Britain’s Prince Harry left the Army & is going after poachers threatening rhinos & elephants in Africa.
The 30 year old Royal, has been keeping out of the spotlight since completing his 10-year-long career in the British military. But in late June, he was back in the news as he left for Africa for a three-month-long “dream job” working with conservation efforts in Namibia.
Prince Harry’s first stop was the Khulula Care for Wild in South Africa where he got to spend time with three adolescent rhinos, Mia, Manje, & Venus, before helping with mud baths for two of the center’s largest rhinos.
“He cares as much about these rhinos just as we all do,” Anna Ryan, a University of Richmond student who is volunteering at the center, said of Harry’s visit. “It was just incredible.”
During his stay in Africa, he’s shadowing veterinarian Dr. Pete Morkel, as well as other conservationists, to curb threats to endangered species on the continent, particularly in South Africa, Tanzania and Botswana.
The royal is sporting a new look, a beard, the first he’s grown since he joined a wounded warrior expedition to the South Pole two years ago.
Martin Bornman of Care for Wild Africa says that Harry’s scruff is a mark of his work in the thick of it during his time in Africa.
“He is working actively with the anti-poaching units inside the Park,” Martin Bornman said.
“That is why he has got the beard and everything. He had literally just come out of the bush.”
His work is part of a conservation project aimed at protecting black rhinos and desert elephants in Africa from poachers.
“What Harry seems to do, which he is really good at, is that he is very empathetic and people-focused,” Bornman said. “He wants to know a lot about the people, what they are doing & how they do it.”
