Skydivers jump to rhinos’ rescue

Michelle Bradshaw of M-Nets The Wild and tandem master Graham Field skydiving for rhinos in Rustenburg last month.

KwaZulu-Natal - The province will this weekend add to the country’s 448 skydivers jumping 10 000 feet to save the rhino – 448 is the total number of rhinos that were poached last year.

Organised by the African Conservation Trust, the national Skydive for Rhinos campaign aims to raise R10 million for rhino anti-poaching initiatives.

The tour began in Rustenburg last month, and will be at the Angel’s Way Trust Airfield in Eston, 40km outside Pietermaritzburg, on Saturday and Sunday between 8am and 4pm.

More than 100 people have already signed up for the weekend jumps, including 20 KZN conservation leaders, a 77-year-old Howick woman, SAPS Captain Belinda Eacher, and the “Kokstad Big 5” – five friends who will celebrate their 40th birthdays by doing something extreme and worthwhile.

Also preparing for the big jump are principals, teachers, and pupils of Chelsea Preparatory, Virginia Preparatory, St Anne’s in Hilton, Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School, and Russell High School, as well as members of Project Rhino, the Wildlands Conservation Trust, the Zululand Rhino Reserve, Thanda Game Reserve, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Phinda Game Reserve, and the African Conservation Trust.

In addition, a cheque of R300 000 will be handed over by the Put Foot Rally Foundation to Project Rhino KZN.

According to the campaign’s leader, Sheelagh Antrobus, 326 rhinos had been killed in South Africa so far this year, with KZN accounting for 29 of these.

The next jumps will take place from August 31 to September 2 in Port Elizabeth, and from September 21 to 23 in Robertson in the Western Cape. - Daily News

To sign up or to donate, visit www.skydive4rhinos.org, call 033 342 2844, or e-mail funding@projectafrica.com

laea.medley@inl.co.za