Danie van Eeden
Danie did his undergraduate studies in a multi-disciplinary field majoring in zoology, botany and geography. Other supplementary subjects included anthropology, economics, sociology, psychology and agrarian extension.
He then proceeded to do an honours degree in wildlife management with an emphasis on vegetation surveys and the monitoring of change in vegetation, especially looking at the management of wildlife and other natural resources. As part of the requirements for this course, a management plan was compiled for a private game ranch in the Dullstroom district, Mpumalanga.
After the completion of my honours degree, Danie was awarded a scholarship by the University of Pretoria to work as a technical research assistant at the Rob and Bessie Welder Wildlife Foundation in Sinton, Texas.
He wrote his masters degree thesis on aspects of the ecology and conservation status of selected wildlife in and around Tembe Elephant Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where he was part of the Maputaland conservation-based and integrated rural development programme as representative of the Center for Wildlife Management from the University of Pretoria.
The project links with the broader objectives of the Lebombo Spatial Development Initiative (LSDI) and the Lebombo Transfrontier Conservation Area (LTFCA), which are managed in the same region. The focus of his studies were firstly to determine the biological importance of a community-based natural resource management project in the area towards the conservation of the regionally rare sand forest habitat type, and secondly to determine the habitat selection and conservation status of selected herbivores in the Tembe Elephant Park.
During 2003 Danie also founded an environmental consulting business: Wild Route Environmental Consultants. The main focus being to help with the planning of game ranches and reserves by assisting with the planning of infrastructure, determining the ecological carrying capacity and stocking rates, general veld and wildlife management recommendations as well as the compilation of management plans.
Wild Route is also involved in urban greening and habitat restoration programs in the Tshwane municipal area and has a small nursery where indigenous trees are propagated.
Danie is also registered with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) in the field of Ecological Science.
During 2005 he was a part-time lecturer at the Centurion campus of the Damelin Education Group and at Centurion Akademie, where he lectured several nature related subjects. In the beginning of 2006 he became a full-time lecturer at Centurion Akademie in Centurion, Pretoria.
In addition to presenting lectures in game ranch management, veld management, game management and conservation development, Danie is also responsible for organizing and supervising the second year research projects, and third year experiential learning.
In 2009, he registered for a PhD (wildlife management) at the Centre for Wildlife Management at the University of Pretoria with the title “Habitat selection, feeding ecology and conservation genetics of the suni neotragus moschatus in South Africa”. Click here to download Danie’s CV.