Publications
Partners
Cape Town - On May 1, 23-year-old game ranger Daniel Fenton, from Ngala Private game reserve in South Africa, started his 922km walk from Phinda Private Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal to Botswana’s Ramatlabama Border gate.
The 45-day walk will raise awareness for his campaign “Hope for Horns” which was established to help ”Rhinos Without Boarders”. His campaign will be running alongside “Our Horn is NOT Medicine” whose message focuses on rhino horn not being a medicine.
A rhino horn is made up of Keratin, which is the same substance, that makes up our finger and toenails. Somehow, the myth has spread that a rhino horn can cure certain disease such as febrile disease, influenza, poisoning and epilepsy.
However, it has been scientifically proven that a rhino’s horn has no medical or scientific benefit. The demand for rhino horn is skyrocketing within Asian countries and cultures across the world!
Last year, in South Africa alone, over 1 000 rhinos were poached. In fact, poaching incidents are steadily increasing in South Africa and as a result rhino populations are almost unable to recover themselves. Experts are warning that if we don’t turn the situation around, rhinos will be extinct in the wild within 10 years time.
The route Fenton is walking is the same route on which 100 rhino will be moved from high-risk areas in South Africa to the comparative safety of Botswana, where poaching is virtually unheard of.
Botswana boasts the lowest poaching rate on the continent. The reason - an anti-poaching unit supported by the country’s military, a strict anti-poaching policy and intense government interest in conservation.
Working in a phased approach, “Rhinos Without Borders” completed the translocation of the first batch of rhino in early 2015. The rhino are being translocated to a number of undisclosed locations throughout the country, where they will roam free in the wild.
Fenton is walking the same route in May/June to raise money to fund the next phase of the relocation of rhinos. Along the way he will also be stopping at various communities and schools to educate locals about why rhino are important for the people of South Africa and raise awareness around the issue of poaching.
Fenton and his team are keeping sponsors and supporters up to speed with his daily encounters along the way by reporting through his social media platforms.
He can also be tracked on his SPOT GEN3 tracking unit HERE
Fundraising: www.gofundme.com/hopeforhorns
Instagram: @hopeforhorns
Facebook: Hope for Horns & Our Horn is NOT Medicine
Fenton sharing his story with local supporters en route (Supplied)
Two anti-poaching game rangers patrolling a fence (Supplied)
