During a recent rhino capture operation in South Africa, Peace Parks Foundation’s CEO, Werner Myburgh, lent a helping hand to the film crew by offering to get some aerial footage with his drone. Appreciating any help they could get, Werner’s impressive drone-flying skills soon left everyone speechless as he launched it from the back of a moving vehicle. Despite this risky manoeuvre, Werner managed to capture some great shots of history being made!
If you missed the big news, Exxaro Resources, Peace Parks Foundation and Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC) recently joined forces with specialists who helped make the impossible possible. Through immense teamwork and sheer bravery, the recent rhino translocation saw 19 near-threatened white rhinos make the journey from South Africa to Zinave National Park in Mozambique, introducing the first founder population of this species in the park in 40 years.
You can watch the full rhino translocation on Peace Parks TV.
There are many moving parts that make large-scale operations such as these possible and having a dedicated film crew on location is crucial for sharing these stories. This isn’t just a drone flying or point-and-shoot operation, it requires hours of planning and preparing, early morning wakeups when filming and weeks spent editing behind a laptop. Although this is one of the less glamorous sides of conservation, filming translocations such as these allows us to share with the world our conservation endeavours while having the privilege of going on an incredible adventure. Thankfully many hands make light work, and the Peace Parks’ teams work together to achieve this.
Visual communication through photos and videos is a powerful tool that helps Peace Parks Foundation inform audiences around the globe about the hard work that goes into protecting southern Africa’s biodiversity. This is especially important for non-profit organisations as it helps drive support for the urgent and effective conservation work going on not only in Africa but across the world.
