Every number, three ways

How we calculated the results

Every auction

Top end (42)

Wider market (70)

Differences are the other figure minus the total used. The data workbook’s 836 formulas recalculate with no errors and equal these figures.

The differences and why

The lot data of the top end holds R2 691 000 (0,5%) more than the published totals: R2 234 000 in lots confirmed after the result sheets at five Wildswinkel auctions, R425 000 at Bona Bona Wildlife’s live auction and a net R32 000 between African Wildlife Auctions’ stats sheets and lot results at four of its auctions. The headline keeps the published totals, so every figure can be checked against a document.

Left out and why

Nine SwiftVEE auctions are not South African wildlife auctions. SwiftVEE’s simulcast of Woody Cape Wildlife’s auction would count that auction twice.

Corrections log

1. 16 October 2026

   Published

   The Wildlife Season Report 2026 and its season data portal are published. A correction made after publication is added here, dated, with what it changes.

2. 13 October 2026

   Version 3 of the data

   Headline totals do not change. Every lot-level figure moves, now that Bona Bona Wildlife’s live lots are in: Buffalo R162,3 million (version 2: R141,0 million), wildlife value R577,1 million (R529,1 million) and 58 lots of R1 million or more (48).

   1. Bona Bona Wildlife’s live lots added from Wildswinkel (read 13 October 2026). The display lot S000 is left out. The Super 9 sellers are taken from the printed catalogue.
   2. The species named in a lot’s title now wins over colour words: 55 lots of saddleback blesbok, saddleback oryx and a springbok grand slam had been filed as impala.
   3. Five lots bid per inch had counted their inches as animals. Roan per animal on Wildswinkel rose 0,9%, where version 2 showed it 24,4% lower.
   4. Bloodline Africa’s six covering-rights lots (R3 240 000) had been counted as twelve sable bulls.
   5. Animals sold to be hunted where they stand (R690 000 in the top end) and a 2025 buffalo hunting package had been counted as wildlife.
   6. Two fundraiser wildebeest bulls at African Wildlife Auctions (charity) and two emu lots had been counted as wildlife.
   7. Colour variants are no longer read from place names, ear tags, “black-masked”, “SCI Gold” or “herd producing black animals”. Stud Game Breeders’ own classification is used for its lots.
   8. Shares in an animal (Dominus in 2026, a 50% share in a buffalo bull at Stud Game Breeders in 2025) are left out of every price per animal. Buffalo per animal on Wildswinkel rose 9,0%, where version 2 showed it 6,1% lower.
   9. Exotics (fallow deer, Barbary sheep, ostrich and emu) are left out of the wildlife figures, as the style guide sets.
   10. Stud Game Breeders’ three auctions are named as its platform lists them. Its September Timed Auction closed on 7 September (version 2 had 4 September).
   11. Dominus is a buffalo bull. The version 2 summary called him a sable bull.
3. 13 October 2026

   Version 4 of the data: SwiftVEE read again

   Louis Eksteen found lot 1A of Nylsvlei Game Traders’ auction of 27 March 2026 missing. SwiftVEE shows a practice lot numbered “1A.” and a real lot numbered “1A”. The first read kept one lot per number. Lots with a space in their number (14 B, 47 B) were dropped the same way. Every SwiftVEE auction was read again with each lot taken by its own SwiftVEE id. Twenty-nine lots are added (25 sold, R641 200), all in the wider market: Lot 1A at all 16 Nylsvlei auctions, Thabazimbi’s lot 1A (R100 000) and lots at Amanzi Wildsfees, Al Badenhorst and Noord-Kaap Wilddienste & Steyl Wild. Nylsvlei’s printed catalogue confirms lot 1A (10 impala from Forever Resort). Placeholder cards are now told apart by their titles, in the build and in the blind check. The top end does not change. The wider market is R267,5 million and the whole market R861,2 million.

4. 13 October 2026

   After the independent check of version 4

   A separate agent recomputed the season from the raw files with its own code, read all 255 SwiftVEE lot pages a second time and checked the report and every page of this portal. Every headline, auction total and lot value agreed. These were corrected:

   1. Wildswinkel’s ten-year series had included auctions of farms, implements, loose goods, skins, arms and golf days. It had also left out short flash auctions of wildlife (rhino, buffalo and, in 2020, kudu, red hartebeest, impala and wildebeest). It now counts wildlife auctions only. 2020, the low point, is R98,1 million (was R101,0 million) and 2021 R157,3 million (was R253,1 million). January to September of 2025 and 2026 do not change.
   2. Two 2025 black rhino bulls from Mountain Zebra National Park had been counted as zebra. Zebra’s price per animal on Wildswinkel rose 17,0%. The report had said it fell 11,6%.
   3. Ten more placeholder cards are left out: A practice card titled “Nylsvlei” (27 February), Qualita Safaris’ foreword and nine empty “Extra Lot” cards. The 112 counted auctions hold 12 361 lots. Qualita’s closing bids are no longer marked as sold.
   4. In the wider market, “Swart Wildebees” (two words) is black wildebeest, species written after the seller’s name are read, Barbary sheep (“berg skaap”) and zonkies are not wildlife. Afrikaans colour words and the counts printed on SwiftVEE’s cards are now read. At the top end, Kirkwood’s counts are read, so the female counts for wildebeest, eland, red hartebeest and nyala rise slightly.
   5. “Jules of Karoo” in Summit Wildlife’s price sheet is written “Jules of the Karoo”, as the farm writes it. Four Wildswinkel auctions are dated by the day bidding closed. Auction pages count wildlife animals only and keep lots tied at the tenth price.
5. 13 October 2026

   After the independent fact-check

   Lot 078 (Atlas) at Bona Bona Wildlife’s live auction is sold by Crown Game Holdings (Pty) Ltd, as Wildswinkel names the seller. A charity king wildebeest bull at Emaweni & Guest Sellers (African Wildlife Auctions, 26 September, R30 000) moved from wildlife to charity. It is in the wider market, so no headline or top-end figure changes. Lots of mixed sex no longer count as bulls or rams on the species pages. Prices are rounded half up.

6. 10 October 2026

   Version 2 of the data

   Summit Wildlife’s 2025 total is R26 980 500, not R26 980 000. Magic, Piet du Toit’s R22 million bull of 2025, is a buffalo. The year-on-year comparison uses published results for both years, where version 1 used Wildswinkel’s online totals. SwiftVEE lots marked Sold STC no longer count as sold.

Not counted

Qualita Safaris’ timed auction on SwiftVEE (31 July) is listed but not counted: SwiftVEE shows only closing bids for timed auctions, with no lot status. Its closing bids came to R3 298 500.

Cite this page Wildlife Season Report 2026, season data portal: Checks and corrections. thetenth.auction/season/2026/checks (data analysed in October 2026).