Veldskoen Shoes step up for Kariega’s Thandi the rhino
Kariega Game Reserve have released their first-ever shoe with local SA shoemaker Veldskoen Shoes in the hope of raising funds for the Kariega Foundation.
Kariega is home to Thandi the Rhino, who miraculously survived a near-fatal attack back in 2012. Her story reached millions across the globe.
Thandi’s supporters, locally and around the world, can now offer support by purchasing a pair of specially designed Kariega Veldskoens.
In the ten years between 2009 and 2019 there have been 8,288 rhinos recorded dead due to poaching in SA alone. Over 80% of the world’s surviving rhinos live in SA as the populations elsewhere in Africa and Asia have been decimated. The killing has slowed slightly but at least one rhino is brutally killed by poachers every day.
Veldskoen and the foundation have identified a mutual interest in nature conservation and creating improved living conditions and opportunities for South Africans. Profits made on shoe sales will be donated to the fFoundation in support of their holistic mandate to protect and preserve the Kariega wilderness along with the endangered rhino and uplift the people and communities that live in and around the reserve.
Foundation director Lindy Sutherland said, “Together, through sales of the Kariega Veldskoen, we aim to generate funding that will support numerous and diverse projects that flow from our core motives to protect and preserve our natural heritage as well as uplift and educate our neighbouring communities so that, together, we may reform that which threatens its existence and build a conservation community that works collectively to rejuvenate our planet, people and wildlife.”
Nick Dreyer, CEO and cofounder of Veldskoen Shoes, said, “Kariega is a place of magnificent beauty, delicate ecology and the abundant human spirit. The Kariega team share a deep passion for protecting and celebrating a magnificent part of our country.”
The veldskoen is a handmade, luxury nubuck chukka boot, fully leather lined with TR soles.
It includes a rhino motif to honour the rhinos in need of protection over the heel arch, below the instantly recognisable Veldskoen trademark flag. The shoes are unisex, retail at R1,699 and are available to purchase online at www.veld skoen.com and at the Kariega Game Reserve curio shop and range from size 2 UK - 14 UK.
The foundation is a nonprofit trust working in partnership with the game reserve to create a sustainable eco-tourism model that delivers on a holistic mandate to protect and preserve the Kariega wilderness and uplift the people and communities that live in and around the reserve. The vision is to build a conservation community that works collectively to rejuvenate our planet, people and wildlife.
The Covid-19 pandemic has put rhino at Kariega at increased risk. The travel bans implemented have cut off the foundation’s primary source of funding used to maintain their active and effective AntiPoaching Unit. The unit’s daily operating cost is R5,000.
The foundation’s core objective is to ensure they have the funds to keep their unit fully operational so that Thandi, her family and the rest of the rhino at Kariega remain protected.