Hiking for Rhinoceros

I’m committed; it’s official.

I just registered with the Lion Pack to race in the Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy virtual marathon to raise money for the rangers who protect the animals of the Ol Pejeta in Kenya. The conservancy is home to the last 2 remaining Northern White Rhinoceroses on Earth. The animals must be kept under armed guard 24/7 to defend them from poachers. By protecting the rhinos, the Ol Pejeta rangers protect the land, which of course is home to many, many other species.

My partner in the marathon is wildlife photographer Lois Hild, who also was my lab partner and friend in veterinary school (way back during the last millennium!) Lois is handling the logistics on the East African side, like registering me for the marathon and helping to find sponsors, while I’m doing the fun part- hiking! I have a great support crew for that part of the project- Lyssa, Pippi, Tina, Lucy and occasionally, Sarah!

Here’s the idea: The Marathon is the distance between Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Kruger National Park, which is 4,435 kilometers (2,755 miles). That’s how far I have to hike, and I have all of 2019 to do it. So every time I go hiking I turn on a tracking app and my miles get recorded on the marathon website. But in order to make money for the rangers I need sponsors! That’s where I need a little help from my friends. There are two ways to sponsor me:

1. Go to the website and make a donation under my link, which is here: https://donate.olpejetaconservancy.org/shirleyharman-virtualultramarathon2019
2. *the fun way!*) Sign up to donate a certain amount per mile; for example, if you sponsor me for $1.00 per mile and I finish the race, you would be donating $2,755.00 to protecting the rhinos! That would be amazing! I would really be motivated to work hard for that kind of donation! But if you are like me you would donate 1 cent per mile and end up owing $27.55 at the end of the race, and that would be wonderful too, because probably there are a lot of people who could donate that much- it’s only 7&1/2 cents a day! (I’ll be setting up a signup link soon!)

   

The best part about being my sponsor is that you get to participate in the whole adventure, learn more about African wildlife and wildlife conservation, AND you get to help the rhinos and all of the other creatures that live in their shadows.

The girls and I are pretty jazzed about the whole idea, and so we’ve started training already. Today we braved the cold temperatures to hike around the whole Fleming Meadow Loop here in our very own Eldorado National Forest. And despite the chill and cloudy skies we were glad to get out because the forest smelled so delicious and we made it all the way down to Camp Creek where we discovered something fabulous- a ladybug convention! 

Rhinos, Ladybugs and Marathons…. have a great hike,

Shirley & Co

Author: sixdogmomma

Dog lover, hiker, backpacker, photographer, caretaker. View all posts by sixdogmomma