Bringing anti-poaching to the heart of rural Hluhluwe homes
Over 300 Wonderbags embroidered with an anti-poaching USSD number were distributed to communities on the border of Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park
IN a bid to step up anti-rhino poaching efforts in Hluhluwe and encourage communities to help reduce poaching statistics, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has teamed up with Wonderbag and The Safari Store in a ground-breaking initiative.
The pilot event for a rhino anti-poaching engagement within the Hluhluwe community was held earlier this month, where 360 Wonderbags were given away as part of a Wonderfeast.
Residents learned about the impacts of rhino poaching, the benefits of using a Wonderbag for cooking, and how the two fit together.
The Wonderbag is a portable, non-electric heat retention cooker, where food is cooked in the bag without the need for electricity, coal or gas.
The special anti-rhino poaching Wonderbags are embroidered with a strong anti-poaching message in Zulu and a USSD rhino poaching hotline to which all suspicious activities in and around the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) must be reported.
Messages sent to this number go directly to park management who will in turn deploy teams as needed.
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Forming part of a ‘buy one, give one’ initiative launched with The Safari Store, the idea is, for every Mara & Meru safari voyager bag bought through the company’s online portal, The Safari Store donated an anti-poaching Wonderbag to a local South African community.
Wonderbag, in turn, donated one bag for every bag donated by The Safari Store.
The Safari Store is a high-end online safari shopping website whose Managing Director, Steve Adams, is passionate about anti-poaching efforts in KZN, his home province.
‘I want to convey the message to people living on the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve border that rhino poaching is unacceptable and we need their help to stop the problem,’ he said.
‘Using the Wonderbag as the medium, we have put a powerful and highly visible message in the heart of every home,’ said Adams.
‘We often engage with local communities and assist them through our Wonderbag Foundation, but this is the first time we are using the power of a Wonderbag to help protect our endangered rhinos,’ said Wonderbag Operations Manager, Tanah Dankert.
The anti-rhino poaching initiative falls under Wonderbag’s progressive Coalition of Action (COA) programme which accommodates the company’s community-based activations.
‘The COA gives us a platform to partner with other entities to affect real change across Africa and the extremely successful activation alongside The Safari Store was hopefully the first of many of these events,’ said Wonderbag Managing Director, Fiona James.
Anybody can report suspicious activities in and around HiP to the anti-poaching USSD number, *134*RHINO#.
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