The grand sum of R160 000 raised by 300 cyclists who dared ride a wild 55km route through natural bush harbouring the big five during the last weekend of July will be used to fund local projects within the iMfolozi Game Reserve, as well as community projects outside the reserve run the by the Wildlands Conservation Trust.
More and more mountain bikers are realising that by supporting the Sterling Powerade iMfolozi Mountain Bike Challenge, hosted by the Bonitas Wild Series and Ezemvelo KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, in the iMfolozi Game Reserve, they are contributing to conservation and community development efforts as well as the success of the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park as a tourist destination. “Riders have bought into the concept of sustainability of the environment and its wildlife, wanting to leave a strong legacy for generations to come,” said event organiser Brad Glasspoole.
The aim of the race is three-fold: a) to provide a unique cycling experience for mountain-bikers; b) to promote the support of conservation in KwaZulu-Natal and c) to promote the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) as a tourist destination. To this end, the race is a partnership between the EKZNW and the WCT who both benefit from the funds generated and from the exposure their organisations get.
One lone supporter of the race, who did not even ride the race this year, raised R9 000 by encouraging businessmen to donate their money to “a good cause”. Jeanne Gerber raised the highest individual sponsorship for the third year in a row by phoning people from companies he knows and asking them for donations of a minimum of R1 000.
It is people like Gerber who make this event what it has become, according to Simone Dale, communications manager of the Wildlands Conservation Trust. She said that Timber 24 brought in the most teams (five) for the second year in a row and raised the highest team sponsorship of R9 000. “It was a great experience this year as we saw lots of game including rhino, buffalo and elephant and we stayed in the wonderful tented trails camp in the heart of the reserve,” enthused Andrew Nicholson of the Timber 24 team, who rode for the second time.
Glasspoole reckons that 2007 was the most eventful of the three Sterling Powerade iMfolozi Mountain Bike Challenges: “Three riders took a tumble on one of the toughest parts of the route while a rogue bull elephant caused much excitement and had to be closely monitored along the route,” he said. He praised the commitment of Netcare 911 staff (who were on standby with their helicopter in case of emergencies) and EKZNW staff – who monitored the movements of wild animals as cyclists passed through their territory.
It all started three years ago when the WCT was looking for a Zululand venue to host a mountain-biking event. Glasspoole and Andrew King put their heads together to come up with an opportunity for cyclists and conservationists to ride with the Big Five. The event became possible after a series of Environmental Impact Assessments within the Park and much discussion between EKZNW and the WCT. This Bonitas Wild Series event has grown from 146 entrants in 2005 to 323 in 2007 – numbers are capped at 300 (250 for the public and 50 for sponsors and EKZNW staff and a few extra to cater for a possible drop off at registration).
While riders have fun seeing game and testing their mountain-biking prowess, communities living adjacent to HiP also learn about the importance of conservation and the need for protected areas such as the Park. The community challenge is held two days before the Sterling Powerade iMfolozi MTB Challenge to encourage local community schools to have fun within the game reserve while learning about the wildlife and conservation. This year, the theme was the Wild Dog and 36 children from four primary schools on the southern boundary of the Park ran a four kilometre race. The first three girls and boys home may have received brand new bicycles but the main prize was a fact sheet about the endangered Wild Dog and information about how every person can make a contribution to conservation.
Brendan Whittington Jones of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Carnivore Conservation Group and Karen Allen of EKZNW’s poverty alleviation programme organised the event and hope that it will remain an annual event run parallel to the Wild Series event. “We are hoping that the kids take home the message about Wild Dog conservation to their peers and their parents and we as EKZNW want the communities to know that we are not the enemy but that we want to establish and maintain meaningful relationships with all individuals,” said Allen.
*Reproduced with kind permission from the Weekend Witness
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)