Find Out About the Seven Laws of the Wild

Wayne Te Brake from Lowveld Trails – picture by Avalon Media Africa.

Wayne is a keen proponent of the Seven Laws of the Wild. Read on to find out more…

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Wilderness is not a place, but a pattern of soul

Ian McCallum

Q: How long have you been a guide?

17 years.

Q: What made you want to become a guide?

Actually I didn’t want to become a guide initially – I really wanted to work in conservation management but those opportunities were few and far between and so I became a guide when a guiding opportunity arose and I have never looked back.

Q: Which is your favourite trail in SA/in the world?

My absolute favourite hike in South Africa is the Mphongolo hike in Kruger National Park.

In Africa it would be the Trail de Akegera in Rwanda.

And the one I would really like to do in South Africa is the Amatola trail in the Eastern Cape.

Q. What has been your most scary/exciting encounter with an animal on trail?

There have been plenty, but what pops to mind now is a leopard encounter in Balule a few years back on a Trails Guide Course. It was a windy day which is typically not good for seeing animals (except leopards – leopards like windy days!)

Anyway, we were walking along and found some fresh leopard tracks heading down a drainage line – maybe only 10 or 15 minutes old. We could hear squirrels and francolin alarm calling ahead of us. The drainage line meandered a bit and we lost the tracks – but could still hear the alarm calls ahead so I decided to walk straight towards that area. Suddenly a female leopard charged at us from the riverbed, stopping about 4m away. She growled and snarled and then turned and ran away.

We all stood there collecting our breath when one of the students pointed behind me – about 15m away, climbing up a young knobthorn tree was a tiny baby leopard. Its eyes were still blue – but obviously it was curious to try and see what its mum had been so cross about! Needless to say, we got out of there very quickly.

Q: Tell us how you eat on trail

Before the Trail Food Company started up, I focused on simplicity. I ate a lot of couscous, Futurelife, and kiri cheese. Couscous and tuna, couscous and chorizo – that sort of thing.

And avos – I definitely like avos on trail.

Q: Which is your favourite trail food meal?

I like all of the Trail food meals but the Dahl is definitely my favourite.