Across the globe, the plight of our precious few remaining rhinos touch the hearts of those who care about saving our heritage for future generations.

“The sad truth is that poaching really affects all of us selling safari experiences. At GoHop.ie, we took the decision to donate to conservation from every booking made to South Africa,” says Andre Migliarina, Product Manager at Irish-owned and managed GoHop.ie.

GoHop.ie is part of the Atlas Travel Group, which consists of two companies: Atlas Travel Services, the parent company specialising in corporate travel; and The GoHop Group which operates a number of leisure brands. Today, the Atlas Travel Group is one of Ireland’s largest independent travel agencies.

“We donate ZAR 750.00 per booking to South Africa to Chipembere Rhino Foundation to contribute to the protection of rhino, as well as another ZAR 750.00 per booking to the Cape Leopard Trust. As such, a total of ZAR 1,500.00 is collected from each booking by our local Ground Handler, Tour D’Afrique, and proceeds are transferred quarterly to the two organisations,” explains Migliarina. “Most of our Safari sales in South Africa are based around the Eastern Cape Game reserves, so most of our clients benefit from the protection of these precious and endangered animals.”

Migliarina says that GoHop.ie originally initiated their fundraising efforts with Springbok Atlas and later with Tour D’Afrique. “There is now a much greater awareness of the plight of rhinos in Ireland, thanks to the efforts of Dr William Fowlds, a number of talks on local radio stations as well as a high-profile theft involving black rhino horn from the National Museum of Ireland’s natural history. Our choice to support the Chipembere Rhino Foundation was clear, as it was the only organisation dedicated to rhino conservation in the Eastern Cape at the time.

“We have since raised many thousands of rands and we are very grateful to our clients allowing us to do this!”

Migliarina and his partner recently visited Kuzuko, Amakhala and Kariega in the Eastern Cape and witnessed the extraordinary efforts made locally to protect rhino in the region. “Thank you for all your efforts. We can’t do enough to help here in Ireland, but we trust our efforts and our clients’ financial contributions will continue to assist Chipembere in their efforts to conserve this precious and unique heritage.”

For more information about Go.Hop.ie, please visit www.gohop.ie