ZWF MAILBAG From: Sheelagh Antrobus Subject: Project Rhino KZN & Kingsley Holgate at the Boardwalk Shopping Centre this weekend (World Rhino Day) Hi Tim - here’s an announcement for your ZWF community ahead of this World Rhino Weekend from Project Rhino KZN: As part of the Richard’s Bay Boardwalk Shopping Centre’s Tourism & Heritage month, Project Rhino KZN and Kingsley Holgate will be there in force over the weekend of World Rhino Day – Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September. Please come and meet the organisations behind Project Rhino KZN, donate your R10 notes or buy a raffle ticket to win a weekend getaway at either Phinda Game Reserve or the Giants Castle resort in the Drakensburg. For children, there is a ‘Rhino Poo Lucky Dip’ and a rhino art workshop with leading wildlife artist Joe Marais. Those who purchase a specially-numbered Rhino Cross or Project Rhino KZN bumper-sticker will be entered into a Lucky Draw to win a rhino dart experience at the Zululand Rhino Reserve: two people will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get up close to rhinos and see how reserve staff and wildlife vets use DNA collection and micro-chipping of rhino horns as a tool against rhino poaching. But you must be there especially, to hear Kingsley Holgate speak about his partnership with Project Rhino KZN, which has led to the biggest children-focussed rhino awareness campaign undertaken to date in South Africa. The ‘Rhino Art – let the Children’s Voices Be Heard’ project started out as an idea around the table in Kingsley’s African-inspired home six months ago and to date more than 100,000 children have been reached with a strong message to protect and conserve rhinos. The Lebombo Mountain Range is home to the largest population of rhinos in the world and Kingsley’s Izintaba Lebombo expedition traversed it between April and June this year. The expedition team travelled from Mapungubwe near the Zimbabwe border, through the Kruger National Park and into Mozambique and Swaziland, ending at Ghost Mountain in Mkhuze, speaking to thousands of children in rural schools close to rhinos and using art and soccer to explain the importance of saving rhinos from poaching, along with continuing Kingsley’s humanitarian work against malaria and the ‘Rite to Site’ campaign. Thousands of paintings were collected that include powerful messages such as “We should respect rhinos like we respect Mr Nelson Mandela”. Since the expedition’s end, Kingsley has continued his role as a Rhino Ambassador for Project Rhino KZN and the work of reaching out to hundreds of schools close to game reserves in Zululand continues, as well as to urban schools around Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Schools in the Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng are also taking part and the campaign’s powerful 3 minute video clip is gaining a following: youtube/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nD6YSqoiXWU (donated entirely by Earth Touch TV). Excitingly, the Vietnamese translation of this video was aired on Vietnamese national TV three weeks ago, as part of Dr William Fowlds’ recent visit, and has attracted attention that we hope will turn into an international partnership in the months to come. As far as we know, this is the first time that the voices of South Africa’s children crying out for rhino poaching to stop has been aired so publicly in one of the consumer countries. The Boardwalk weekend will host a selection of these powerful children’s paintings. Also in the display will be ‘Mashozi’ the Rhino Landy – donated to Project Rhino KZN by Land Rover SA (named in memory of Kingsley’s late wife, Gill) - which is covered in hundreds of messages of support from concerned South Africans, as well as the African Conservation Trust’s full-size white rhino mascot, ‘Ralston’, beloved by children all over KZN. All funds raised will be administered by Project Rhino KZN and will go to continuing our community-focussed work with Kingsley Holgate in KZN into 2014. So please come and say ‘Hallo’ to the staff from Zululand Rhino Reserve, Phinda and Thanda Private Reserves, Ezemvelo’s Community Rhino Ambassadors and other Project Rhino KZN members, and help fill the donation boxes. WE NEED THE SUPPORT OF THE ZULULAND COMMUNITY! Thank you to everyone who has made this weekend possible, especially to Dave Savides of the Zululand Observer, Angelique Wright from the Boardwalk, Joe Marais, Lucy Steenkamp and pupils from Richards Bay High School and the Rhinoceros Unanimous team of volunteer fundraisers from Richards Bay. PROJECT RHINO KZN NEWS: The Zululand Anti-Poaching Wing base at Hluhluwe Airfield is being expanded into a combined operations base. See the announcement made today on East Coast Radio’s Rhino Watch: ecr.co.za/post/zap-wing-ops-centre-boost/ . ZAP-Wing is a Project Rhino KZN partnership initiative: visit zapwing.org for more information. Thanks to you too Tim, for your continued support. Regards Sheelagh Antrobus | Project Rhino KZN Secretariat AFRICAN CONSERVATION TRUST Tel: 033-342 2844 | Email: [email protected] |
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 04:00:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015