Short Story
My name is Pete,
Growing up, I often saw rhinos in their natural habitat without truly appreciating the gift it was. Now, as a father, I want my sons, their cousins and their friends to experience the same wonder during visits to the Kruger National Park.
To support the brave rangers who risk their lives protecting our natural heritage, I’m taking on a challenge – running 100 kilometers in just two days through the African bush. Rhinos in South Africa are seriously threatened by poaching syndicates but by coming together to support we can help these dedicated rangers continue their vital work.
The funds raised will be going towards helping Project Rhino and Babanango Game Reserve to empower their rangers with essential resources, training, and equipment needed to combat poaching, enforce conservation laws, and promote sustainable practices.
Join me in this adventure.
Whether you donate, share, or simply spread the word, every little bit helps.
Story
Babanango Game Reserve, located in the heart of Zululand, Kwazulu-Natal, is a showcase for one of the most ambitious rewilding projects in Southern Africa in recent years. Set among the breathtaking topography of the upper White Umfolozi River Valley, the reserve occupies a vast wilderness area of over 20,000 hectares that is steeped in Zulu history and layered upon geological features that date back to the beginning of time. The rugged mountains and valleys provide refuge for an extraordinary diversity of birds, plants, insects, reptiles, and mammals, including the elusive aardvark and aardwolf.
Visitors to Babanango Game Reserve can be assured of an unrivalled safari experience due to highly knowledgeable guides and a range of activities to choose from. Significant historical battle sites, such as Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, are located close by.
Project Rhino was launched on World Rhino Day, 22 September 2011. It is a rhino-focussed association that brings together a provincial government conservation body, private and community-owned reserves, rhino owners, leading conservation NGOs and anti-poaching security specialists in the common aim of fighting wildlife crime.
Together with South Africa’s Kruger National Park, Project Rhino member reserves are collectively responsible for the protection of the world’s largest rhino population, as well as the most genetically diverse white rhino population. Devastatingly, our rhino have become a target for highly organised poaching rings and crime syndicates, fuelled largely by an ongoing and unfounded demand by traditional Eastern medicine. Rhino numbers have plummeted – more than 8,000 have been lost in RSA in the last decade – whilst the costs of keeping the remaining populations safe have increased astronomically.