Sustained by tourists’ strong foreign currencies, South Africa’s game lodge industry offers opportunities, such as converting standard vehicles into game viewers.
Photo: Supplied
Game viewing is a standard procedure in any nature reserve. A game ranger takes a group of curious city folk heavily armed with cameras and phones out on a drive in a game viewer. The ranger spots the game and parks as close to it as possible to enable the crowd to take memorable snapshots.
But game viewers don’t just roll off a standard assembly line. They start life as normal vehicles, mostly bakkies, and undergo aftermarket conversion to specific standards.
“Toyota Land Cruiser 79 single cabs, Hilux single cabs and Prados are the most popular donor vehicles for game viewer conversion, with the demand for Mahindra Pik Ups also growing,” says Jacques Janse van Rensburg, owner of Game Viewers RSA, a family-operated business he founded over 30 years ago.
The company not only converts customer-supplied new and used vehicles into game viewers at its workshop in Pretoria North, Gauteng, but also its own line of pre-owned cars that are then sold as complete products.
“These vehicles are built to outlive their owners,” says Janse van Rensburg, a qualified petrol and diesel mechanic.
“Sometimes I come across one that left our workshop in the mid-1990s that is still in pristine condition. But they can also age quickly due to negligence.”
The conversion process consists of five stages: stripping the donor vehicle’s roof, rear doors and various panels, depending on the car’s body style; welding the frame onto the body; painting the frame; fitting the upholstery; and repainting the vehicle.
Each stage is performed by tradesmen ranging from panel beaters to welders and fitters.
Game Viewers RSA converts a standard vehicle into an 11-seater game viewer in 14 to 21 days at a cost of around R95 000.
This includes a frame built from 50mm x 2mm round steel tubing with three rows of three seats each, rubberising, military-grade canvas upholstery fitted to the two front seats, high-density foam-lined rear seats and rooftop, cupholders, wooden front door armrests, and the repainting of the vehicle.
All sorts of optional extras are offered, including a canvas dash cover, hunting rest with gun holder, steel bull bar, front spotter’s seat, Perspex windscreen extension and rear side doors.
The standard canvas colour is dark green, but it has been done in sand beige and charcoal upon special request. Standard exterior colours include green, khaki and grey, but are not limited to these three.
“Believe it or not, but we’ve done one in pink,” adds Janse van Rensburg.
“Our most bizarre conversation involved an FJ60 Land Cruiser. The customer had a troubled stomach, which meant he had to be prepared when nature called. He requested that we fit a mobile toilet that could be deployed at the touch of a button.”
Game Viewers RSA’s business grew from 79 conversions in 2023 to between 100 and 120 in 2024, with further growth projected for 2025. Their customer base is spread throughout the country and across the borders to as far as other continents.
“Apart from neighbouring countries like Namibia and Botswana, our game viewers have been shipped to Greece and the US. We take huge pride in knowing there is demand for our proudly South African products overseas,” concludes Janse van Rensburg.
