In 1993 we had been given a wedding gift where we could choose to travel anywhere in the world. We decided to do something different and as we had always wanted to experience a “white Christmas” we chose to visit the USA where Roger first spent two weeks at the University of Washington, Seattle and from there it was a hop-skip-and-jump to Alaska and a week of dog-sledding in the wilds. We fell in love with the breed and on our return to South Africa we were accompanied by a red and white Siberian. While in Alaska we stayed at Tokosha Mountain Lodge in Denali National Park not far from the craggy Tokosha Mountains. It just seemed appropriate that we name our new pet after the mountains that are in the McKingley Range – also known as Denali. As we were keen mountaineers at the time we decided to combine the two words “Denali” and “belay” which is a term used by rock climbers and our prefix was born.

In 2021 Chloe van Niekerk joined Denalibelay. At the tender age of 11 Chloe joined the world of dog shows; she has always been an avid dog lover. The Junior Handling bug bit and shortly after she convinced her parents to let her own her first ‘showdog’ and favourite breed – a Siberian Husky. This led her to meet up with Merle in 2005, who took her under her wing and taught her everything she knew about handling, showing and breeding of Siberians. This friendship has stood the test of time and lead to her officially becoming a part of our kennel.  We know that Chloe is very proud to be a part of our team and will always be grateful for the mentorship and friendship from Merle and Roger. Chloe is the future of Denalibelay where she hopes to preserve the precious lines that we have.

It was Christmas 2010 when alpacas came into our lives with two pet males. The herd grew with the purchase of a junior herdshire, then three gorgeous girls who have now produced two cria each. We are members of the the Siberian Husky Club of America and the South African Alpaca Breeders Society and Life members of the Siberian Husky Club of Gauteng.