awake. Fortunately, she was, and we had the opportunity to spend over an hour together admiring a herd of about 40 Cape buffalo. We noticed that some were grazing on dried grasses, two were locking horns and others simply appeared to be looking back at us! The next morning, at our 6 a.m. coffee, tea and light breakfast, we shared our encounter and went with others to “read the morning news” of the Cape Buffalo. The intimate signs of their presence were very apparent from the night before.
We spent the morning divided into two groups, guided by either Lee or Kersey. They took us in the game viewers disembarking regularly to be on foot to touch the soil, the rocks, the plants and to introduce us for the first time in daylight to the stories of the plentiful beings. We identified elephant tracks and noticed the masterful weavings of the community web nest spider. That morning, I felt like my son when he was a toddler pointing in awe to the new world all around him with curiosity. We discovered tracks left by the various species of antelopes and learned the ways that each species tracks imprinted differently on the sandy substrate. Antelopes might return to defecate into a large latrine also known as a midden, while some simply leave their scat (also known as poop) on the run.
Photo Credit: Jackie Payton
We were also visited by birds such as the stunning lilac-breasted roller or sung to by the calls of the grey go-away-bird. The oxpeckers let us know if larger animals were nearby with their calls. We learned that oxpeckers loved eating ticks and anything else living on a larger animal’s skin. For the first time ever, I was introduced to the concept of getting to know birds through their tracks and droppings! My mind was blown. We learned to notice how many toes the bird track had and the skin between the toes and the unique patterns and size that each bird leaves behind. Who needs Sudoku for the brain when there’s tracking!
We also took time to get to know termite behaviour and the important role they play in breaking down various animal scat which supports the plant life. Termites grow fungus in their mounds that they cultivate for their food. The termite mounds provide habitat for other animals such as mongoose, warthogs and aardvarks. We spotted tracks from the African civet who leave behind unique scat that have remnants of their omnivorous diet consisting of millipedes and berries. Often a little grass plug comes out after the initial scat.
We also met up with our first dazzle (herd) of zebras and learned that they like to roll in the dusty soil to have a dust bath. The stripes are unique to each individual zebra. Do you know that zebras are indeed black with white stripes? When zebras are gathering as a herd, the stripes make it challenging for predators to single out just one. This is a small fraction of my experience on that first morning of being out for a few hours. I had never been out with trackers; the learning was voluminous thanks to our guides.
Photo Credit: William Shackelford
The afternoon of our first full day, I guided an hour-long condensed Forest Therapy Walk in our camp. My first invitation to awaken the senses started off on a wooden platform called ‘The Nest’ which was a platform high up in the air like a bird’s nest. I surprised myself by feeling comfortable enough to take off my shoes and lie down. It was a wonderful way to slow down, to integrate the morning’s experiences and get to know the land in a different way. We had times to share and move slowly while noticing what or who was in motion and even an invitation to greet the beings around us. I was reminded that the practice of Forest Therapy really can take place anywhere. The big difference about guiding Forest Therapy in a landscape with beings such as leopards is that it is essential to be very clear about the boundaries and to stay within them during the experience. It also helped to have both Sandy and Kersey alert to where everyone was, to ensure that they did stay within those boundaries. We ended our time with drinking some tea and enjoying some chocolate together and a final share to complete the experience.
After the Forest Therapy Walk, we had a little time to gather whatever we needed and headed out for our night drive from between 4 p.m. to around 8 p.m. As the sun was setting, we experienced a ‘sundowner’ of delicious treats of Amarula cream liquor and biltong, a type of traditional South African jerky.
We had the good fortune to live in the camp for nine days from the evening of Aug. 5 to departing in the late morning on Aug. 14. Every morning, we met for our 6 a.m. morning tea, coffee and light breakfast. On most mornings by 6:30 a.m., for about half an hour, I offered some gentle movement that was a combination Qi gong (Tai Chi’s parent) and standing Yoga. I wove in some elements of Nature and Forest Therapy with a guided invitation to awaken the senses and an opportunity for a sit spot within our camp. The rhythm of our day flowed with whatever animals were showing up on the land. Each day was filled with surprise and magic! We were fortunate on most days to be accompanied by Derek Smith, another tracking guide. On two of the mornings, we went out completely on foot. We had a chance to come upon rock tools used by ancient ancestors! We also traversed a dry riverbed and dug and had a drink of fresh water that was just below the surface.
Photo Credit: Sandy Reed
Coming soon - In Part 2 of Luxford-Oddie’s blog post about her adventures in South Africa, she gets into a more in-depth recounting of her tracker training, which includes some fascinating and awe-inspiring encounters with African wildlife. If you are interested in learning more about Forest Therapy Walks, visit https://cataraquiconservation.ca/pages/about-forest-therapy.