About us ...

Africa Productions was started during 2006 by Koos Greeff. He was the very first registered safari operator operating in the West Coast, Namaqualand and the southern Namib Desert. Africa Productions concentrates on specialized, personalized productions and makes use of the best equipment and personnel.

Here is a short profile.

Koos was born in 1955 in Namaqualand where his father was a farmer. He was very interested in the veld and spends many of his holidays camping, hiking or mountaineering the West Coast Region of South Africa. He completed his schooling in 1974 and did his compulsory military training the next year. This was the very same year that the political situation in Angola became critical with huge numbers of refugees fleeing the country and the influx of large numbers of Cuban soldiers into that country. The next year, he did some initial studies and started working for a German Evangelical Mission in Natal in 1977. For the first 4 years, his prime responsibility was the developing of a sustainable vegetable production, a proper milking herd, a dairy for the proper utilization of the milk and a workshop to maintain the equipment and vehicles for the group. During this period, he got married and started a family and he learned to speak German and Zulu.

In 1981, he was called-up to do further military training and whilst there, his senior officers noted his ability to communicate and influence the local population. He was then enlisted to work for Military Intelligence, which he did, on a part time base more or less until the end of 1993. Amongst the normal gathering of intelligence, was mainly used to "influence the hearts and minds" of the local population. This took him all over Southern Africa to many various groups - from squatter camps in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth to refugee camps in Zambia and Namibia and even to remote rural areas in Kaokoland and Swaziland. Naturally, he did various courses during this time to sharpen his skills and better his chances of survival in case of a crisis.

During all of this time, he still lived on the compound of the Evangelical Mission group and carried on with the social development work that he was responsible for. Twice he had to visit Europe to report to donors and to drum up support for new or existing projects. His knowledge of the Zulu language and his ability to translate into either English or Afrikaans from Zulu made him an obvious choice for important public meetings. Amongst others, he interpreted occasionally for the King of the Zulus.

Perhaps the most important of all the work experiences was his contact with the tribal leaders all over Southern Africa. The most fruitful was his contact with leaders of the Himba people in Kaokoland, Namibia. The first contact was established in 1984. Until today it is maintained, and on a good footing. In 1989, he established the "Chabura Trust" in Namibia. This is a Social Development Trust with the aim to help the peoples of the Kunene Province, which is situated in the north-western corner of Namibia. The Trust is still active and has managed to influence the lives of many persons.

Towards the end of 1993, Koos broke all contact with Military Intelligence and resigned his job with the Mission group. He moved his family back to Namaqualand where they established a small farm on the northern boundary of the Cederberg Mountain range. He started working on a part-time base as a Social Developer, as a Tour-guide and developed the farm. During this time he also completed his Master degree at the University of South Africa in certain aspects of the Zulu Culture. He can converse in Afrikaans, Dutch, English, German, Ndebele, Swazi, Zulu and Xhosa and as such is registered as a "Specialist Tour Guide".