How Rock n Ride 4 Rhino started
Rock ‘n Ride 4 Rhino Trust has been Jason Hartman’s, 2009 joint Idols Winner, mission for many years.
In the past two years he spent his time gathering sponsors and getting schools involved to create awareness about the critical situation our Rhino population is in. There were 100 000 Rhino’s in 1960 and today there are less than 5 000 – they are already extinct in the Limpopo Province.
The Rock ‘n Ride team consists of:
Jason Hartman
The 2009 Idols Winner has founded several trusts to help conserve our environment. He focuses on three main elements.
- Protection and Conservation of all Wildlife
- Protection and Conservation of parks
- Education in self-sustainable living for local communities
- Providing employment to local communities
- Providing a better standard of living for local communities
- Providing schools for local communities
Our vision is a world in which all people recognise the value of trees in the environment.
Dave Estment
Dave’s twenty-year career in the corporate financial world most recently included 11 years as a director at NFB Financial Services Group, a leading private brokerage in South Africa, and has evolved to embrace commercial property assembly in conjunction with prominent developers in the country. In partnership with his wife Naomi they will be covering the Rock ‘n Ride 4 Rhino’s by taking video footage as well as still images.
The Wild Imaging Trust is a charitable trust, with the purpose of communicating via video and still images to educate, inform and provide exposure for conservation projects.
Damien Mander
Damien served as a Special Operations Sniper and Clearance Diver in the Australian Defence Force. Whilst deployed in Iraq he Project Managed the Iraq Special Police Training Academy, overseeing training of up to 700 cadets at one time. Following 3 years on the frontlines of the Iraq war he departed in 2008 with no new direction in life. A trip to Africa left him face-to-face with the horrors that the worlds wildlife is facing. Liquidating his personal assets from his time in the military, he founded the International Anti-Poaching Foundation. The organisation focuses on ranger training and operations and integrating modern solutions such as drone technology to conservation.
International Anti-Poaching Foundation
We meet conservation challenges head on, successfully running multiple campaigns, such as the IAPF Drone program, Anti-Poaching Ranger the resurrection of Chizarira National Park. The IAPF is dedicated to maintaining balanced ecosystems for the preservation of the planet and all its inhabitants.
The Rock ‘n Ride 4 Rhino team have embarked on an epic conservation, community and communications project – a 10 000km motorbike (Sponsored by Yamaha SA) adventure, the route traces the shape of a rhino’s head on the map of Southern Africa. The objective that they are hoping to achieve is to inform, educate and raise awareness on the plight of the endangered rhino as well as the dangers of poaching to wildlife.
Their route through Southern Africa will take them to many schools, where they will involve students to help them achieve this mission.
The students are our next generation so we need to teach them as much as we can – Jason Hartman
They have already travelled over 2,500 km’s and have found this to be one of their most humbling experiences yet. During their presentations to the schools, teachers and students alike become emotional when they see what is really happening to the rhino’s. It’s almost like a hopeless situation that carries a lot of hope with it.
It becomes something special to see how much the children want to help us achieve our mission. The more hands on they are the more they feel like they are involved in the journey with Rock ‘n Ride. Each student has to raise R250 or more. The way they raise the money is by getting the parents to pay them for washing the dishes or making tea, etc. Rock ‘n Ride gives them 10 weeks to get to their target. The students who raise the most money will be eligible for awesome prizes!
The Financial Target
Our financial target is R20 000 000, it sounds like a lot of money, but for what is needed, it’s really not. The money will be funding the extensive equipment and manpower.
Damien Mander has a contact in Australia where they will be buying drones to help with tracking poachers. Each drone has a 3m wingspan, 40km radius and 8hrs flying time which can replace a whole day’s human tracking in just 3hrs. These drones can track animals and humans with their infrared and thermal imaging ability.
Donations are fully deductible as the beneficiaries are registered non-profit organisations, simultaneously benfitting sponsors’ BEE status and tax profile. Octagon, a highly respected, leading auditing firm in Johannesburg is managing all funds received for this important initiative.
How you can help!
SMS Ride to 38008 – each SMS costs R10, which will go directly towards the project.
Schools
Please contact Emma van Wyk on 072 052 9233 or emmalurob@hotmail.com for more information on how to book a presentation.
Sponsors
- Yamaha Southern Africa
- Unitrans VW, Unite Against Poaching
- PRIMEDIA Outdoor
- Legacy Hotels & Resorts
- Legacy Lifestyle
- City Lodge
- Octagon Chartered Accountants
- Vox Telecom
- Barrow Construction
- ITL Technology
- Thaba Khaya Lodge
- Kariega Game Reserve
- Action Cameras SA
- Bandit Signs
- The Copy Shop
- Twenty Six Degrees South
- Lenovo
- Cape Union Mart
- Villiera Wines
- Caxton & CTP Publishers and Printers Limited
- Ballz Online Radio
- Enduro World Magazine
- Superbike Magazine
- 2WheelsTV
- ShowMe Community Websites
To find out more please visit Rock ‘n Ride for Rhino
1 Comment
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FAKAZILE MIYA
please assist me with the inservice training