Game & Wildlife

According to Riaan Crous, cattle simply cannot beat the income/ha earned from game.

With colour variants in rare game being in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, ‘White Saddleback’ blesbok may be the way to go for breeders who want to ensure colouring won’t change over time. Gerhard Uys examines this hardy breed.

An innovative idea for a ‘game hotel’ has boosted the profitability of Willem and Calla van Niekerk’s game farming enterprise, eliminating the need for production credit. Annelie Coleman visited their farm Langkop in Boshof to learn more about their novel business.

Through a partnership involving five organisations, efforts to save SA’s endangered fynbos fish continue. The recent project focuses on the Biedouw River in the Cederberg.

Marco and Regine Seefeldt have been farming on the banks of the Black Nossob River, 90km east of Windhoek, since 2000. They lease the 5 000ha farm, Silversand, from Marco’s father, Bernd, while Regine inherited Otjihundu (8 000ha) from her family.

Misconceptions about the treatment of snakebites can endanger the victim. Johan Marais separates fact s from fiction.

A research team is investigating the possibility of vaccinating wildlife populations against rabies.

Game auctions showed a rising trend showed last year says Dr Flippie Cloete of the Unit for Environmental Science and Management at North-West University.

Visiting the Kruger National Park in December is a highly rewarding experience, says Annelie Coleman.

As the war against rhino poaching in South Africa continues, a war against elephant poaching is taking place in other parts of the continent.

The lush, 3 700ha game farm, Iwamanzi (place of the falling waters), which Stan and Jacqueline Burger built up from scratch, was once an overgrazed cattle farm.

Elandsberg was the first disease-free buffalo breeding project in the Western Cape. Now 14 years on, market demand remains high and with breeding protocols firmly in place, it is an industry leader with an established buffalo stud.

Eastern Cape game farmers have noticed that kudu bulls have become smaller, and they’re pleading for research to find out why.

The York family respect the people and the animals they work with and run their business on old-fashioned values. Barry York talks to Nan Smith about game farming and the golden wildebeest.

Wildlife managers need experience and ability to succeed in this exciting, growing business.

Diversification, expansion and partnership are the building blocks of a game farming business in the Northern Cape. Wintershoek’s Wiaan van der Linde WRSA’s Game Farmer of the year in 2012 talks to Susan Botes.

“The people whose livelihoods are dependent on the sustainable use of any living resource are those who are the most concerned about its proper management.” These are the opening words of wildlife management authority and author Ron Thomson’s keynote address at the first annual congress of the Wildlife Ranchers of South Africa (WRSA) at Castle de Wildt in Modimolle.

Jan Oelofse pioneered a game capture technique that transformed the practice of antelope capture.

The first game and hunting ranch owned and managed by the clan of the legendary Bushman Dawid Kruiper is open for business. Those with a love of pure hunting skills say the experience is unequalled. Heather Dugmore reports.

A number of high-value species and colour variants were traded during 2012, says Dr Cloete.