The Stories Told by Tracks

In the bush, experienced guides will tell you that there are stories told by the tracks of every animal. But tracking in the wild is not just a case of following footprints in the ground.  There are countless clues that are to be discovered and woven together to reveal the story the tracks are telling.

A footprint is merely one clue into an animal’s story. It is far from the whole thing. Telltale signs like a bent blade of grass, a broken twig, rubs and scratches, bones, changing birdsong, remnants of a meal, a tuft of hair, the alarm calls of different animals, droppings, habitat cues, or a lingering scent wafting on the breeze all have a part in the story.

What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.”

– Nelson Mandela

Track Awareness

Tracking requires us to elevate our awareness to become fully tuned in to everything around us. It’s about noticing what we see, sense, hear, smell, and touch, and allowing all of that to come together to paint a picture.

By gathering all this information, we are able to determine the purpose of the animal we are tracking. For example, is it hunting or going to water? Is it male or female? What size is it? Are the tracks fresh or aged? Is the animal stressed and moving fast, or is it following the scent of a possible mate?  The tracks they leave narrates the story that we, as trackers, are able to decode.

Your Tracks Tell Your Story

Tracking is an inherent aspect of the human animal’s lives too. Unless we’re at the beach, we may not be following the actual footprint tracks of others, but we certainly become observers of the paths that they have laid down for us to follow.

Equally importantly, as our awareness of the tracks of others grows, so too do we become conscious that we are the authors of the trails we blaze in our own lives.

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”

– Jane Goodall

Just as a tracker in the wilderness picks up the signs that tell a track’s story, the tracks that each of us leave are telling our own story. Everything we do and say creates the tracks of our story.  Our tracks reflect who we are, what’s important to us, how we interact with others, and they form the legacy of how others see us and how they will remember us. They are the evidence that we lived. They are the measure of the impact we each make in our lives.

Leaving tracks that we’d be proud for others to follow requires us to be alert to all our senses, to be aligned to the passions of our souls, and to authentically act in fulfillment of our purpose in life.

It’s not up to us to determine whether others will follow in our tracks. What we get to do is to live our lives as the authors of our own story.

It is the tracks that we leave behind that will tell that story. Just like in the wild.

Everything that moves on the earth leaves a story.”

– Tom Brown, Jr

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Tasimba. Your Tracks. Your Story. Naturally.

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