Wondering how you can play a part in saving the rhino? Durbanville Hills Wines has teamed up with Renosterveld Events for the first Durbanville Hills Race the Rhino mountain bike event to be held in the Magaliesberg on World Rhino Day Saturday, 22 September.

The proceeds will be donated to the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) for its anti-rhino poaching initiatives and to the Renosterveld Trust for its campaign to raise awareness of the indigenous but highly threatened renosterveld. Participants can ride either a 15km or a 50km route over hand-built trails, mostly single track, and 4×4 trails.

Durbanville Hills Wines is a member of the Biodiversity & Wine Initiative (BWI), the organization that works for the protection and rehabilitation of indigenous vegetation particularly in the Cape Floral Kingdom. The winery protects more than 410 ha of mainly renosterveld, one of the major plant communities of the Cape’s indigenous vegetation, on member farms. To raise awareness of its threatened state, it also named its Rhinofields range after renosterveld.

Unlike fynbos, which prefers poorer soils in more inhospitable areas, renosterveld grows where the ground is fertile. Over the years it has been supplanted by vineyards and wheatlands so that today it covers only 4% of the area it once did. It is home to a wide variety of plant species as well as one of the world’s rarest and most endangered tortoises, the geometric tortoise.

The Durbanville Hills Race the Rhino day will also include live entertainment, a playground for the kids and various food stalls. Durbanville Hills’ wines will be on sale and available for tasting throughout the day.

Date: Saturday, 22 September 2012

Venue: Van Gaalen, Skeerpoort, Magaliesberg

GPS coordinates : S 25º 47.271’ E 27º 46.327’

Registration: 08:00

50km: Race starts at 09:00 and costs R120 per entry

15km: Race starts at 09:30 and costs R60 per entry

 

For more information please contact Erik Schipper on 073 222 8260. You can enter online on www.ridetherino.co.za.