Lifestyle/Community
Nadav’s passion for animals go back a long way
Nadav Ossendyver has hit the headlines many times regarding his achievements – his outstanding results in the 2014 matriculation exams (with six distinctions), his app, Latest Sightings in the Kruger National Park and Pilanesberg, his LeadSA award to change South Africa for the better and his Young Jewish Achiever Award last year for entrepreneurship.
SUZANNE BELLING
PHOTOGRAPH: ILAN OSSENDRYVER
Israeli-born Nadav was only five when he and his sister Talya were taken to the “Safari” in Ramat Gan to feed the animals, including giraffes, lions, tigers and elephants. “Young as I was, I actually did a job of work,” he recalls.
A pupil of the Janusz Korczak School in Ramat Gan, named for the man who looked after orphans in Poland and, refusing offers of protection for himself, led the children dressed in their best clothes through the ghetto to the Umschlagplatz, a deportation point to the death camps during the Holocaust. The school also had a floor dedicated to animals and every month the pupils could take home a different pet to look after and to love.
In 2004 Nadav’s parents, Ilan and Corinne, brought the family back to South Africa, where Nadav was enrolled in Yeshiva College.
In grade 8, however, he changed schools to go to King David Linksfield, “because I wanted to do music and IT which was not on offer at Yeshiva. I was interested in more academic subjects, too.”
A talented musician, who was formerly a member of a band – he plays the drums – and, of course, studied music theory and the history of music for his matric subject.
Nadav achieved A symbols for Life Orientation, English, mathematics, advanced mathematics, physical science and Hebrew.
Visits to the Kruger National Park while growing up, rekindled Nadav’s love of the bush.
As he grew older, “I used to stop people in their cars and ask them where they had seen the animals. This was time-consuming and impractical, so I hit upon the idea of setting up Latest Sightings, a website that enables visitors to the Kruger and Pilanesberg, immediately to log on and share their latest sightings in the social media.”
He is expanding the apps to other game parks and has decided to devote this year to this development before he continues his studies. “It’s a service, an app that can be accessed by all visitors and tourists in real time.”
Nadav has a database with thousands of pictures and videos of wildlife. His YouTube channel is the most viewed South African and wildlife sourced channel with 130 million views.
Yet, he remains modest and only elaborates on his achievements when pressed.
“The only sightings which we don’t record are those of rhinos and other endangered species.”
Nadav is happy he now is able to drive himself to the Kruger Park and the Pilanesberg and soon will be extending his travels to encompass as many wildlife and game parks as possible.