Christiaan Mathys Bakkes (born 3 August 1965, in Vredenburg, South Africa) is a South African writer. He is the son of Cas and Margaret Bakkes and the brother of Marius, Matilde and Casparus. He is married to Marcia Ann Fargnoli, an environmental lawyer.
He received a National Diploma in Nature Conservation and led an anti-poaching unit as part of his military service. For a time, he worked as a game ranger in the Kruger National Park, where during the early 1990s he was required to be involved in elephant culling,[1] a practice to which he developed ethical objections. In 1994 he suffered serious injury inside the park in a crocodile attack. Hereafter he commenced a new career in the Damaraland desert, where he acted as guide and conservation official for Wilderness Safaris.[1][2][3]