Chris van der Westhuizen
President

Chris van der Westhuizen started at the young age of 8 when he 

bought his first snake with an entire months of pocket money 

and it grew from there. Back then it was a matter of figuring it 

out without Google, school fees were paid and valuable lessons

learned.

 

 

 

 

John Baldwin
EXCO Management Team

John Baldwin started his reptile keeping passion at age 8, which he has been dedicated to for the past 30 years.
Today, John’s main herpetoculture focuses are understanding and implementing the reproductive husbandry of numerous lesser understood and not commonly kept herps, as well as to revive some easy to keep and breed species that have almost disappeared from the South African hobby. 

JP Wittstock
Vice President

As a Specialist Fraud Risk Investigator in the financial sector, I believe I bring a diverse
background to my role. However, beyond my professional responsibilities, my
enduring passion for reptiles has been a constant in my life since childhood, when I
acquired my first pet snake at the age of 12.

 

 

 

Adam Bennett
EXCO Management Team

Since childhood, I have always been very passionate about snakes and the environment in general, hence my environmental career.  I am the Managing Director of the ATB Group (Pty) limited which includes several subsidiary companies including ATB Environmental Consulting and Top Snake.

Arno Naude
EXCO Management Team

Arno Naude was raised in Pretoria and worked at his first snake park 

at age 12. Since then, he has kept reptiles all his life. He started 

presenting reptile keeping courses way back in the year 2000 and 

followed this up with Snake bite, ID and bite treatment courses 

shortly after that. 

 

 

 

 

Brad Barnes
EXCO Management Team

From a young boy absolutely enamoured with all the reptiles at Bayworld, to spending countless hours after school and on weekends volunteering at a small snake park near home, to working as Assist Curator of Reptiles and Mammals at the Monte Casino Bird Gardens. Since getting my first snake in 2006, I have had the pleasure of caring for, and breeding, a myriad of different reptile and amphibian species, from Brown House Snakes to Green Tree Pythons, Dart Frogs to Mexican Beaded Lizards. 

Heidi Pfeifer
EXCO Management Team

I started keeping reptiles in the late 1990’s. I have been a member
of the 
Transvaal (now Tshwane) Herpetological Association
(THA) since 2000.I am a 
director at Snake Bite Assist (Pty) Ltd and facilitate Snake Identification, Bite Treatment and Handling courses, as well as Reptile Keeping courses. I have been keeping and breeding boas since 2002, as well as various other reptiles.

Elzette Grieb
EXCO Management Team

My fascination with animals began in my youth, when I secretly kept a
variety of reptiles in my room, hidden from my parents.

After finishing school, I pursued studies to become a FGASA field guide and enrolled in a Nature
Conservation program, while volunteering at the National Zoological Gardens
of South Africa