Our Story

3rd Generation Family-Owned Business

Spiral Game Breeders is situated on the farm Groenrivier, 50 km north of Thabazimbi on the R511. The mighty Matlabas river snakes through a portion of the farm. The farm has been in the family for three generations. What started out as a cattle farm from the 1980's until 2016, is now focused solely on game breeding.

Since 2017, we have been erecting fences to form breeding camps for our dream of breeding with extraordinary kudu and bushbuck. Our aim was to acquire kudu from a wide variety of origins to increase the diversity of the herds. Regarding kudu bulls, we identified breeding bulls of high standard from a young age by looking for horns with deep curls.

The bushbuck camp is situated next to the Matlabas river which is naturally home to some of the best bushbuck genetics in the country. Specimens roaming freely on the farm reach horn lengths of 15"+ and sightings of these magnificent animals motivated the intensive breeding of bushbuck at Spiral Game Breeders. The dream forward is to continue to improve the herd quality of both the kudu and bushbuck by continuing to breed with extraordinary specimens.

The Groenrivier farm and the Matlabas river Bushveld scenery on the Spiral Game Breeders farm

Our People

The van Tonder family


The van Tonder family resides in Pretoria but since 2007, has experienced the farm as a place of escaping the rat-race of the city.

Kobus van Tonder is the backbone of the operation and his problem-solving skills acquired from years of experience as an engineer has taken Spiral Game Breeders to the next level of breeding with game. Being surrounded by the bush has a mesmerising effect of releasing the pressure of work.

Christoph van Tonder has spent plenty of weekends and holidays on the farm in his childhood and started helping his dad with projects since he was 8 years old. Since high school, he got more involved in the business side of Spiral Game Breeders and used every opportunity to read up on game breeding and analysing the latest game auction statistics.

Behind every successful man, there is his wife who stands strong in her support towards him and his ambitions. Hanneke van Tonder basically grew up on the farm and this is where her love for nature evolved. She now supports her two men — Kobus and Christoph — in their endeavours and projects at Spiral Game Breeders.