A great way to connect with nature is to engage in tracking. The Book “Coyotes guide to connecting with nature” (Young, J., Haas, E., McGown, E. and Louv, R., 2016) recommends tracking as a core routine to help people connect with nature. The other day I was at a Vacation care service and the kids were really interested in finding geckos. The dry sand pit contained a treasure trove of tracks, and one looked very much like a lizard track, so we followed it. It wandered along the edge of the sandpit but disappeared among the footprints some digging kids left, however we picked it up again a few feet away. Soon the tracks disappeared and new tracks appeared. One of the kids identified it as cat footprints. The kids were so exited about the new prints they didn’t stop to think what happened to the lizard tracks. (did the cat get it? Were both tracks made around the same time?) Anyway, they followed the cat foot prints until they found a small hole in the sand. “A lizard hole” they exclaimed. One of the kids stuck her finger in the hole. “It’s wet” she said. Another kid asked if it was water. She smelt it and shouted “Argh! Cats piss!) Tracking lesson number 1: If your cat foot prints lead to a small puddle hole in the dry sand, then it is probably safe to say this is not a lizard hole. Don’t eat the yellow sand.
