I have hunted with a lot of African trackers over the years. Who is your favorite and why? Please post a picture if possible, with your story. Here is one of mine, Ben, the Zimbabwe tracker who found the track and drag of my leopard last July:

Thanks for rubbing it in!!
Ben found his track for me too back in 2006, but we couldn't get him on bait and I shot a smaller one.

Ben's last name is Nyati..Ben Nyati, and I think he is my age at 46. His son also tracked for me in '06...his name is Busani Nyati.

I suppose mine would actually be a team of Twiga (background right) and Dominic (between Pierre and I).

Twiga is probably the better tracker but Domi is unbelievably strong, climbs trees like a monkey, always has a smile and is always the first to pitch in when there is work to be done.

Buzz's tracker, Criton. Criton is an elephant tracker par excellence. It runs in his genes, since his father was a tracker too. In June he tracked a bull for four hours over flattened dry grass with herds of cows moving over the same area -- quite a feat. He is always the hardest worker of the crew too.

This is one of the best threads I have ever seen started on AR. Trackers are often unsung heroes and are incredibly important to your hunt.

If I wasn't computer illiterate I would post my picture, which is of Jevers Ncube who has been my number 1 for over 20 years and constantly makes me look much better than I really am - a couple of you may know him.

Well, mine are a trio: Casairi, Joshua and the third which I am not going to attempt to spell, Glenda calls him Katanga. They are Gordon Duncan's trackers. Charles, whom died last year, was also a gem. Incidentally the names are probably misspelled, so, anyone who has hunted with them; feel free to correct the spelling

Johnny Hulme's tracker Amos!!!A GREAT tracker and a really fun person, always smiling and enjoying the hunt as much as the client.

We were in Chirisa on my husband's lion hunt during August 2000. While returning to camp for lunch, I saw a tree that was covered in purple flowers. I made the comment of how beautiful the flowers were. After lunch, we were in our chalet when Amos knocked on the door holding a bouquet of the purple flowers. During lunch he had run a couple miles to the tree and picked some of the flowers for me. I still have the picture of those flowers. Thanks Amos.

PALMER ----- I would have to second Twiga and Dominic. When the going really got tough Twiga (means giraffe-he is 6'6" and a Masai) was the one that even the other trackers looked too. He chopped my Buffalo in half and dug out a 370 grain North Fork bullet that I treasure today. Good shooting.

Ian Gibson's Tracker, Robert and Matt Stanton's Tracker, Jabalani would be my pick.


Gibbo and Robert at a lion kill.

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Chick:
Well, mine are a trio: Casairi, Joshua and the third which I am not going to attempt to spell, Glenda calls him Katanga. They are Gordon Duncan's trackers. Charles, whom died last year, was also a gem. Incidentally the names are probably misspelled, so, anyone who has hunted with them; feel free to correct the spelling

+1

standing (L-R) Joshua, Kasirai, crouched Mukatchana short Katchana



They should be observed as a whole, however if I'd pick one it would be Katchana (he used to track people ) :

mouse93,
Agree with you!

Gordon Duncan/Shangaan Hunters team are first class, and Mokatchana, previous Selous scout tracker is also my choise!

Here seen in the king of Swedens own T-shirt

I'll go with Palmer's two, Twiga and Dominique (if that's how you spell it). Twiga has a great sense of humor and honor. Dominique is the hardest working man I've ever seen and is stronger than an old dagga boy.

Twiga and I were forever bound during the "I've Been to the Mountaintop!" episode: Lions and Buffalo

Twiga:



Brent Hein has two wonderful trackers that rival Twiga and Dommie. Friday was raised with Brent and has put me on dozens of elephants. William is just like Domminique: strong, willing and always up for some hard work.

I've been fortunate to have never hunted with a tracker I thought was "bad" but some are better that others.

Tedious (sp?), second from the right, had better eyes than anyone I've ever hunted with. I honestly didn't realize a human (without binoculars) was capable of spotting game like he did. He could follow a track with the best of them and spoke pretty decent English when needed.

He hunts with Rory Muil for Russ Broom Safaris. I'm sure a few of you will recognize him. (Samuel, second from the left, is pretty famous too as he's hunted with Rory for years and Russ long before that.)

"The Caseman" Cassie the lion hunter who followed and found and attacked and pinned the little bush duiker that tried to kill us all after my poor shot took off ts right leg and broke the left. 2.5 miles through some very dense brush.

After only one trip I don't have others to compare wit but this gentleman amazed me in his ability to find my Eland in the dark after we had hiked out and back to camp to gather a crew to come along and bring it out. Moonless night and in the middle of the Mopane which all looks the same to me Skumbuzo was able to find the eland by dead reakon'n and his amazing ability to find track even in the dark.


My Eland

Here's another vote for Teddius who hunts with Rory Muil of Russ Broom Safaris.

The gent in the middle is Bahiti

In 1998 he guided me to my first African trophy, a Cape Buffalo. This past summer he guided me to another Cape Buffalo. In between there has been a bunch of plains game all in Botswana. Once when we were tracking a wounded Impala I asked my PH what sign we were following. He called out to Bahiti who reached down and turned over a leaf. There was a spot on blood on the bottom. Needless to say, we found the Impala.
The young guy in the picture is PH George Kyriacou.

Friday, who tracked this lion for nine miles. Amazing to me, and one of the best moments of my life. I'll forever be indebted to Friday and to PH Brent Hein for that hunt.








William, who also hunts for Brent. For his fearlessness, sense of humor and willingness to do anything to get the job done.

Interesting. Look at all the pictures of the trackers. Almost to a person they have one remarkably consistent common feature . . . a big smile. Nice to be around folks that do what they do well, enjoy what they are doing and it shows.

My experiences and stories of the trackers are some of my most pleasant memories. But after more then a few trips, it is hard to pick just one tracker, as they are intertwined with the memories of the hunts, each of which was special and unique.


Of note were the Bushman (Sans) trackers in the Caprivi Strip, all of who sported several bullet holes from AK wounds taken in the Namibian "war of independence" where they were scouts/trackers for the South African Army. We did lots of walking for buffalo, roan and lion, and they were excellent although they were head-down trackers and frequently we blundered right into the game that we were following (including the price of lion which was exciting to say the least!). But the culture and opportunity to hunt with what could be the last generation of Bushman was something I will always cherish. Sadly, my two hunts there were pre-digital and I have few pictures. But as with all trips, I do have a detailed journal to look back on some day.


"Old Man" in Zambia was neat, always offering up just the right words of wisdom for a given situation. Such as after leaving a small village with a few shops and a "bar" where we went to for supplies after about 12-days in the bush, and reading the wistful faces of the other trackers and perhaps even myself - "Never go to town, stay in the bush, town messes with your head". Some of these memories just do not tell well, but I cannot help but to smile when I think back to the appropriateness of this and other comments. Old Man was Peter Chipman's mentor, and has been with Peter ever since he was a child. That is cool.

The team from Zambia, Old Man is 2nd from the left (yes the trackers love to hold the guns for the trophy picts!):



Anybody who has hunted with Doto in Tanzania (Adam Clements) knows what a good tracker he is, and what a hoot he is to be around. A few of his comments are classic, like he just could not accept that I had only one wife, saying "He's too much man for one woman" (Oh if he only knew!). And although I only hunted with him for a few days, Albert (Bryan VanBlerk's tracker from Zimbabwe but hunts with him in Tanzania) is a gentle giant and a man after my own heart.

Doto and the group from Masailand, note our female game scout who was a real trooper:


Big Albert:



One of the main reasons why I wanted to go on a Lord Derby Eland hunt was for the tracking, and the team of trackers that I had certainly did not disappoint. Koulagna has been at this for many years, and was the TRUE HUNTER of the group. He would be on point with Yaouba, the young, happy and rather carefree member of the group. There were many times where we would leave spoor, walk a few miles, and pick it up again thereby saving time and mileage. The PH said "Koulagna thinks like an eland".

Saidou was quiet, always pleasant but content to hang in the background. That was in fact his roll, he was the spotter who would walk at a gap behind us and off to one side. Most times he was the first to spot the eland, including the herd that I shot mine out of. If you have ever tracked and busted eland, you know they pretty much never stop if they get a good wind. Once we got the eland, Koulagna and my PH hunted a German hunter who arrived in camp a week after me. This was nice as I had the opportunity to hunt duiker, guinea fowl and fish more or less 1-on-1 with the #2 LDE tracker, Souleyman. Souleyman is a tall, powerful looking man, the kind of guy who you know will have your back. I would return to Cameroon just to hunt with this team again, they were that good and easy to be around.

Koulagna & Saidou, in the bush tracking Lord Derby eland:


Koulagna and "our" Lord Derby:


Saidou with his child, who with his wife live in camp during the season:


Left-to-right, Yaouba, Saidou and Souleyman:



My favorite "elephant tracker" is Buzz Charlton's lead tracker, Criton. I have hunted with Buzz four times, and Criton three. As Mike said above, he is amazing to watch at work, and just a nice, fun guy to be around. This last hunt I was fortunate to also have Myles's lead tracker (Bongi), and these guys worked wonderfully together, playing off each other to keep moving ahead. We most always get on the elephant we are tracking, if he's a shooter or not…well that's elephant hunting.

Per Buzz, one of the best tracking hunts he has been on this year was actually on an eland that I wounded late in the day with a quartering shot that went thru the lower jaw and into the neck, but stopped short of the vitals. We tracked him a few hours until he crossed into another concession. With permission from the Parks office, we picked up bright and early the next morning where the guys had left off, and tracked that eland as Buzz said "up and down every freggin' hill the eland could find".

We found where he stood to look back at us, where his buddy left him or vise-verse, where he slept (twice), where he drank and where he tried to eat. Tall grass, rocks...the guys never lost the spoor for long. We got on the tuff old bull some 9hrs later, and actually the star of a game scout spotted him. No one wants to wound an animal, but I must confess that it added to the drama of the experience, and the job that the trackers did rivaled if not bettered the performance of the team earlier in the year in Cameroon.

Buzz's lead tracker, Criton:


They carried this full bushbuck at least 2 miles, maybe more, most of the way up…and pulled away from us!


The tuffest eland in all of Zimbabwe, with some of the best trackers:


The team (minus Buzz who took the picture) in August:

Plus 1 for Brent Hein's tracker Friday. Have been on two safaris with Brent Hein and Friday was our tracker. I still wonder how Friday was able to track a tessabe some 5 kilometers across ground that in many places looked like a corral that had a bunch of cattle in it. I had not shot and wounded the tessabe, Friday simply tracked it by it's hoof print.

quote:

Originally posted by Hoot Murray:
Plus 1 for Brent Hein's tracker Friday. Have been on two safaris with Brent Hein and Friday was our tracker. I still wonder how Friday was able to track a tessabe some 5 kilometers across ground that in many places looked like a corral that had a bunch of cattle in it. I had not shot and wounded the tessabe, Friday simply tracked it by it's hoof print.

+2 for Hoot's and David's comments on Friday (and William, too). I've been on three safaris with them and hope to go on another this year. The gentlemen have no fear.

Here is my two
First my gsp named Tikka


Then Aloe

Here do we have two good guys - Alouis and Amos (Zambezi Hunters)

Got to looking at this thread again and I remembered another great tracker who is in the employ of Charles and Phillip Price in South Africa. We had the pleasure of hunting with the Prices (Swartki Safaris) a few years ago and Lali was our tracker. I have heard mentioned numerous times where Lali is a ledgend in South Africa. He is a damn good tracker.

Samual and Tedious who track for Rory Muil and Russ Broom