Tracking Science
The Kalahari Camelback Trackers’ mission is to autonomously conduct rigorous track-based wildlife population surveys designed to fulfill information needs from local to international level that can achieve long-term conservation outcomes in what remains of the free-ranging Kalahari ecosystem.
In essence, they are a grassroots Community-based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) project. Yet moreover, their scientific surveys are designed to serve not only their community-managed wildlife areas, but national and global conservation mandates.
Foundational Research
Before camels, the trackers were conducting tracking research by 4x4 vehicle, horseback, and on foot, since 2008. They collaborated with a Canadian field-scientist to validate a formula for transforming counts of animal tracks into estimates of wildlife population sizes.
Their collaboration culminated in a challenge to Botswana’s aerial survey in which they showed that their track-based counts corrected visibility biases, were more species-comprehensive, produced superior distribution maps, and could be done for a fraction the cost of the aerial survey.
This foundational research is described in the linked articles below. It sets the stage for the trackers to take their work to the next level.
Camelback Trackers’ Scientific Foundations
Tracking a better way to count wildlife
Can trackers count free-ranging wildlife?
