Rhino
Statistically, about 5500 black rhinos remain alive today. A critically endangered species, targeted for its magnificent horn, most black rhinos live under the protection of public and private reserves, and private organizations made up of passionate people.
Magic Hills Game Reserve is one such reserve.
In the last decade, South Africa lost 8288 black and white rhinos to the illegal horn trade. During the peak of the poaching crisis in 2015, three rhinos were being killed every single day. By 2019, through the dedicated anti-poaching efforts of public and private reserves, as well as criminal investigations making a greater difference on the ground, these statistics had dropped, with a rhino being poached every 15 hours.
What is even more devastating to consider is that with every rhino killed, its potential to breed and reproduce is wiped out with it.
Why Rhino Horn?
Traditional healers in Asian countries have sold the belief that crushed rhino horn may heal cancer, among other afflictions. While this is totally untrue, rich and elite of these countries will pay almost anything for a chance at a cure, with Rhino horn fetching as much as $ 65 000 per kilogram – a higher price than diamonds, gold, and even cocaine.
Rhino horn has an even greater appeal purely for its rarity. No country in the East allows the legal trade in horn, so it’s not easy to come by – those who possess it flaunt it as expensive trinkets, bracelets and beads.
On the ground, here in southern Africa, poor communities in rural areas are targeted by larger syndicates and enticed into a life of crime. Heavily kitted with illegal firearms, knives, axes and saws that will be used to brutally deface a rhino, local community-men are paid a small fortune for rhino horn. Coming from poverty-stricken backgrounds, the prospect of easy money is hard to resist, and many die for it.
Help Us to Protect our Black Rhino
The topography and vegetation on Magic Hills Game Reserve makes the ideal habitat for black rhino, and so we have taken the responsibility to home and protect this precious species.
All proceeds that exceed the operating costs of our hospitality establishments are used to fund conservation and wildlife protection. To run and maintain a 20 100-hectare reserve is a massive cost, before we even consider the specific costs of caring for and protecting our black rhino.
And so, in times like this, when there is simply not enough funds and resources, we reach out to the public for help. With every donation our chances of keeping our rhino safe increase, through the following measures:
- Hiring of sufficient staff on the ground to track the rhino and monitor rhino movements daily
- Kitting those staff with uniform, boots, protective gear and warm clothing
- Fuel and vehicle maintenance costs
- Funding of future purchase and transportation of black rhino for the breeding of new generations
- To fund darting and veterinary exercises, where rhino need extra care
- Funding of long-term plans to incorporate technology into the tracking and care for rhino, such as telemetry systems
- Rewilding of the reserve, in order to give the rhinos ample place to hide, eat well, and reproduce.
As custodians of this part of the earth, we take our responsibility to protect every piece of it seriously. We need your help to protect our rhino… To protect your rhino.
We hope you’ll join us on this journey, to preserve a future where rhinos continue to roam Africa free and wild. Please consider giving – only as much as you’re able – to help us work toward that future.
SUPPORT US
Together, we can achieve so much more. Support our foundation and choose to become involved in any one of our conservation initiatives.
