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Kariega Supports 2018 Rhino Run

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05Oct
shannon
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The seventh annual Rhino Run took place on Sunday 16 September 2018 at multiple locations around South Africa. Thousands of runners turned up to run shoulder to shoulder and heart to heart for one outstanding objective – to raise funds and awareness to save our rhino. The Kariega team joined in to support the 2018 Rhino Run at Kenton-on-Sea.

The 2018 Rhino Run in Kenton-on-Sea was the largest and most well supported event to date, with an incredible 984 runners and walkers participating. We were so proud that the Kariega team, made up of our community sports coaches and players from Ekuphumleni, Marselle and Klipfontein, Kariega field guides and Kariega volunteers, was the largest team with 230 members. The Kariega Foundation co-ordinators worked tirelessly to ensure that our team was at the start line and made a huge impact in their multi-coloured t-shirts. Well done and thank you!

Kariega Sports Teams at the start of the rhino run 2019

Community Youth Advocate for Rhino Conservation

To maximise the educational opportunities around the event the Kariega Foundation provided the opportunity for our community participants to learn more about the importance of rhino conservation so they could understand the purpose of the event and why they were running. Both Kariega Game Reserve and the Kariega Foundation believes strongly in environmental education and the role it plays to change the hearts and minds of communities. We are proactively working together with our communities to end wildlife poaching, especially the brutal rhino poaching which is prevalent in our Eastern Cape region. 

The Kariega Foundation dedicates time and resources to our environmental education project which implements an environmental education curriculum in four of our local community schools. The schools serve over 1,000 children between the ages of six and 11. This is one of the projects made possible by the contribution of donors and also by each guest who pays the Kariega Foundation conservation and community levy.

Kariega Foundation Environmental Education presentation

It was an emotional moment for all participants when our community runners, who took the messages from the environmental education presentations to heart and, arrived at the 2018 Rhino Run with placards and posters advocating for rhino conservation. They sang and danced at the start line for the protection of all rhino, with a special mention for our very own Thandi, whose courageous survival after a poaching attack inspired the founder of the Rhino Run to action several years ago.

Kariega Community Sports Teams marching to save our rhino

Kariega community sports teams singing to save our rhino

2018 Rhino Run Landmark

Needless to say, the 2018 Rhino Run will be etched in our memories for years to come as a landmark occasion where the greater Kenton community came together, singing, dancing and running for the survival and protection of our rhino. The photographs capture the inspirational mood of the day so well. Thank you to the organisers and all participants for the most incredible event, may it grow and grow and grow… and may our voices on behalf of this extraordinary species get stronger and stronger and stronger.

Did you participate in Rhino Run 2018? Please tell us about your experience in the comments below or share your story and pictures on Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter. If you would like to find out more about our rhino conservation efforts, please visit our Kariega Foundation Save the Rhino page or contact us via email on foundation@kariega.co.za.

Kenton Rhino Run 2019

Kariega Rhino Runners

Rhino Run inspiration

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