Hi, I’m Jessica “Jess” Ney
Our guide Jess grew up far away in West Berlin, Germany.
She has always been passionate about animals and wildlife and, after completing both of her degrees in Europe, relocated to South Africa almost 20 years ago to start her FGASA course in southern Kruger.
She has been a qualified Kruger guide since February 2007. After 3 years working with chimpanzees at Chimp Eden near Nelspruit, Jess returned back to the Kruger and has been driving open vehicles ever since. Since German is one of her mother tongue’s, she has guided many German guests through Kruger over the years. As with many people around the World, Covid changed everything. Due to the collapse of tourism, Jess took a permanent job at a lodge in the Greater Kruger and spent 5 years as a Lodge Manager & Game Ranger.
As the reserve was situated within Kruger, she often took the guests from the private reserve into southern Kruger for game drives. In 2026, Jess left the lodge to return to the Kruger again full time.
Qualifications & Expertise
Jess is highly qualified and has had 20 years of guiding experience in the Kruger area:
What Jess likes
Jess especially enjoys carnivores, both big and small but also has an avid interest in birding. She absolved an Ornithology course whilst still enrolled at university and has been interested in birds ever since. Being a behaviour specialist, she enjoys any kind of interactions between the animals as well as observing interesting behaviour. She particularly enjoys explaining to the guests why animals do what they do and loves teaching people about animal behaviour. Though cats, dogs and hyenas are very much “her thing”, she enjoys nothing more than to have a breeding herd of elephants surround the vehicle. She will tell you that they emit a feeling of peace that is indescribable.
Safari Specialities
– German Speaking Safaris
– Day Trips
– Overnight Safaris
– Photographic Safaris
– Birding Tours
Favourites In Kruger
Favourite animal
Undoubtedly the leopard! Not just for their beauty, Jess also loves them for their adaptability and broad selection of prey species, enabling them to survive in any of South Africa’s habitats.
Favourite Kruger Moment
Some years ago, Jess was travelling along the Sabie River close to Lower Sabie when she encountered some traffic.
She quickly spotted two male lions underneath a Jackalberry tree and began speaking to her guests about lions. A movement in the tree caught her eye and to her surprise, another male lion was standing in the fork of the tree about 5m up, with an impala dangling from his mouth. She explained that it would not have been the lion, who carried the prey into the tree and that the lions likely chased the leopard off its kill. Suddenly, there was movement high up in the Jackaberry tree.
Low and behold the leopard had saved herself by climbing as high up as possible! The lion with the kill eventually jumped down and the three males feasted on the impala for a few seconds, then lay down to rest. Through all the commotion, Jess glanced to the other side of the road and spotted a young male leopard watching the whole commotion from a Leadwood tree. It was the subadult cub of the leopardess treed by the lions.
The lions did not hang around long and disappeared into the riverbed. Confident that the lions had indeed disappeared, the mother leopard descended from the tree, crossed the road and ran to her cub. They embraced like only cats can, intertwining their tails and rubbing heads, and then bounced off into the bush. Just magical!
Guiding Philosophy
Embrace the sightings of the day and be happy with what you have been lucky to observe. Don’t chase sightings as another magical moment will be missed in pursuit of something else.
