Baringo Senator Gideon Moi flagged off an event that saw Ksh 140 million raised for forest conservation purposes. The 32nd edition of the Rhino Charge was launched on Saturday, July 19 by the legislator.
This year, the motorsport event surpassed its target of Ksh 100 million to top contributions at Ksh140 million. Various participants went ahead to donate as much as Ksh36 million and Ksh21 million.
Rhino Charge is an off-road charity motorsport event that has run every year in Kenya since 1989. It is purposed to raise funds for forest conservation. The competition supports activities of the Rhino Ark Kenya Charitable Trust, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) which works towards the protection of Kenya’s mountain range ecosystems whose generic term is “Water Towers”.
On February 4, 1989, the first Rhino Charge event was held for the purpose of saving the dwindling rhino population of the Aberdares. Ksh250,000 was raised then. 32 years later, Ksh1.6 billion has been acquired for conservation purposes and for newly added educational projects.
In this year’s competition, Bundu Fundi team with car number 38 emerged as overall champions having navigated through 13 guard posts. The shortest distance covered by the team’s racing driver was 37.43 kilometres.
Jeremy Holley, driving car number 33 was second. He covered a distance of 37.92 kilometres and Mark Glen was the third. In 2019, the latter was Rhino Charge’s champion. In 2020, the event was skipped as a result of the health pandemic.
This year, only 44 of the regular 65 participants were sanctioned to race across the unforgiving terrain of Baringo’s wilderness. Even as drivers contribute tens of millions, each entrant is required to pledge and raise a committal sponsorship fee of between Ksh750,000 and Ksh1.5 million.
Kenya Forest Chairman Peter Kinyua and his crew of car number 23 brought forward Ksh36 million. The second-highest amount was contributed by car number 44 that raised Ksh21 million.
To date, Rhino Ark has constructed electric fences spanning 650 kilometres. Through its fencing initiatives, over 80,000 families are currently guarded against the dangers of human-wildlife conflicts.
Rhino Ark provides annual ecological services to Kenya worth a staggering amount of Ksh412 billion. These services are in Aberdares, Mt. Kenya and Mau Forest mountainous ecosystems. The Aberdares is home to the endangered Mountain Bongo.
The fundraising event for Rhino Ark took place at Sabor in Kimalel, Baringo County. Moi appreciated the efforts noting that conservation would be useful now and for generations to come.
