by Michael Lorentz
I’m constantly grateful to the numerous trackers who shared their legendary bush skills with me, particularly a San gentleman called Vet Piet who could read the landscape like a newspaper. A lot of the time, the real story of the bush is hidden in tiny details: a bent piece of grass, or the imprint left by a swirl of dust that shows where a predator has struck.
But sometimes you don’t even have to leave your lodge to find African wildlife in the flesh.
At Mfuwe Lodge in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley at this time of year, a family of elephants pass the reception desk on their way through the lobby to get to the fruits of a wild mango tree in the lodge’s grounds.
It’s an astonishing sight — and fortunately unique. So I don’t think it’ll put us professional trackers out of business just yet.
