Cell:+27 (0) 829410900 / E-mail:  ernst@tamboer.co.za

P.O. BOX 897 / White river / 1240

PORTFOLIO OF EXPERIENCE:

Specific capabilities and experiences:

• Tourism
  • Guests activities – planning and coordinating
  • Guests – Foreign, local, children and corporate groups
  • Guided game drives and walking trails
  • Specialized trails: Birds, cultural, tracking specific species like rhino
  • Photo safaris
  • Team building activities: 4×4 routes, horse riding, rock climbing & abseiling, Quad biking, mountain biking etc.
  • Planning and layout of hiking trails
  • Training guides and trackers
  • Compiling fauna and flora lists

• Reserve planning
  • Financial management and budgeting
  • Labour management
  • Computer skilled – Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook etc.
  • Converting of cattle farms to game reserve
  • Habitat analysis
  • Fencing – Game and cattle – Electric and normal
  • Water management – supply, purification plants, pumps etc.
  • Road management – maintenance, building new roads, graveling etc.
  • Vehicle management – All maintenance and basic mechanical repairs.
  • Buildings and camps – maintenance of all aspects
  • Security and risk management
  • Building of game holding pens and lookout points

• Wildlife management
  • Suitable game species
  • Animal behaviour
  • Feeding game and nutrition
  • Ecology and production
  • Biological diversity – degeneration and inbreeding
  • Game counts
  • Culling
  • Game capture and holding on boma
  • Game valuations
  • Buying and selling of game
  • Hunting – Biltong and trophy
  • Game meat – Slaughtering, processing

• Management of specific species
  • Elephant
  • White rhino
  • Cheetah
  • Sable
  • Nyala
  • Lion
  • Buffalo

• Habitat management
  • Pasture/grazing management
  • Erosion control and soil management
  • Veldt carrying capacity

• Agriculture

•  
  • Contour structures and soil conservation
  • Land/field preparation
  • Irrigation – Drip, micro, drag line & quick couple pipes.
  • Organic vegetable farming
  • Pig production
  • Macadamia orchard management
  • Cultivated pastures – Eragrostis tef (Teff)

• Meat industry
  • Slaughtering – Pig/sheep/cattle/game
  • Meat inspection – game
  • Harvesting & dressing of game
  • Abattoir layout & hygiene
  • “Afval”  pool management
  • Carcass deboning – Primal cuts
  • Meat processing – Cold meats, biltong, wors, smoked products etc.
  • Sales – from wholesale carcasses to retail

PROFFESIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Morgenson Farming & safaris cc.

Owner (January 2007 – Present):

• Small scale vegetable farming – I had farm organically certified and was farming organic vegetables for Pick & Pay.
• Open vehicle safaris into Kruger National Park – Taking tourists for day trips into KNP.
• Grass slashing – Slash grass with tractor and slasher for property owners in and around Whiteriver.  

Comment:

We regrettably had to leave K’shani because of financial difficulties and I acquired shares in a bordering farm and started farming vegetables. I have since sold my shares and bought my own farm where I am also farming. I certified both farms as organic. I planted the following crops organically: Beans, butternuts, green peppers, chillies, Hubbard squash, sweet melons, water melons, green mielies, crisp & butter lettuce, cabbage, peas, beetroot, sweet potatoes, spinach, baby marrows. This was a huge learning curve for me. To farm organic teach oneself to work with nature and not against it. I learned about the balance between plant, soil and micro organisms. The farming industry is high risk but very rewarding.

K’Shani private game reserve, White river, Mpumalanga

-2000 Hectares

Reserve manager (August 2006 – January 2007)

Managing all reserve activities. I was part of a team of three reserve managers. My responsibilities include: Vehicles; camps; fences; water and irrigation; game capture; culling; hunting; guest relations; security; ecological veldt management; roads; game counts; abattoir with processing plant & game valuations.

Reason for leaving K’Shani private game reserve:

- Unfortunately the owner of the game reserve had financial problems and could not pay us. We received no salaries from end of September to December 2006 and I had no other option as to look for other employment.

Comment:

After the birth of our second child my wife and I started working at K’shani private game reserve. It is situated 20 km outside Nelspruit Mpumalanga. I was appointed as a reserve manager. There are three camps on the reserve sleeping 94 guests. The main lodge was rated 5 star. I have in the short time that I have been with K’Shani compiled a safety and security policy and procedure, game population and valuation register, compiled rosters for all reserve staff, various registers to serve as control measures and compiled new hunting rules and regulations document. The reserve had a wide variety of wildlife that included red hartebeest, sable, eland, buffalo, white rhino and many nyala. K,shani is a beautiful reserve with great potential.

ESIKHOTHENI GAME RESERVE, PONGOLA, KWA-ZULU NATAL

-2000 Hectares

General manager (Feb 2004 to July 2006)

Managing all activities on reserve. Nature management – veldt management, game counts & capture, erosion control, fencing, water management, management plan for reserve, culling etc. Tourism. Hunting safaris – biltong & trophy hunting. Fishing safaris. Security and anti poaching. Abattoir and meat processing plant. Workshop and vehicle management. Responsible for all maintenance on buildings.

Comment:

We looked to get back in the wildlife industry.  We got two offers, one from Mkuze falls game reserve outside Pongola and the other from Esikhoteni Game Lodge which was part of the greater Pongola game reserve bordering Jozini dam.  We decided on Esikhotheni.  As general manager I coordinated and managed all activities on the reserve.  Activities mostly included hunting safaris with local and foreign clients, fishing safaris on the Jozini dam and eco tourism.  The reserve had two camps, the luxury lodge with 7 on suit chalets and a bush camp which catered for groups of up to 10.  At the lodge we specialized in taking corporate groups.  Animal species included plains game, elephant, rhino, leopard, buffalo and lots of nyala, red duiker and on the jozini flood plains many reedbuck and serval.  We did rifle and bow hunting. We hunted all species of game from birds to all antelope and dangerous game like elephant. As part of our population control we culled at night with small calibre rifle and produced products like biltong, dry wors, salami and variety of sausages.  On Esikhotheni I practiced my Zulu language skills and as a result can hold my own in a conversation.  Other duties involved veldt management, water management, staff, security and all day to day responsibilities of running a reserve.

SUPERB MEAT SUPPLIES, PRETORIA, GAUTENG

Wholesale & retail meat business. (Jun 2001 – Jan 2004)

Shareholder of meat deboning plant – supplied meat to butcheries in Pretoria and Johannesburg.  I also had my own butchery, Metro Meat & Chicken, in Pretoria.

Comment:

After marrying in 2000 my wife and I got an opportunity to start our own business in the meat industry.  We started by working at an abattoir in Bloemfontein (Superb Meat Abattoir) for a year to gain experience.  There I learned the meat industry from slaughtering to processing to sales.  In partnership with the abattoir owner we started a beef deboning factory in Pretoria.  We supplied many butcheries and retail stores with deboned meat.  My wife and I were running the business independently.  Our turnover was over a million rand per month.  Unfortunately the partnership did not work out and we decided to close the factory.

KAPAMA GAME RESERVE (5 STAR), HOEDSPRUIT, LIMPOPO

- 16 000 Hectares

Camp manager  (Des 1998 – May 2001)

Managed a 10-bed luxury camp on reserve. 

Duties: Managing staff, purchases, budget, maintenance on vehicles and camp, all guided game drives and hikes, administration, employment of staff. 

Other: Initiated rhino identity program, assisted with culling and capturing of game and bush clearing.

Comment:

After managing a bush clearing en charcoal business my fiancé and I started working at Kapama Private Game Reserve.  We were managing Nyala house.  It was part of three camps on the reserve.  Kapama Lodge, buffalo camp and Nyala house, a 10 bed luxury camp.  Our duties involved everything about managing a camp from budgeting to stock control, staffing, maintenance and obliviously guest relations.  Our guests were mostly foreigners, especially from South America. Our occupancy rate was running at 60% average.  90% of the time we had guests in camp.  We worked 24 days with 6 days off.  All groups had a 3-4 hour game drive or walk in the morning and again in the afternoon.  During the day I took guest on a tour of the cheetah breeding centre which was also part of the reserve.  I did this for 2 and half years.  This amounts to about 5000 hours doing either game drives or walks. It is a big 5 reserve.  During this time I had numerous incredible encounters with wildlife.  The policy at Kapama was that all guests had to see at least 4 of the big 5.  Only leopard was excused.  This forced us to do a lot of walking to find animals.  Inevitably we had many encounters with lions, elephants, leopards and all other species when on foot.  At Kapama I had the privilege of witnessing nature at its best and saw things most people won’t see in a lifetime.

RHINO CHARCOAL CC.  LETSITELE, LIMPOPO

General manager (Nov 1997 – Nov 1998)

Co owner and manager of bush clearing and charcoal business.  Oversee all production, marketing and sales.  Bookkeeping, hiring of staff and wages.

NDZALAMA WILDLIFE RESERVE, TZANEEN, LIMPOPO

BUSHCAMP MANAGER AND FIELD GUIDE (Sept 1995 – Oct 1997)

- 8000 Hectares

Development and construction of Shanatse Camp and Leopard Rock Camp on the reserve.  Managed the Shanatse bush camp – duties consisted of housekeeping, maintenance, training of staff and developed hiking trails.  Responsible for guided game drives and hikes.  Involved with nature management concentration in maintenance and technical applications.  Maintenance of the reserve involved game culling, capturing game, monitoring game, bush clearing, researching and surveying species.  Technical applications involved building infrastructure namely; Bush camps, staff housing, fences, waterholes, hides etc.

Comment:

I accepted a position from Ndzalama Game Reserve.  Owners Pieter & Edward Vorster, Louis Grey, Roelf Meyer & Dave Barron had a vision of creating an 8000ha eco tourism reserve.  Ndzalama, meaning “heritage” in Tsonga.  The emblem was a head of a sable antelope.  In 1995 Ndzalama had the largest natural privately owned population of sable antelope known is SA, about 150.  Other species included elephant, white rhino, leopard and lion (in captivity).  The experience at Ndzalama was comprehensive as I helped build up the reserve from scratch.  I was involved with animal relocation and capturing projects.  We traded animals with Kruger Park.  We stocked elephant, rhino and captured and sold species like giraffe, waterbuck, sable, impala, kudu etc.  We got a huge elephant bull from the Kruger.  His tusks were estimated at about 100 pounds. It was said to have been the biggest bull relocated at that time.  At a later stage a pride of 5 lions were also reintroduced on the reserve.  They were first put in a 10ha camp and fed to be released on the reserve at a later stage.  Lots of time was spent culling all species of antelope for population control and to feed the lions.  We did this mostly at night with .223 calibre rifle that was silenced.  I also helped to compile a bird list.  This was done with two local birders that I took once a week for a drive on the reserve and we recorded all birds seen.  After a year of doing this we had compiled a comprehensive bird list.  Trophy hunting was also done on the reserve and I was involved in taking out hunters.  I was also involved on a daily basis with building of camps.  Three camps were building.  Leopard Rock bush camp, Ndzalama Rock lodge and Shanatsi Bush Camp.  We launched the reserve with a function held at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.  After launching the reserve my responsibilities included managing Shanatsi bush camp. It was build exactly according to a traditional Tsonga village.  Mud huts with Mopani pole roof structure tied together with Mopani bark as rope.  The camp was mostly used for trails.  I took guests on day trails and two day trails.  We would walk from Shanatsi to Leopard rock camp, overnight and back to Shanatsi the next day.  I also did all game drives.  At Ndzalama I experienced all aspects of day to day managing of a Game Reserve.

PHAMBERE ANTI-POACHING COMPANY, GRAVELOTTE, LIMPOPO

Anti poacher (Des 1994 – Sept 1995)

Extensive research of white rhino’s, studied birth cycle of rhino’s by monitoring them daily for three months.  Responsible for locating snares and tracking poachers on fifteen farms in lowveld.

Comment:

I did an anti-poaching and tracking course. It was held outside Gravelotte on a Game Farm called Black hills.  A very well presented course with professional trackers training us. I got a position with Phambere Anti Poaching unit.  We worked on numerous farms in the Lowveld mostly between Gravelotte, Phalaborwa and Mica.  We did 2 week patrols, 2 persons per unit.  We slept in the bush (no tents).  We had to patrol river bush for snares and tracks.  If snares were found we would lay ambush to see if poachers come to check them.  I spend 1 month on Selati Game Reserve tracking their white rhino and taking ID photos of them.  Another 3 months was spent on the farm Thiergarten of Pieter & Edward Vorster close to Gravelotte   On this farm we did normal anti-poaching work and followed a pregnant white rhino cow by the name of Susan.  We tried to make daily contact with this cow as we wanted to film her giving birth. All and all the anit-poacing was the best and most comprehensive nature experience I could have hoped for.  It was during this time that I learned skills like tracking, identification of spoor, animals, plants, trees, animal behaviour and animal sounds.  I experienced the difference of living with nature as apposed to living in nature. 

HAMMONIA ASPARAGUS FARM, FICKSBURG, FREE STATE

General manager (Sept 1993 – Dec 1994)

Overall farm management.  Responsible for payroll, trained and staffed hundred employees.  Accomplished a forty percent increase on export sales.

Comment:

After returning from Israel I new I wanted to work outside in nature.  The first opportunity I got to work on a farm I took.  I worked on Hammonia Asparagus Farm for two seasons.  I was responsible for harvesting 45 HA asparagus with a 100 labourers from Ciskei and Lesotho.  I learned some Sotho and could hold a conversation by the end of the season.  I learned much about farming for example field preparation, mechanics and labour relations

NIR-OZ PRODUCE AND COTTON FARM, BER-SHEBA, ISRAEL

Laborer (Mar 1993 – Aug 1993)

Setup irrigation systems in fields and assistant in mechanical workshop.

Comment:

Also in 1993 I decided to go and work on a Kibbutz in Israel.  It was very interesting and I met people from all over the world.  I worked on cotton fields setting up irrigation systems.  I also assisted in the workshop with repairs and maintenance on tractors.

SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE, KAMEELDRIFT STATION, PRETORIA

Constable (Dec 1991 – Feb 1993)

Charge office commander, duties involved office administration, responsibility of analyzing case dockets.  Petrol vehicle driver, duties involved arrests and investigations.  Crime prevention unit, working together with detectives.

Comment:

After high school I joined the South African Police as part of my military service.  In the Police service I got experience that was unique to the job that I could never get anywhere else.  Apart from all the weapons training, penile law and other training that comes with the job I also learned much about human relations and nature; from the best to the worst.

EDUCATION

SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE COLLEGE, PRETORIA

• Graduate constable (1992)
• Subjects studied: Penile Law 1 & 11, Criminal Administration Systems, Office Administration, Self Defense Courses, Life Saving Courses, First Aid, Weapons and Fire Arms.
• Activities:  Rugby, tennis, wrestling and boxing.

SILVERTON HIGH SCHOOL PRETORIA

• High School Diploma (1987 – 1991)
• Subjects studied: Afrikaans, English, Mathematics, Science, Accounting and Business economics.
• Activities:  Rugby, athletics, and cadet band.

PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS:

MOHOLOHOLO RANGER TRAINING CENTER, HOEDSPRUIT

• Game ranch management and ranger guide certificate (1995)

PHAMBERE ANTI-POACHING TRACKING SCHOOL, GRAVELOTTE

• Anti-Poaching and tracking certificate (1994 – 1995)

LAKE ST. Lucia, SCHOOL OF NATURE CONCERVATION, NATAL

• Nature conservation and anti-poaching certificate

TECHNICON PRETORIA, PRETORIA

• Certificate of Zulu language (1993)

GOSS ESTATES PROFESSIONAL HUNTERS ACADEMY

• Passed professional hunters course with Goss academy.
• Licensed as professional hunter.

FGASA (Field guide association of South Africa)          

• Passed FGASA level 1 & 2 examinations and is active member.

S.A First aid league

• Occupational first aid – nr. BN/5171/2003/AK

PERSONAL:

• Born: September – 1973
• Nationality:  South African
• Married since 2000 with two children. (Girl 6 years & boy 3 year)
• I.D. no: on request.
• Drivers License: Code 08 & PDP
• No criminal record
• Religion: Christian
• Excellent health
• Age: 36
• Native Language: Afrikaans
• Other Language: English, Zulu
• Special interests: Most outdoor activities, natural science.

REFERENCES

Petra Deveroux

• Personal Assistant of Owner Johan le Roux – K’Shani Private Game Reserve
• Tel:  082 804 6663

Dave Haggeman

• Owner – Esikhotheni private game reserve
• Tel: 082 6515049

Andre Kotze

• General manager – Kapama lodge
• Tel: 0734101314

Wessel van Wyk

• HR Manager – Genfood, Kapama Game Reserve
• 0828290936

Tippie Enslin

• General manager – Ndzalama Game Reserve
• Tel: 0828599743
• 015 3073065

Piet Vorster

• Owner – Ndzalama Game Reserve
• Tel: 015 3451610

Wynand Schreiber

• Owner – Superb meat abattoir
• Tel: 0826523177

Fred Camphor

• Owner – Rhino charcoal
• Tel: 0835077196

Don Taylor

• Owner – Rodewal organic packhouse (pick & pay organic vegetable packhouse)
• Tel: 0834196534