Supporting Rhino Conservation in South Africa

Linton Park Wines, our estate near Wellington in the Cape Winelands of South Africa, have once again raised a substantial amount of R100 000 for rhino conservation in South and Southern Africa.

At a special World Rhino Day celebration event held at the V&A Waterfront Amphitheatre in Cape Town on Saturday 15 September, the estate’s donation was handed to Les Carlisle, the Group Conservation Manager of the AndBeyond Group & Project Manager of Rhinos Without Borders (RWB). This is the 3rd year running that we have supported the RWB campaign for rhino conservation in co-operation with the Wellington Hugo Rust Primary School. 

R282 000 RAISED IN 3 YEARS                                   

From a modest beginning in 2016 with a total donation of R55 000, the estate and Hugo Rust Primary jointly raised R282 000 during the 3 year period from 2016 to 2018. The school’s fundraising for 2018 is still underway and also took place amongst the public at the V&A Waterfront during the World Rhino Day celebrations.

THE ESTATE'S INVOLVEMENT IN RHINO CONSERVATION                                              

Herman le Roux, Commercial Director, Linton Park Wines explains;

“At Linton Park, we fully endorse Camellia’s global philosophy of environment and nature conservation wherever possible. In view of the fact that we have a sensitive and threatened ecosystem on the estate that is a distinctively rare South African type of veld – historically and commonly known as ‘Renosterveld’ in Afrikaans – we decided to commit ourselves to conservation on a wider scale and also specifically to saving rhinos as a precious part of South Africa’s unique cultural heritage.”

He elaborated;

“It is unfortunate that the continued existence of rhinos on the African continent and in our country is in serious jeopardy and very much under financial pressure. We make our donation to contribute to this special saving rhinos cause. We also want to show our support for the invaluable work and champions such as Les Carlisle, his colleagues, the Rhinos-Without-Borders teams and others do in this regard.” 

HUGO RUST FUNDRAISING INITIATIVES                                                                               

Hugo Rust Primary School in Wellington with its 600 pupils have since 2016 joined forces with Linton Park in the fight to save rhinos. Under the  inspirational leadership of Ronel Saayman, project leader and teacher at Hugo Rust Primary, the school’s pupils, teachers and parents raised about R42 000 during 2016 and 2017 through various imaginative fundraising initiatives. A range of colourful hand produced rhino icons by the pupils attracted wide public interest and support.

ONE RAND PER BOTTLE FOR SAVING RHINOS                                          

The estate’s donation was made possible by the sales of our Linton Park ’Rhino’ wine range during the previous financial year. Consequently R100 000 was accumulated by one rand per bottle sold for rhino preservation.

Herman concluded;

“As well as the growing sales of our Rhino range in international markets, the South African public also increasingly support us by buying our Rhino wines. Furthermore, the media helped us in raising public awareness and the trade assisted us where possible with listings and distribution. We wish to thank them all for making this donation possible”