Tracking in Israel

In the midst of October, when the cold rain in The Netherlands is determined to block the warmth of the sun, it is the perfect time to travel and extend the summer a little. This year I was lucky to go on a business trip to Israel in October. I had visited Israel in 1988, so this was 30 years after my first visit. On the last day of my trip, I had some time to myself. On facebook, I found that a tracker in Israel named Asaf Ben David, had written books on tracking. Although these books were in Hebrew, with characters I could not read, I thought the illustrations where beautiful. Asaf suggested to meet at around 5:00 in the morning. Though early, this is the time of day when it is not so hot and visitors to the National Parks are few. We went tracking in the Modi’in-hills and soon found the first tracks. I enjoyed seeing the clear tracks of a fox, jackal, hyena, porcupine, stone curlew, jay, gazelle, beetles and mongoose. We also found scat of several animals, a marking site of gazelle and signs of spiny mice. Really great! After tracking for several hours, we went to the home of Asaf. He showed me his books and his presentations. I found, that we have a lot in common and I could leave copies of the Weylin tracking books in Israel. It is amazing to experience how people can share their love of animals and their tracks. I really enjoyed visiting Israel and will come back soon. Thank you Asaf! Hope you can visit us in The Netherlands someday.

Want to learn more about tracking? Please have a look at our online shop where we sell our field guides.