Ian Maxwell created and presented ‘Big Cat Track’ on Animal Planet which attracted great media attention and showcased his skills as the world’s foremost authority on animal tracking. He is now filming a new series called, ‘Max’s Big Tracks’ which will take him all over the world searching for elusive and rare species including the ‘Yeti’.
Tracking men and wild animals over every kind of terrain: rainforest, desert, mountain, jungle, river, swamp or bush and both rural and urban landscapes. His expertise and experience have brought him a most exceptional list of clients, ranging from film and TV companies to Government Departments. Conservation authorities to Police Forces. He has written a beautifully illustrated book, ‘Animal Track ID and Techniques’ and is currently writing his second which deals with tracking men.
Ian or ‘Max’ as he likes to be called, was born in Zambia and was inspired from an early age by the last of the old Colonial Hunters, who made their living by tracking and hunting wild animals. Max was only eight years old when he tracked his first leopard and by twelve, the intrepid youngster was studying hippos and crocodiles in and around the upper reaches of the Kafue River and learning to Scuba dive in the Zambezi. The Ngoni (descendants of the Zulus) and the Mashona tribes taught Max the ancient skills of Bush craft, survival and tracking in the African Interior. Ian is an expert in wildlife especially in how to handle crocodiles, snakes, insects, sharks, big cats, elephant, rhino and grizzly and brown bears.
In 1979, Ian started work as a Liaison Officer for the Zambian Wildlife Department and it was there that he became deeply involved in the war against poachers and their multi million pound industry trading in endangered species. Ever since then, Ian has dedicated his life to protecting and conserving endangered animals, which constantly brings him into conflict with some of the most dangerous and crafty, criminals in the world. It is a challenging campaign where he has to deal with sabotage, espionage and smuggling.
>Over the years, Max has devised his own unique tactical tracking method - looking for people, whether they are lost or evading detection and operates a specialist tracking organisation, ‘Shadow Hawk’, which advises organisations around the world. ‘Shadow Hawk’ is also a very successful school based in Cornwall teaching civilians how to track and survival skills, these included Charlie Boreman and Ewan McGregor for their latest motorcycle expedition.
Max is currently working on a commission for the SOS Lynx Foundation searching for the elusive Iberian Lynx and training students from The University of the Algarve in tracking, bush and survival skills. He is also due to visit Kenya to re-train the hardened game scouts of the Northern region and trains the Devon and Cornwall Police Force to man track.
Ian fences the sabre, is an expert Thai Kick Boxer and an excellent diver, a Mountain Leader and excels at remote survival. Ian speaks regularly at conferences, colleges and universities on the subjects of tracking, poaching and bush survival skills.
He is a fellow of The Royal Geographic Society, a member of The International Society of Professional Trackers, a member of The International Society of Survival Instructors, is the founding Chairman of The Search and Rescue Tracking Association and has just been awarded The Winston Churchill Fellowship for life.