Bonné de Bod (born 11 June 1981) is a South African television presenter and documentary film producer. She is best known for her film STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War. She is also noted for field reporting on the nature television series 50/50 for seven seasons. Recognition for her television presenting include a Jackson Wild Media Award nomination for 'Best Host/Presenter' in 2019 a

SANParks South African National Parks (SANParks) is the body responsible for managing South Africa's national parks. SANParks was formed in 1926, and currently manages 19 parks consisting of , over 3% of the total area of South Africa. Many parks offer ...

''Kudu Award'' for 'Best Journalist' in the years 2015 and 2019 and two Impact DOCS for 'Best On-Camera Talent' and 'Best Narration/Voice-Over Talent' in 2021. She has won over 30 awards as a film producer.

Early life and education

De Bod was born in Kempton Park, South Africa and brought up in Northcliff,

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. She has a

B.Com A Bachelor of Commerce (abbreviated BComm or BCom; also, ''baccalaureates commercii'') is an undergraduate degree in business, usually awarded in Canada, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand, Ghana, South Africa, Myanma ...

in Industrial Psychology from the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

Career

After graduation a modelling agency offered De Bod a modelling contract in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. She accepted and located to Cape Town where she modelled for three years. This was followed by an offer from London but she followed her passion for wildlife and aced the audition to become a presenter on South Africa's '' 50/50'', the well-known environmental and natural history television show, remaining there for seven seasons.

STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War

In 2008, rhino poaching was a growing problem in South Africa. In 2013 a story involving rhino poaching which De Bod made with film director, Susan Scott in

Kruger National Park Kruger National Park is a South African National Park and one of the largest game reserves in Africa. It covers an area of in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, and extends from north to south and from ea ...

, inspired the pair to create the documentary '' STROOP - Journey into the Rhino Horn War''. Filmed over four years, ''STROOP'', showed the complete chain from African poachers to Asian consumers. An official selection at 40 film festivals, the film has won 30 awards. Anton Crone of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' wrote in a newspaper article that De Bod and Scott's ability to engage with people, "whether vulnerable, dangerous or courageous, avethe film it's human depth". ''The Mercury'' said that De Bod is tough as nails.

Kingdoms of Fire, Ice and Fairy Tales

De Bod's second film, also with Scott, ''Kingdoms of Fire, Ice and Fairytales'', premiered at Jackson Wild in 2020, winning several awards as well as receiving positive reviews. ''Kingdoms'' was filmed and edited during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-pandemic. The pair devised 'Kingdoms of Fire, Ice & Fairy Tales' in California while on the film festival circuit. De Bod has been praised for her presenting in ''Kingdoms'' by notable film critic, Leon van Nierop, and by Getaway Magazine, that calls De Bod "the protagonist, with an authentic, assured voice whose screen presence reflects the beauty of the environment she is exploring". In 2015, De Bod also worked on ''Rhino Blog'', (known as ''Rhino Planet'' outside of Africa), airing on People's Weather. She received the

''Kudu Award'' for 'Best Journalist' in 2015 for her work on 50/50 and again in 2019 together with Scott for STROOP. De Bod was asked by the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

(UNEP) to moderate a panel discussion on Illegal Wildlife Trade at the 2015

World Forestry Congress The World Forestry Congress (WFC) is the largest and most significant gathering of the world's forestry sector and it has been held every six years since 1926 under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations ...

Personal life

De Bod lives in Bryanston, and is a member of the Documentary Filmmakers Association (DFA).

Television, filmography and awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Debod, Bonne People from Kempton Park, Gauteng People from Johannesburg 1981 births University of Pretoria alumni South African documentary filmmakers South African film producers South African television producers South African people of Dutch descent South African people of French descent South African voice actresses South African women television presenters Living people