South African pair circles globe to save endangered rhino

rhinocerosWe have about 50 newspaper articles on our Expedition. This one was published in 1995 in Honduras. From there we drove for one and a half years through Central Amercia, followed by 3 years in North America. After driving to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska - the most northerly town accessible by road - we shipped our Expedition vehicle from Seattle to Japan in 2001. Now in 2002, we shipped our vehicle from South Korea to Vietnam, where we will be driving towards Singapore.

Honduras might seem an unlikely venue for a "save the rhinoceros" rally but Klaus Schrumpf and Pamela Bell aren't picky. When they said they'd go to the end of the earth to save the endangered rhino, these two South African natives meant it.

For years they've witnessed the slaughter of African rhinos by poachers interested only in the beasts' horns. Wanting to do something to stop what they call "this senseless killing", but knowing they couldn't do it alone, they decided to bring the plight of the rhinos to the world in an effort to gather funding, awareness and sympathy.

The couple left Cape Town in December 1993 with nothing more than a specially outfitted 4x4 camper and a map of the world with a long dotted line meandering across it. Dubbing themselves the Rhino Awareness Expedition, in the last 20 months they've crossed the Atlantic ocean to the southernmost tip of South America and steadily made their way north across the Andes, through the upper tributaries of the Amazon and across the Panama Canal.

They arrived in Honduras last week. Along the way, the travellers have held press conferences and presented slide shows at schools and universities- all vividly describing the million-doller rhino horn industry and its impact on this endangered species.

AMBITIOUS ITINERARY

on expeditionAfter a short stint in Honduras, Schrumpf and Bell will continue their trip from Tierra del Fuego to northern Alaska, winding their way through the United States and Canada before crossing the Bering Strait and heading south from Siberia through Asia to the southernmost tip of India. From there, they'll head north west through the Middle East and eastern Europe to the northernmost city in Norway, where they'll turn south again, making their way through western Europe, across the Strait of Gibralter and hitting both the western and eastern coasts of Africa before returning to Cape Town.

In spite of stringent laws, the killing of the rhino goes on. The rewards are too great. A poacher can receive double his yearly salary for one rhino horn. On the black market, a rhino horn can fetch as much as $100,000.

They carry with them five letters from the Mayor of Cape Town, which they will present to the mayors of the one city on each of the continents that is farthest away from their original destination; Ushuaia in Argentina, Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, Pevek in the Russian Siberia, Trivandrum in India and Hammerfest in Norway.

BEASTS OF BURDEN

The horn of the rhinocerous is a popular commodity in Asia, where it is sold powdered as a remedy for fever and arthritis, as well as for use as an aphrodisiac, say Schrumpf and Bell. Although the couple says there treatments have been "scientifically un-proven, of course we are fighting against age-old traditions, which are almost to break."

In 1972 the African rhino population was 70,000, according to an expedition press release. Today, there are only 2,500 animals left." In Zimbabwe alone, the rhino population was shot out of existence, from 10,000 to 100 animals over a period of only 10 years," say Scrumpf and Bell.

"In the vast areas of Zimbabwe's national parks, many rangers have lost their lives fighting the increasing number of poachers armed with automatic rifles," say the travellers. "For that reason, the authorities have introduced a unique law to protect these brave men. Any person seen or found within the borders of a national park carrying a rifle will automatically be shot. No questions asked."

"In spite of this stringent law," they say, "the killing of the rhino goes on. The rewards are too high. The average African's salary is $500 per year. A poacher can receive double his yearly salary for one rhino horn, therefore making it very tempting. On the black market, a rhino horn can fetch as much as $100,000. The dealer makes a huge profit while the poor poacher risks his life."

Schrumpf and Bell add that, "very often highranking officials, political and military personnel are involved in this mafia-style killing operation, which is difficult to break!"

OPEN HOMES AND HEARTS

klaus and pamSchrumpf and Bell say "the journey so far has been an incredible experience, meeting many lovely people who have opened their hearts and their homes to us and the expedition."

They say their slide presentation, titled "The Beauty and the Horrors of Africa, "has taken them to places" ranging from a one room schoolhouse in the Brazilian jungle to a 5,000 meter high Borax mine in the Andes to the sophisticated British, German and American schools in the capital cities of the world.

But not all of their experiences have been pleasant. The expedition has been robbed twice, the last one was in Peru where Schrumpf had a life threatening incident. Pam was at the time in England due to her mother's death. Three knife wielding men tried to take control of the Expedition Vehicle. Schrumpf, without thinking, resisted the attackers and in return received 12 knife wounds in his body. In the end, lying on the ground, a big rock was smashed on his head, resulting in a triple broken jaw. Unconcious and bound up, the camper was driven by the bandits into the isolated desert. Over rough terrain, one of the tyres burst and the car got stuck in the soft desert sand, right up to the chassi beams.

It took the hijackers 4 hours to go through every box and gather all the valuables from the camper. In the middle of the night, Schrumpf was left alone and faced an impossible task. Weak from the loss of a large amount of blood, he freed himself. With the help of sandladders and a highlift jack he groped in the dark of the night. Adrenelin driven, he dug the camper out of the desert and changed the damaged tyre.

Then finally, he drove out of the desert without knowing where to drive. The only direction was a lit up sky, which promised help. At last he reached the hospital where 4 nurses worked on him for 4 hours to clean and stitch him together. He was hospitalised for 2 weeks and underwent a complicated jaw operation, only to find out that it was not successful. Subsequently, Schrumpf flew back to Germany, where he underwent a 7 hour reconstruction of his jaw.

HIGHLIGHTS

Rhino Awareness ExpeditionDespite these downfalls, Schrumpf and Bell say the positive far outweighs the negative on their trek around the world, a trek that, once completed, will make the record books as the longest single route around the globe.

They say the trip's highlights so far have been a four-day horse ride in the high Andes of Chile, visiting the Patagonia in Argentina, a 100 kilometer drive down a narrow one-way road through the Andes in Bolivia, the Incan ruins of Machu Pichu in Peru, a visit to Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, surviving two encounters with guerillas in Colombia, working as line handlers on the Panama Canal and watching leatherback turtles lay their eggs on a Costa Rican beach.

By the time they finish their journey, Schrumpf and Bell will no doubt have many more stories to tell. But it's the epilogue, they say, that is most important. Nothing would give them more pleasure to be able to add to their list of adventures: "and we saved the rhinoceros from extinction."

For information on specific travel plans, or to make a donation, you can reach the Rhino Awareness Expedition's Cape Town headquarters by fax at 021-790-1606 or email: rhinoalert@cs.com. All of the funds raised during the trip will go to the South African Rhino and Elephant Foundation.
Article by Mara Don and Judith C. Shaffer