Star Power for the Last Male Standing
#Stars4theLastMaleStanding
Pan-Arab multi-award winning movie star and producer Mr. Khaled Abol Naga will visit Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya from the 26th to the 28thMay to meet the last male northern white rhino in the world. He hopes his visit will help raise international awareness to the plight of the northern white rhino, a subspecies whose future now depends solely on artificial methods of reproduction.
Naga is internationally known for his un-expected yet smart choices of scripts & roles and he also has a record of having his films picked up by international film festivals. Naga also has a very admirable record of social & human rights (specially child rights). He is also appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2007 till today.
Mr. Khaled Abol Naga upon the special invitation from Dubai based entrepreneur Hamid Hussain and the Ol Pejeta team is now extending his support through his influential platforms to highlight the plight of Ol Pejeta’s northern white rhino to a wider audience.
The last male northern white rhino in the world, named Sudan, was moved to Kenya from Dvur Kralove Zoo in the Czech Republic along with three other northern white rhinos in 2009. All previous breeding attempts in the Zoo had been futile, and the hope was that the climate and rich grasslands of Ol Pejeta, a native habitat for the animals, would provide them with more favourable breeding conditions. All natural breeding attempts – including attempts to cross-breed northern whites with the more populous southern white rhino – have proved fruitless. The only way now to ensure the survival of the northern white rhino subspecies is to raise $800,000 for IVF and other forms of assisted reproduction, and time is running out. At 43 years of age, Sudan’s clock is ticking.
The northern white rhino is a subspecies of white rhino, which used to range over parts of Uganda, Chad, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Years of widespread poaching and civil war in their home range have devastated northern white rhino populations, and they are now considered to be extinct in the wild. Only five remain, three live on Ol Pejeta. The Conservancy is the largest black rhino sanctuary in east Africa, with over 100 black rhino across its 90,000 acres. Innovative anti-poaching techniques; such as the use of highly trained ivory detection dogs, and even a pioneering anti-poaching drone, put Ol Pejeta at the cutting edge of conservation innovation. It also makes it one of the safest places for the northern white rhino to be.
It is hoped that Mr. Khaled Abol Naga’s visit, jointly sponsored by Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Serena Hotels and Kenya Airways, will inspire people across the world to get involved in preventing an entire subspecies from becoming extinct – either by donating online or planning a trip to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. During his three-day visit, Naga will meet Sudan and his rangers, learn what it takes to keep northern white rhinos safe on a daily basis, and discover what the future could hold. By promoting his meeting with Sudan and his keepers to his ever-growing twitter and facebook fan following the team at Ol Pejeta is confident that Mr. Khaled Abol Naga can drum up the international support so desperately needed to help save the northern white rhino.
Naga will also spare some time out for a community visit to a school near Ol Pejeta.
Besides working on his humanitarian and philanthropic efforts, Naga has just finished shooting his lead role in the film OUT OF THE ORDINARY. He is also working on the first Arabic contemporary adaptation of Lionel Bart’s musical Oliver and he is also directing a video release of The BuSSy Monologues full theatrical show: A filmed version of a play about women and gender issues.