Tracker Empowerment Foundation

CyberTracker & Certification

Reading the signs, recognized

Tracking is one of humanity's oldest skills. CyberTracker is how that skill is evaluated, certified and carried forward, and how lifelong expertise becomes a credential the world recognizes.

What is CyberTracker?

CyberTracker began with the work of Louis Liebenberg, who set out to create a system that could capture the expert knowledge of indigenous trackers in the Kalahari and make it usable for science, even among trackers who could not read or write. From its origins with indigenous Kalahari San trackers, CyberTracker projects have grown into a worldwide effort to protect endangered species. CyberTracker is used around the world today by indigenous communities, protected areas, scientific researchers, and conservation programs, as well as in farming, forestry, and environmental education.

What is tracker certification, and why does it matter?

CyberTracker certification is a rigorous, internationally recognized field evaluation, made up of two distinct skills: Track & Sign (identifying and interpreting tracks and other signs, where the candidate explains their reasoning as they go) and Trailing (following an animal's trail in real time, often over long distances and difficult terrain, with little discussion as the candidate works). Rather than a written test, it is a practical, in-field assessment of real skill under real conditions.

Certification matters because it turns a skill that has historically been passed down informally, and often overlooked, into a credential. A certified tracker can prove their ability to researchers, employers, and conservation organizations anywhere in the world. For many of the trackers the Foundation supports, certification is the difference between deep, lived expertise going unrecognized and that same expertise opening the door to paid work, research partnerships, and a teaching role of their own.

What is a Senior Tracker?

A Senior Tracker has reached the highest evaluated level of the certification system, earning the top score, called Specialist, in both of CyberTracker's two skill areas: Track & Sign and Trailing. Reaching Senior Tracker means a tracker has demonstrated mastery across the full discipline, not just one part of it.

What is a Master Tracker?

Master Tracker is the highest honor in the CyberTracker system. It isn't earned through an evaluation, it is an honorary title, awarded to a Senior Tracker who, over many years, has shown exceptional mastery of the art and science of tracking and has made an extraordinary contribution to the wider tracking community.

What is an Evaluator?

An Evaluator is a Senior Tracker (or, in some cases, a Specialist in one half of the skillset who has not yet achieved the full Senior Tracker certification) who has been further trained and certified to assess and certify other trackers. Evaluators are the people who carry the CyberTracker system forward, without them, no new trackers can be certified in a region. Building a strong base of Evaluators in every part of the world, especially among indigenous and community trackers themselves, is one of the most important ways to make certification accessible and locally sustainable, rather than something that must always be brought in from outside.

How we support these ideas

Putting credentials within reach of the people who earned them

The Tracker Empowerment Foundation exists to put these credentials within reach of the trackers who have earned them through a lifetime of field knowledge, but who haven't had the access, funding, or opportunity to formalize that expertise. We fund the path toward Tracker, Senior Tracker, and Evaluator certification, and we prioritize building Evaluator capacity within communities themselves, so certification can take root locally rather than depending on trackers traveling from elsewhere.

See this in our work →

Where certification already exists

Three core evaluator regions

CyberTracker certification is established through core evaluator groups in three major regions of the world. The Foundation's work focuses on extending that reach into regions where this infrastructure doesn't yet exist, supporting the next generation of certified trackers and Evaluators across the rest of the world.

CyberTracker Conservation

Africa & global home

The system's home and global hub, rooted in the Kalahari where it began.

cybertracker.org →

Questions

Tracking & certification, in brief

What is wildlife tracking?

Tracking is the art and science of reading the signs animals leave behind, such as footprints, trails, scat and feeding signs, to understand where an animal went, what it was doing, and even how it was feeling. Modern science now recognizes it as a powerful tool for wildlife research and conservation.

What is CyberTracker?

CyberTracker began with Louis Liebenberg's work to capture the expert knowledge of indigenous Kalahari trackers and make it usable for science. Today it is used worldwide by indigenous communities, protected areas, researchers and conservation programs, as well as in farming, forestry and environmental education.

What is tracker certification, and why does it matter?

It is a rigorous, internationally recognized field evaluation in two skills, Track & Sign and Trailing, assessed in the field rather than by written test. It turns deep, lived expertise into a credential a tracker can prove to researchers, employers and conservation organizations anywhere in the world.

What is a Senior Tracker?

A Senior Tracker has earned the top score, Specialist, in both Track & Sign and Trailing, demonstrating mastery across the full discipline.

What is a Master Tracker?

Master Tracker is the highest honor in the system. It is an honorary title, not an evaluation, awarded to a Senior Tracker who has shown exceptional mastery over many years and made an extraordinary contribution to the tracking community.

What is an Evaluator?

An Evaluator is trained and certified to assess and certify other trackers. Without Evaluators, no new trackers can be certified in a region, so building Evaluator capacity locally is one of the most important ways to make certification sustainable.

Get involved

Help bring certification within reach

Every contribution helps fund the path toward Tracker, Senior Tracker and Evaluator certification, and builds that capacity within communities themselves.

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