Episode 11 Season 6: Feb 2 2015
Rhino Brief: Mark Boucher: From South African cricketing hero to conservation champion.
A passionate conservationist, cricket legend Mark Boucher has made a commitment to use his post-retirement period to contribute to the fight against rhino poaching in his role as SAB’s Castle Lager Rhino Ambassador. The non-profit company aims to raise enough money to eventually register all of South Africa’s 18 000 rhinos on a national Rhino DNA database. The database actively supports the South African Police Service, conservation authorities and private rhino owners in building a shared asset register of rhino’s in the country. Bonne joins Mark as he steps out onto the crease to defend and protect this iconic species.
Park Rules: Following the rules of the game.
There have been plenty of hair raising stories and photos circulating the social media platforms over the years showing ill-informed or reckless tourists behaving irresponsibly around the wild animals in South Africa’s national parks, sometimes with disastrous results. Bonne heads of to South Africa’s biggest reserve to find out how the park’s officials are attempting to curb this potentially dangerous behaviour. If we all follow a few rather simple protocols, showing a healthy respect for our natural heritage, we can all enjoy our game viewing holidays without entering into the running for this year’s Darwin awards!
Hope Spots: Diving deep for conservation.
Dr Sylvia Earle is a world famous oceanographer and underwater photographer, named as National Geographic’s official ocean spokesperson and custodian. She even has her own Lego action figurine! Having spent more time underwater than anyone else on earth, she has dedicated her life to raising awareness of the plight of our planets seas and oceans. With less than 3% of the earth’s life giving oceans under any kind of official protection, Sylvia set up the Mission Blue Organisation, and has identified special places that are critical to the health of the ocean. There are over 50 of these areas known as ‘Hope Spots’ around the world. Recently Sylvia travelled to SA to uncover 6 of these hope spots along our own magnificent coastline. We follow Sylvia on her South African tour as she descends into the blue off the beaches of the Cape and KZN in order to raise much needed awareness for these delicate and important eco-systems.
Wildlife Wonder: Nuts about squirrels
In this week’s instalment of Wildlife Wonders we bring you a sneak-peak into the endearing world of one of South Africa’s most comical animal species: the tree squirrel. Often overlooked by people more interested in the larger, toothier animals that lurk in our wild areas, 5050 sets about proving that these little rodents are just as worthy of our attention as the famous ‘big 5’!
Veld Focus
This week on Veld Focus, Samir gets ring side seats to some of nature’s stranger conflicts. A starling takes on a bat, and a mother wolf spider defends the title of ‘best parent’ by risking life and limb against a creepy crawly centipede intent on an eight legged spider dinner.
