It is hard to believe that nearly ten months have already passed since HERD was built. In a way, it has felt like we have always been here!

Over this time we have been incredibly blessed with many kind and helpful individuals, companies and friends in conservation. All of which have helped us get to this point.

Khanyisa’s five-month rehabilitative journey has gone by so fast, and again we could not have done it without the help we have received.

We wanted to write this gratitude blog to highlight all the kindness and financial support that has come our way this far, as well as to say thank you to all our followers who share their time and love via encouraging comments, likes and shares too.

Thank you!

THEY NAMED A NURSERY!

Thank you to Ron Mackenzie Miami foundation, Izindlovu Fund and Reclaimed Earth for each donating the equivalent of 150 Hearts (R150 000) to proudly cover the costs and name one of the three nurseries (bedrooms) that we built in the orphanage.

Ben and Helen have been part of Herd’s journey from the beginning and formed the Izindlovu Trust shortly after visiting us. They helped raise a massive amount of ‘hearts’ in our 1000 hearts campaign, as well as sponsoring and naming a nursery too. Their financial support and love through 2020 has been amazing and we are very grateful for it.

Yvette Ayala and her Reclaimed Earth supporters have been incredibly supportive with not only naming a nursery but assisting with additional much-needed funding and incredible support for Herd through 2020.

Ron Magill and the team at Miami Zoo met Adine through Reclaimed Earth. Ron was inspired by Adine’s commitment to elephant conservation and the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment Fund decided to support the building of the new orphanage by sponsoring one of the elephant nurseries.

THE 1000 HEARTS CLUB

When we first set out to build the orphanage, we ran the 1000 Hearts Campaign to us raise R1 Million in building costs. 1000 donations of R1000. We are still to create a design for the 1000 names, in our forever wall of gratitude, which has been delayed due to the lockdown – but we will have that erected soon! Thank you to each of the 1000 Heart donations.

Special mention to BEN VAN HOOL AND HELEN VAN HULLE OF IZINDLOVU FUND, YVETTE AYALA OF RECLAIMED EARTH INC, AMAZING AFRICA, HIGHLINE TOURS, SWAIN DESTINATIONS, AND IAN SWAIN 2 for your financial support and assistance in helping us reach our targets.

THE ELEPHANT ALLIES

Elephant Allies (run by Kristin Sarkar) reached out to us and wanted to help; they donated a much-needed oximeter, plus two great 2-way radios to keep our carers and the rest of the team connected. These have been really helpful during our integration with Khanyisa and the HERD and communicating with our team in the wild. Further to that, Elephant Allies have also assisted with financial donations since Khanyisa’s arrival in January. THANK YOU!

WITH LOVE FROM OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY

PEACE4ANIMALS

Katie Cleary from Peace4Animals and her team donated towards HERD in May which was enormously appreciated – thank you!

SWISS WILDLIFE OF AFRICA FOUNDATION (SWAF)

Thank you to the support from the Swiss Wildlife of Africa Foundation (SWAF) for their generous financial donation in May. We are very grateful for your commitment to helping South Africa’s precious wildlife, including elephants.

FACE MASKS FROM INVESTEC RHINO LIFELINE

Thank you to our friends at Investec Rhino Lifeline for extending their passion for conservation beyond rhinos and supporting our team at HERD and Jabulani with essential face masks.

MEDICAL SUPPLIES – DONATIONS

Cipla very generously donated a healthy supply of Neomina to HERD in 2019. Thank you!

The team at SSEM Mthembu Medical who specialise in medical equipment, sponsored a variety of items such as medical bowls, scalpels, gloves and more to assist with Khanyisa’s daily treatment of her injuries. Thank you!

Thank you to MEDSCIPTA for donating surgical gloves to our elephant care team during our intense first two months of treating Khanyisa’s wounds daily and nightly.

THE WHIMSICAL COLLECTION

Thank you to Deziree Smith of the Whimsical Collection in Cape Town for sending the sweetest multi-coloured blanket for Khanyisa!

Thank you very much

ALLIED NUTRITION

Thank you to Allied Nutrition for donating 3 x 25 kg bags of Acid Buf

RHINO REVOLUTION

Thank you to Rhino Revolution who brought us 2 x 25KG bags of skimmed milk powder

AMARULA

The team at Amarula sent us some beautiful Amarula take-away coffee cups and elegant cups and saucers. They have also been instrumental in working towards exciting projects to come in 2020! Keep tuned!

THE PERFECT WORLD FOUNDATION

Thank you to the PERFECT WORLD FOUNDATION for including us in their #Coronaaid music video to help bring attention to the world’s conservation causes through the Covd-19 Pandemic. We had tons of fun doing it!

Watch the #Coronaaid video here

AND LAST BUT DEFINITELY NOT LEAST, OUR WORLDWIDE SUPPORTERS…

THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts for all the FOSTER Parents and every single penny and cent that our global family have donated towards Khanyisa’s wellbeing and our operational costs at HERD. We know how hard you work for it, especially in today’s world, and from Adine and all of us at HERD – THANK YOU!

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Comments

  1. Wow. Thank you so much for giving us an insight into the “Herd” world. It takes so much more, than we can imagine, to keep everything ticking over. It’s always a delight to watching Khanyisa being such a mischievous and playful Elephant. I would so love to give her a big cuddle. So many people love her – and all baby elephants who are left without a mothers absolutely heartbreaking. Keep up the good work. It’s so much appreciated. ?

Help Save Our Vulnerable Gentle Giants

We rely on incredible people like you to keep us going. Every cent counts, and no contribution is too small. HERD relies on public funding to cover the operational costs to care for and support elephant orphans and the rescued herd, so we really appreciate your support.