Late last year a friend of mine met Vanessa Buxton in a restaurant in Zambia and introduced us via email. She is committed to fundraising for Save the Rhino Trust Namibia and has organised the two cycle rides through the desert in Namibia. There were three girls in 2006 and 30 riders in 2007.
She is also organizing Desert Cycle 2008 and is wondering if any Australians would like to join her. When I was in London in early February it was a great chance to meet this very energetic and inspirational lady.
In her own words:
I know just what you mean about falling in love with Africa and those rhinos! It's just what happened to me! I’m attaching here two pics of the desert rhino. You can see how stark the landscape is in this classic rhino shot that Mike Hearn took. (See picture below this article) The second is a pic I took of Diana with her nearly mature calf on the first walking safari I lead in 2005. Look at her front horn! There are some amazing horn sizes in Namibia! I’ve known Diana since 1995. Since taking this pic, I saw her with another tiny baby calf this last April, 2007. I even have a film clip of her taken way back in 1996!
In 2005
Save the Rhino Trust lost its two foremost soldiers. Not only, Mike Hearn aged 32, in a tragic surfing accident, but also, Blythe Loutit to cancer, who founded SRT in 1982. It was a tough blow and to support their work I initiated the cycle ride as a fundraiser. Blythe's husband, Rudi, who had just retired after 35 years as a game ranger/warden in the Ministry of Environment in the Skeleton Coast, now runs SRT very efficiently with his wealth of knowledge. However, finding all the funding required is still a tricky up hill struggle.
Save the Rhino Trust Namibia protect the rhinos through a series of teams of ‘trackers’. These are essentially community people who cover a specific area tracking and monitoring the rhinos, identifying and photographing them. This information is then fed into a database for research purposes to discover information vital to management ie size of home range and breeding patterns. The constant presence of the tracking teams on the ground is the poaching deterrent. The rhino range is vast: 20,000 km2 . It is very wild and inaccessible – huge rocky landscape. A huge area at the centre is completely inaccessible to vehicles. The tracking teams cover the ground by camels which carry the essential provisions and water.
These rhinos are particularly special as they are a distinct subspecies of the black rhino, the desert-adapted Rhino (Diceros Bicornis Bicornis). They exist entirely outside a national park or protected area on land communally owned by the
Damara, Herrero and Himba Tribes. The desert environment through which they roam is so harsh that even with the help of SRT they are increasing at a very low rate. Over a 10 yr period, 2.7% (some years its better but it entirely depends on the rain fall so one has to look at the longer term).
The first two cycle trips were in memory of Mike Hearn who worked tirelessly in the wilds of the desert for 12 years and who was a personal friend. Namibia is the most stunning place and there is no better way of seeing it that by bicycle but its pretty tough!
Gday Miriam,
I hope this finds you well. This bought back some awesome memories for me. I was fortunate to based on the Skeleton Coast in 1998 living in tents on the beach and staying in nation park houses doing diamond diving exploration work along the coast line. Definitely one of the most magical parts of the world I have ever been.
I got to see these rhino and the elephants of this area which are also unique.
I got to know a young ranger who was in charge of one of the houses we rented of the national parks for a while who was responsible for the southern part of the Skeleton Coast National Park. Her dad was the chief game ranger of Tasha. On a break I drove up to Tasha for a personal tour of the park and of the black rhino breeding program which was his pride and joy. A fantastic experience!!
Are you in Aus or Zim?
Cheers
Rob.