Riverbend Crocodile Farm

Crocodile leather has for centuries been considered the finest of all leathers and the nile crocodile crocodylus niloticus is one of three crocodile species found in Africa and the only species found in Southern Africa.

Of the 23 crocodile species found world-wide the nile crocodile is one of the five “classic” crocodile species utilized for commercial purposes and is ranked third in terms of commercial value after the Salt water crocodile crocodylus porosous and the American alligator alligator mississippiensis.

South Africa has now established itself as the dominant producer of quality nile crocodile skins and crocodile meat out of Africa.

The collective noun for a group of crocodiles is a “bask of crocodiles” and Riverbend Crocodile Farm boasts one of the best nile crocodile breeding basks in South Africa!

As the second oldest farm in the country Riverbend Crocodile Farm has been able to acquire quality breeding stock from Zimbabwe and Namibia together with selected animals from the rest of South Africa.

The nile crocodile crocodylus niloticus is one of three crocodile species found in Africa and the only species found in Southern Africa. With a ratio of approximately 5 females to every male and given the 5 star accommodation the facility offers the crocodiles at Riverbend the farm constantly produces quality hatchlings.

The climate on the South Coast is perfect for crocodile breeding with mild winters and hot humid summers and historical evidence suggests that the region was infested with crocodiles some 250 years ago!

While tourism forms an important part of the business the farm is home to nearly 200 adult nile crocodiles which produce approximately 4500 hatchling crocodiles each year.

The farms’s state of the art incubator and hatchery ensure that a high percentage of the more than 6500 eggs collected annually result in a fine crop of hatchlings each year. These hatchlings are reared commercially and once they have attained a slaughter size of approximately 1.5 meters in length are slaughtered with the skins and meat being the two primary export commodities obtained from these crocodiles.

Limited food resources on the South Coast mean that the rearing and slaughtering of the commercial crocodiles takes place on a farm near Wartburg in the midlands through a commercial joint venture with Southern African Crocodile Traders (Pty) Ltd one of Africa’s largest crocodile product exporters.