Louis Liebenberg
Lead Project Advisor
Louis is the lead visionary behind the Kalahari Master Tracker Project, which has been at the center of CyberTracker since its inception. The project continues to serve as a venue to find remaining masters and cultivate new ones in the greater Kalahari region and support them through generating a sustainable ongoing economy and gainful employment not just for the trackers, but their families and community at large. While no longer coming to the Kalahari much these days, Louis is still the engine behind the project and advises and supports our team in many ways.
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Louis is a South African master tracker, computer scientist and author. He is best known for his work in developing the CyberTracker software, a system for collecting and managing data on wildlife and other natural resources. The software has been used by indigenous trackers and conservationists around the world to monitor and protect endangered species and their habitats.
Liebenberg's work has been recognised with numerous awards, including the Rolex Award for Enterprise and the Tech Museum Award for Innovation. He is also the author of several books on tracking and conservation, including "The Art of Tracking The Origin of Science".
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Louis is an expert tracker and the author of several books and scientific papers on the art of tracking. He is an independent tracking scientist, an Associate of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and a Laureate of the 1998 Rolex Awards for Enterprise.
His books include The Origin of Science (2013), The Art of Tracking (1990), A Field Guide to the Animal Tracks of Southern Africa (1990), Tracks and Tracking in Southern Africa (2000) and Practical Tracking (2010). His academic papers on persistence hunting by the Kalahari San have been widely cited. Louis also represented the ANC on the International Mission on Environmental Policy. 1995. 'Building a new South Africa', Volume 4, Environment, Reconstruction, and Development - a report from the International Mission on Environmental Policy, with a foreword by Nelson R. Mandela.
Louis initiated and designed the CyberTracker Tracker Certification system for trackers in 1994 in South Africa. The objective is to revitalise indigenous tracking skills and develop the art of tracking into a modern profession. The CyberTracker Tracker Certification system has gained international recognition for maintaining the highest standards for animal tracking. It has been adopted in the USA for evaluating trackers and wildlife biologists working in the wildlife sciences to ensure observer reliability in field observations. More than 7000 tracker certificates have been issued to more than 4000 trackers in Africa, North America and Europe.