About the Author

James Tyrrell

Alumni

James had hardly touched a camera when he came to Londolozi, but his writing skills that complemented his Honours degree in Zoology meant that he was quickly snapped up by the Londolozi blog team. An environment rich in photographers helped him develop the ...

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22 Comments

on What’s The Story?

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For best viewing/ taking pics of spoor have the sun in front of you, (as with the pic of the Hyena spoor) . Having it behind you creates a reverse image effect. (Standing proud instead of as an indentation.)

James,may I ask what’s the largest Lion Tracks you’ve seen?,would love to know how long the biggest paw track of a Lion you’ve seen in sabi sands is. I heard The Matimbas had incredibly huge paw tracks so I wanted to get your take on it.

Fantastic! She is a wonderful leopard, we were fortunate enough to see her in 2014 with both her female cubs. They both are independent now to the East of you. Great Mother!! Thank you!

James, absolutely astounding recount of a normal day in this extraordinary man’s life! I would give anything to be able to spend time following Andrea, watching and learning while he tracked. That would be the most incredible experience!

Hi Jill, as I type this, Andrea is still out in the bush tracking a lion pride. He’s been following the tracks for over three hours now and insisted that we leave him out there while we headed back for breakfast. I’m expecting his radio call any minute saying he’s found them…

He got back about 20 minutes after I typed that reply, having tracked down the pride over 6.5 kilometres.

Lara Mathewson
Guest

This is fascinating and beautifully composed. I’m glad I found this blog. Looking forward to the next post!

Thanks for the comments Lara. Glad you found us 🙂

I know all the trackers are good but Freddy Ngobeni……love him!

wow, what a fascinating story. As you told it, I could see each movement and gesture. Thank you for enlightening on the wonders of a truly gifted tracker. Amazing.

Great story – awesome tracker!!

Alison Belknap
Guest

James, thank you for this interesting post, and the photograph of the gorgeous female leopard. I wonder if you (or someone) might do a blog post on poaching in or around Londolozi. Is there ever any poaching, aside from the odd small animal taken for the pot, and if not, how has Londolozi been able to avoid it? Is it your location (farther away from the Moz. border), the fences, or what? I would be very interested to read anything you at Londolozi have to say about issues such as poaching, rhino farming, lion bone trade and canned hunting. Thank you.

Wow!!! Thank you for the chronology … it was fascinating!!!!!!!

Arda
Guest

I have such immense respect and admiratie for the skills of the trackers. The story above clary shows their knowledge and love for the bush. It also saddens me sometimes, to realize how living in cities of concrete have taken away those skills to “read” nature for most of us…

Another enthralling read James. Thank you. Thanks also for the pics of the leopard and hyena pads which illustrate the difference perfectly.
Looking forward to seeing photos of the Xidulu cubs.
Do you have any stories about hyenas? To me they are a much maligned animal. I have some wonderful photos and memories of seeing a pack of hyenas with their cubs when we were on a drive with Nick last year. The females were caring, nurturing mothers/aunties and the cubs very playful.

Hi Jenny, we have plenty of stories about hyenas! We’ll be doing a blog on them soon 🙂

Adelina
Guest

I love reading these conversation and what I want to ask is Is Londolozi part of and Beyond Lodges? Thanks

Hi Adelina,
No, Londolozi is no longer part of &Beyond. It is a stand-alone, family run lodge since 2007.

Amazing James! Andrea is such an incredible tracker and person! If spending time, learning from someone, can be a bucket list wish, then Andrea is definitely on mine!

I only managed to spend one morning with Andrea. His tracking capabilities, only few would manage to comprehend and admire.

Digital Ranger

Good tracker he is but why would he come to the conclusion that it was a female leopard and not a male?!Let me guess,it could be that a male leopard has bigger paw prints!!

100% correct

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