ANDRé NORTJE

Andre was born in the country of South-Africa during 1975. After finishing secondary school in 1992, he resumed with tertiary educational studies in Construction Management. It is during this time that he discovered a passion for nature, hunting and wildlife, and he soon evolved into an avid hunting enthusiast.

After completing his studies, Andre was employed in the construction sector for several years, by which time he had decided to start-up his own construction business.

Andre founded a construction company during 1995, and continuously expanded his business on principles of quality and ethics. The company flourished to such an extent under his directorship that it received two prestigious national NHBRC (National Home Builders Registration Council) awards for ‘Best Residential Construction Company’, in separate categories, during 2005.

In spite of these enormous successes, he harboured deep-seated dreams and ideals to become more involved with the hunting industry. By 2006, this ultimately led to a decision to step-down from the corporate ladder, to follow his heart to where his passions really lay. Andre sold his company and willingly exchanged the buzz of metropolitan life for a full-time career as Hunting Outfitter in the professional hunting industry.

He left the city-life behind in Gauteng and acquired an extensive game farm in the Free State province, after which he engaged in further training as PH (Professional Hunter) and registered with the relevant regulatory authorities. Hunting activities are conducted on this farm on a regular basis.

During his hunting career, Andre was privileged to extensively hunt the plains game of Southern Africa, and is widely recognised as an expert on the habits and natural behaviour of various wild animals. He was also privileged to hunt Big 5 and other dangerous game outside of his country’s borders, notably in the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe, previously known as Rhodesia. It is in the Zambezi Valley that he regularly conducts dangerous-game hunting operations for international hunting enthusiasts from all over the globe.

However, Andre is quick to point out that : ‘my first love is to spend time with my family - my wife, Erika, and my four children, Kyle (17), Bianca (9), Leila (5) and youngest son, Alec (1), who was born during 2007. My family share my passion for the great outdoors, for nature, hunting and farming, and I consider myself very blessed to have such a lovely and supportive family.’

WIEHAN BUCHHOLZ

Wiehan was born in 1979 in the Republic of South-Africa. After completing secondary school, he entered the formal employment sector, first as sports coaching assistant, and later as technical advisor to the automotive industry.

After a number of years, he was introduced to the hunting and game farming industry by a friend who owns a game farm in the Limpopo Province. Wiehan spent increasing amounts of his free time hunting with local clients. He always harboured a deep passion for wildlife management, and gradually developed ambitions of following a full-time career in the hunting industry.

Wiehan still becomes nostalgic, he clearly recollects the first moment of awakening, when he shared his ambitions with a client on a hunt, whilst resting in a dry river-bed. Since that day, he has become even more obsessed and passionate about hunting. Today, ten years later, Wiehan is fortunate to be living his dream!

Wiehan founded a professional hunting-guide company during 2003, and has been involved full-time, ever since. He obtained a professional hunting qualification and is fully licensed and authorised to conduct hunting operations for foreign nationals, as stipulated within the legislatory and regulatory requirements set forth by the governing authorities. He is currently in the process of acquiring a license to conduct Outfitting operations in the Limpopo Province.

Wiehan resides at World to Africa Hunting’s Limpopo base-of-operations, from where he serves clients within the hunting fraternity and performs related wildlife-management duties. Wiehan has extensively hunted most species of plains game in the northern parts of South-Africa and neighbouring countries Namibia and Mozambique. He has also become an avid bow-hunter during the past four years, and has taken many a quarry with his compound bow. His latest venture entails becoming more proficient with the longbow, with the aim of getting up close and personal to the quarry….

Wiehan’s constant companion is a canine named ‘Mattheus’, a cross-bred Jack Russell with remarkable hunting instinct and exceptional skills for tracking wounded game.

Wiehan considers himself to be of the adventurous outdoors type, his extended interests include fishing, hiking.

He considers himself to be a hopeless romantic, his nostalgia for hunting stories and legends has led to many-a-late campfire night under the warm, star-studded African skies.

To him, the stories related through old trackers and hunters is the stuff of his deepest imaginings, and he has a deep-rooted respect of all experienced trackers and hunters.

Wiehan is of the belief that true trackers are born, not made, and that tracking is born more of a natural talent, than a practical skill which can be acquired through experience.

However, this doesn’t deter him in becoming better by honing his own rather exceptional tracking skills !