Founder of RHINO 911, Nico Jacobs, and his team provide emergency helicopter rescue to rhinos injured or orphaned due to poaching and other injuries. They’ve responded to over 140 calls for help since their inception in 2008, and the numbers keep going up!

Nico says it’s a great honor, duty, and privilege to be working with these amazing creatures, and they use every available resource to ensure that they do not fade away into a memory, like so many other animals that have become extinct.

Nico explained to me how helicopter pilots who are trained for both flying and working with wildlife are hard to come by. At present, Nico has been donating all his flying time. What a truly amazing, brave, giving, and heroic man he is!

What’s interesting that I recently learned about, is that the market rate for pilots is $300 per hour, which is what Rhino 911 must pay when outsourcing flights that Nico can’t attend, and depending on the incursions and missions per month, Rhino 911 averages around 15 to 25 hours of flying per month. So, you see, air support is unfortunately not cheap, but nonetheless vital to rhino conservation.

To give you an even better idea of the operational costs associated with Rhino 911 operations: a new Robinson 44 Raven II helicopter costs $575,000. The R44 is a wonderful utility helicopter that is perfect for 75% of the work that Rhino 911 does on a day-to-day basis.

Training of new pilots is important to ensure continuity of operations. It costs an average of $20,000 for a pilot to complete his PPL (Private Pilot’s License), then another 200 hours and CPL (Commercial Pilot license) exams to be commercially accredited.

Rhino 911’s dedication and commitment to protecting Africa’s rhinos is incredible. They’re also some of the kindest and nicest people I have ever met.

It's important to understand the costs of conservation operations and the work being done on the frontlines to protect Africa’s wildlife because these conservation efforts are the reason why you’re still able to see a rhino whilst on your safari.

Consider this: once you donate to Rhino 911, you’re not just saving the life of one animal, but also investing in a future for rhinos, not only in South Africa, but in more countries around the world.

http://www.rhino911.com

If you’d like to experience a truly unique conservation adventure whilst learning about Africa’s iconic rhinos from top veterinarians and the Rhino 911 team, please reach out to me and sign up for my newsletter.