Dries Visser Game Breeders are situated in the popular Thabazimbi Bushveld.  This area is widely known as the game Mecca of South Africa due to the outstanding trophy quality of the game.  This is a heart-water area with mainly sweet grazing. Approximately 2000 hectares of the farm has been fenced off for the breeding of scarce game species, and has been made safe from predators.  This area has been properly planned and divided into different camps.  Dries Visser’s belief that the game breeder should not only concentrate on financial gain, but should strive to breed only quality animals of excellent bloodlines, has earned him the reputation of being honest and sincere in his quest for conservation of wildlife and in his dealings with other game farmers.

The first project he started was with the Matetsi Sable from Zimbabwe in the early nineties.  After importing the magnificent Zambian Sables in the late nineties, he sold all his Matetsi Sables.  As far as is known these Sables are one of only two herds that were brought in from Zambia.  Over the years he has built up the number of these beautiful animals into different breeding herds.  Today, these numbers have increased sufficiently for him to be able to offer some for purchasing by other game breeders. The successful breeding of these spectacular animals with their Giant Sable properties, black masked faces and excellent horn lengths, soon led to further rare species projects.

The disease-free Buffalo project consists of different blood lines, with the belief that the best superior Buffalo must be bred, and to achieve this, use must be made of all the available blood lines, regardless of origin, be it East Africa, Addo or Kruger. In the Kruger Buffalo there is a very wide genetic diversity, not found in the other two bloodlines. In general their bosses are bigger, the horn drop lower, the tip-to-tip measurement longer and the horns heavier. In the East African Buffalo the horn spread is often better than the other breeds, therefore, to breed a superior Buffalo, these qualities should all be combined.  It is unfair towards Buffalo buyers to try and convince them that the Kruger Buffalo are a bigger risk, as the truth is that any buffalo is as clean as it’s last test.

To achieve the best genetics for his Golden Wildebeest project, Dries went to Botswana searching for these animals.  He found a few single animals on different farms and purchased them.  After acquiring the necessary permits, and at great cost, he captured these animals and brought them to South Africa to be incorporated into his breeding project.

The Black Impala breeding venture consists mainly of animals from the Thabazimbi/Rooibokkraal area. Dries is of the opinion that, to date, animals were purchased solely for their colour, regardless of the quality of the animal.  He believes in concentrating on quality rather than quantity. It is known world-wide that the best quality Southern Impala are found in this area, as is shown in the record books.  Wanting to achieve the quality of the Thabazimbi/Rooibokkraal Impala as soon as possible, he believes that there are no better genes than the Black Impala of this specific region.

Dries also has a Kings Wildebeest project under way.  Here he also went to a lot of trouble and expense to find and purchase single animals from all over the country.  He is, therefore, most fortunate to be able to start this project with a reasonable variety of genetics.  At present there are none of this specie available for sale, but hopefully that will change in the near future.