If you've stayed at Mont Rochelle you're likely to have encountered two of our most familiar residents our fabulous fibreglass rhino and elephant. With their distinctive colours and great locations, we regularly spot them making an appearance on our social media feeds. Here are just a few of our favourites that we wanted to share:
Photograph taken by detoxdelightdubai
Photograph taken by elizmevans
Photograph taken by bunnieadventures
However, behind their colourful façades, these creatures have a very important message to tell. Both the elephant and the rhino were created by Orgari as promotional piece for NPO, Poached Rhino. Poached Rhino was established by UK expat, Graeme Oliver and his wife Julie, who fell in love with Franschhoek and relocated here on their retirement. Having seen first-hand the 90% decline in the world's rhino population since 1970, they decided to do something about it and started Poached Rhino.
TThe idea behind ‘My Rhino’ and ‘My Olifant’ was to create fibreglass rhinos and baby elephants painted by local and international artists. Each rhino and elephant are sponsored by various businesses around Franschhoek and a trail and passport was created so guests could go out and see the animals and collect a stamp in their passport for each one they saw during their visit to the region. At Mont Rochelle, we represent two stops on the route (one rhino and one elephant) and we've continued to donate generously to these causes. To take part in the trail, guests can buy passports from us for R50 and 100% of the proceeds go to Poached Rhino helping to "stamp" out poaching.
If you have been inspired and would like a small elephant or rhino to take home, you can buy one from the Mont Rochelle shop, the Or-gari shop in Franschhoek or order online. A proportion of the proceeds from each sale goes directly to support the work of Poached Rhino.
This project not only brings exposure to the grave situation of poaching globally but it also raises the profile of the artists involved. We're delighted to continue to support Poached Rhino and every time you visit us, make sure to take a moment to appreciate both of these beautiful sculptures.
For more information, please visit poachedrhino.org