Take a walk on the wild side with Kruger Untamed. From tracking elephants to learning age-old Shangaan traditions, this immersive bush walk reveals a whole new way of seeing the Kruger and yourself.
Kruger National Park, South Africa (16 July 2025) – Crack! The sound came from just around the bend. I am on an early morning walk through the wilds of the Kruger National Park with the team from Kruger Untamed. We stop, moving closer together to listen and wait. Our guide quietly whispers to stay close, and we make our way around the bend. There he stands, a beautiful elephant bull on the other side of the river bed, pulling greens off a bush. He hardly even acknowledges us before turning and walking off into the distance.
My heart is pounding in my chest. It is exhilarating and humbling all at once. There could be dangers around every bend, under every bush or watching us from the trees above, and yet it is one of the most fulfilling experiences of my entire life.
Just before we heard the elephant, we had been in the riverbed, looking down at a deeply dug hole which had water in it. A trick elephants use when looking for water (which they can smell from kilometres away). We had assessed how fresh his tracks were; his dung was fresh, but not fresh enough to mark that he was so close. We walked maybe 1km before coming across him. He was meandering along, enjoying his morning stroll.
And that is only the beginning. Over 5km and three hours, we walk in a big loop through the bush, learning how to track, finding small creatures and connecting with nature in a way you would never get to if you did a game drive. It was one of the total highlights during our stay at the Kruger Untamed Tshokwane River Camp in June.
These guided walks with trained trackers are the cornerstone of Kruger Untamed’s Alex van den Heever and Renias Mhlongo’s vision. The disappearing camps, where only footprints are left behind, offer a reconnection with nature, and what better way to do it than to get into nature?
Tracking used to be an essential survival tool in Africa. Today, it’s a skill for the rangers and trackers who take guests out into the wild. Kruger Untamed is committed to preserving Shangaan traditions and ensuring their skills remain valued and respected.
“We work directly with our Shangaan guides, empowering them to share their knowledge while safeguarding their cultural legacy.”
Speaking to Renias Mhlongo, co-founder of the Tracker Academy and Director at Kruger Untamed, we learn how tracking played a vital role in his youth and how he turned that into a career and now, works to preserve the skills for generations to come.
“I started tracking as a young boy in the village. My job was to look after my father’s cattle, and I had to follow their tracks to find them if they were lost. I also had to hunt for my food when I was in the bush. That is where it all began. In the bush, tracking is life. You learn because you must. If I lost a cow, I was not allowed to come home!”
Renias was taught to track by the men in his family, from his father and uncles to the elders who had years of experience. Back then, that was tracking school. They taught Renias to read the ground, listen to the birds and feel the wind.
It’s a subtle art, knowing what to see. We learned this first-hand while out on our walk. Like with the elephant, hearing the crack of the branch meant something was close, but we couldn’t hear chewing or stripping of leaves, so the animal wasn’t close enough to be dangerous. Renias shares some of the small signs we would have overlooked.
“Sometimes it’s just one grass bent the wrong way, or a tiny stone turned over. Even the smell in the air can tell you something. Or, an irritated chatter of a bird nearby. Most people walk past these things, but a tracker must stop and investigate.”
Completely captivated by the wild, we asked Renias what his own memorable tracking moment has been.
“One time, I was tracking the Mhangene female leopard for four hours with Alex. We found her lying in the grass, just ten metres away. She looked straight at us, but then she allowed us to hunt on foot with her. We followed a Mhangene, a wild leopard, while she hunted – and she showed us no aggression. That moment was powerful, full of respect. She was our friend and she recognised us.”
Renias and Alex share the incredible moment in their book “Changing a Leopard’s Spots”.
We also got to see a leopard on our walk. Ok, well, I didn’t, but the taller people in our group managed to spot it just as it slinked away. I did, however, manage to spot some pretty cool tracks near where the elephant had dug its water hole, and some of them may have even been rhino-like… which does unreal things to one’s heart!
A bush walk is something I never knew I needed to do, but now that I have, I feel like I can never miss one again. If the opportunity comes up, you can bet I am signing up for a bush walk. Not only is it physically satisfying to get active and see things up close, but it’s the knowledge you learn while doing the activity.
Trained trackers see the world differently. They, in turn, teach you to see the world differently, too. And beyond appealing to tourists, offering a great day outdoors, these skills are used in conservation efforts too.
“Trackers are the eyes of the bush. We can find animals, protect rhinos, help researchers, and teach others. Without tracking, you cannot understand what is really happening in the bushveld. Through our work with Tracker Academy, we have shown that this ancient African skill is vital to protect wilderness and wild animals. We have proven this. It’s why Kruger wants us to retrain all their Field Rangers in tracking skills. They see it too.”
These skills, even if only taught on one walk, will stay with me forever. Knowing how to spot which direction something is walking has become my new favourite thing to do when sitting in our car in the Kruger. If you want to be an honorary tracker too, Renias has a tip:
“First, I’d say: slow down. Don’t look too hard. Let the signs come to you. Tracking is not just about seeing, it’s about feeling, waiting, and respecting the animal you follow. But you must also know your tracks and signs, and this takes a long time to learn.”
Whenever we stop at a sighting now, I look at the sand below me to see what has walked by. You would be amazed by what you can see as a total novice!
And sometimes it isn’t about the tracks at all, sometimes it’s the little things that bring the most joy. For me, it was stopping at a baboon spider’s nest. We were taught that a female baboon spider will spend the first 7 years of her life digging a hole, making it a home and preparing to reach maturity.
She will then raise all her babies in that hole, living in it for her whole life, which can span up to 25 years. It is so fascinating, and without being on foot, I never would have seen or learned that. And I don’t even like spiders!
The bush walk was the one thing we looked forward to most when the Kruger Untamed team invited me and my partner to stay. It was such a wonderful experience, and as it was my very first one, I was left in total awe. Although I don’t think that feeling will ever go away, no matter how many walks we do in the future.
So if your heart desires a walk on the wild side, I say go for it! You can find out more about Kruger Untamed via the website here.
Editor’s Note: This piece is a personal review and serves as informational only. Good Things Guy was not paid to make any of these statements, nor do we receive any referral perks should you wish to inquire or book.
Sources: Personal Experience / GTG Interview
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