Established in 1970 and situated in the Limpopo and North West provinces, Matla Mamba is a family-run operation with expertise in rare game breeding.
Matla Mamba Game Breeding was founded by Hannes du Preez 40 years ago. Hannes and his son, Jaco, farm on the game farm, Klippan, which is situated about 40 km from Mahikeng in the Northwest Province. The first Sables were moved from the hunting farm, Matla Mamba, which can be found on the banks of the Matlabas- and Mamba River, to Klippan during 1996. This was the start of intensive rare game breeding. Genetics from the well-known Silent Valley and Thaba Tholo has been used in our breeding program for the past 18 years to develop the potential of the animals to the excellence that can be found in the herds today.
Buffalos and Roan were included in the breeding program during the year 2000.
History
Our game breeding spans two farms; one in the Limpopo province called Thaba Manzi (8500 ha) and one in the North West called Klippan (13,500 ha). We have been in the game breeding industry since 1970, and breeding intensively with rare Sable and Buffalo since 1997.
Hannes started with Eland, Oryx, Springbuck and Waterbuck in his first camp in 1970, in the North West province. We bought our first Sable in 1981 from Norman Atherstone, and the first Buffalo from Pilanesberg in 1991. The Buffalo and Sables grazed on our Limpopo farm. We’ve been farming and focusing on Sable on a larger and more intensive scale since 1998, at Klippan in the North West province, with Buffalo joining here in 2000.
We have a total of 55 employees who help with the running of our cattle, grain and game farming.
There is a school 1 km from the farm, where our employees’ children go. We regularly help and assist in the maintenance of the terrain.
We have an auction venue on the farm where we offer our staff training courses, such as tractor maintenance, caring for cattle, which includes dehorning, injections, and everything else that goes towards ensuring health and quality of life of the cattle.
We are affiliated to WRSA, Klippan Farmers Union, Hunter’s Association, Director NWK, and form part of top management at RPO.
Philosophy
To see is to know. Animals need to be seen daily, in order to ensure that you catch if one is injured or sick, so that you can give that animal the necessary treatment. A night guard patrols the breeding camps twice throughout the course of the night, while Hannes or Jaco would drive through the camps once a day making sure that they see all the animals in the different camps. Record-keeping is also of great importance, for both your breeding program, and potential buyers.
We farm with 18 species. We are honored to be breeders of these exceptional animals. We breed for the future.
HANNES DU PREEZ
Cell: 0823168711
Email: jdupreez@me.com
JACO DU PREEZ
Cell: 0823153120
Email: jpdupreez2@gmail.com