Our Team of Professional Hunters
Jaco Oosthuizen
Jaco Oosthuizen was born June 6,1973 in a town called Tsumeb in the northern part of Namibia. (Southwest Africa) He grew up in the war stricken northern part of Namibia on a cattle ranch, east of the Etosha National Park, during a time when Namibian ranchers/ farmers were heavily terrorised by political motivated criminal elements. In this environment he learned very soon to acquire a calm and relaxed approach in any intense, but also potentially exciting situation. Jaco finally finished his high school in the former Western-Transvaal from where he went on to become a very successful professional hunter and businessman.
He believes in high performance levels based on adrenaline rushes, but he is also a person who firmly believes in his Creator, God Almighty. He also realizes his own weaknesses which is a direct result of the immense respect he pays to every person he meets.
He doesn’t settle easily for second place, and knows how to compensate and multi task in an effective manner in order to provide his clients with unsurpassed satisfaction no matter what! A positive mindset is inherently part of Jaco as he will do his very best to “carry you on his hands”, within reason, assisting you in achieving your goals hunting wise.
He will always offer you the total experience. He understands his clients’ needs and pledges to do his utmost to fulfill your expectations. With more than 2000 collective days of dangerous game hunting, you are guaranteed to be in very safe hands, a peoples person who will guide you through the rough days and the easy days, but a hunter who will never lose out of sight his God-given purpose of being in the bush: to live for nature and to take care of it!
He is one of only a very few PH’s who not only owns and outfits his own companies in the various countries he hunts, but also holding his own licenses in these respective countries which he believes puts him in a very unique situation. He prides himself in offering every hunter the opportunity to experience authentic hunting adventures while on Safari. He has hunted in world famous safari areas such as the Selous Game Reserve, Rungwa Game Reserve, Moyowosi / Kigosi Game Reserve, Masailand in Northern Tanzania, Cameroon (Savanna & forest), Northern Namibia (including Kaokoveld and Zambesi Region), South Africa: Limpopo, Kwazulu-Natal, Eastern Cape as well as Botswana & Zimbabwe, amongst others.
Free Range hunting is his trade mark; demanding client satisfaction by means of a combination of luxury traditional African hunting safari experiences and ethical take off of older male specimens, managing wildlife populations while having his clients enjoy old Africa under the best possible circumstances in the modern-day context; …having them live the African Legacy!
Jaco was honoured to have won the DSC Outfitter of the year award (2008) and the SCI Outstanding International Professional Hunter of the year award 2020.
Piet Oosthuizen
Piet was born on September 3, 1961, in a town called Tsumeb, in the northern part of Namibia (Southwest Africa). He grew up on a cattle ranch adjacent to the Etosha National Park during a time when Namibian ranchers / farmers were heavily terrorized by political motivated criminal elements. This situation called for special adaption to circumstances and the environment. Piet completed his secondary education at Etosha Secondary School in Tsumeb and attended the University of the Freestate where he obtained a BCom degree.
Hunting was always a passion from childhood days and whilst persuading a successful career in finance, he continued to be involved in sustainable conservation activities. Since 2009, he managed in excess of 340 000 Acres of conservation land in South Africa for a Corporate hosting a variety of species including the Big 5. He operated for the past 10 years as a part time Outfitter and Professional Hunter until recently when he joined the Game Trackers Africa Team
“The key to success is not how you fall, it is how you get up” – this require persistence, a positive attitude and a will to succeed – never die, the same is required for successful safaris.
His motto is to ensure client satisfaction through an ultimate safari experience, making memories and stories beyond the task at hand, most importantly building new and lasting relations and friendships.
Most importantly, we need to enjoy our privilege to hunt with respect to nature in a responsible and sustainable way, always knowing that our Creator has tasked us to be custodians of his creation.
Jp van Wyngaard
Wicus Diedericks
Professional Hunter and Outfitter, Wicus Diedericks is the founder and owner of Rockwood Conservation. He started hunting at a very young age and has always had a love and deep passion for the African bush, its wildlife and its people.
Wicus was born and grew up on a family farm North of Kimberley in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and graduated from the University of the Free State with a bachelor honours degree in Construction Management. In 1996 he married his high school love, Yvette and they were blessed with a two children Anne and Wicus junior.
After graduation he started working in community-based construction projects and later co-developed a modular low-cost-housing building system. His company went on to become the leader in rural household sanitation and has to date provided basic sanitation solutions to more than 600 000 households in South Africa.
His love for farming and the outdoors led him in 2007 to venture into cattle farming and the acquisition of land (Rockwood) near Griekwastad in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. In 2012 he took the bold step of rewilding the then stock farm into a private nature reserve and reintroduced many species of game including rhino, buffalo, sable, roan and other plains game species that previously inhabited this area.
The first rhino poaching incident at Rockwood (2013) motivated him to dedicate the rest of his life to saving the rhino from extinction. Today he is the custodian of one of the largest populations of rhinos on the planet and the thriving population of more than 350 white rhino at Rockwood is a testament of his highly successful and progressive approach to rhino protection and conservation.
Wicus recognises that sometimes it takes a life to save many, and he is a strong advocate for the sustainable use of wildlife, including the responsible trophy hunting of rhino, because it plays a vital role in conservation.
Wicus and Yvette’s hospitality and the Rockwood team’s warmth and dedication are legendary and they are committed to providing a unique, intimate, and personal safari experience.
He challenges guests to LIVE FOR A CHANGE and to experience the hunt itself as the trophy
Wayne Hendry
Raised on farms and game ranches in South Africa, Wayne was fortunate to have an extensive introduction to wildlife and hunting from a young age. Seeking greater exposure to the safari industry, he worked in Zimbabwean safari camps after finishing school and guided wilderness horseback trails in South Africa. He later graduated with a National Diploma in Nature Conservation and subsequently worked for the Natal Parks Board in Black Rhino research and tourism development.
In the mid-90’s Wayne became actively involved in the international bowhunting market and spent several years focussing on this sector. With family decent stemming from East Africa, he set his sights on Tanzania, moving there in early 2000. He settled in Arusha permanently, and subsequently raised a family while guiding full-time in some of the most iconic regions of the country, gaining substantial experience with all dangerous and plains game. During the off-season, Wayne ventured to Cameroon to guide for both bongo and Lord Derby eland.
Wayne and his family moved their home from Tanzania to Europe in 2013. This allowed him to diversify work interests while also managing to acquire great exposure and knowledge in hunting and guiding for a wide variety of the continent’s species.
Africa remains his true passion, and it is there that he continues to share his knowledge and love for her wild places and spectacular wildlife. With hobbies including photography, fishing and wildlife art, he is a consummate, hardworking and attentive hunter who ensures all guests have an incredible safari experience.