I recently saw a video of a location in South Africa on Google Maps with an amazing geoglyph of a Rhino. I had to look it up of course, and I was amazed!! It was possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen this year. I went and looked up some information about the “Sky Rhino” and this is what I found on the Mopane Bush Lodge website from 2018 :
“Sky Rhino” – Possibly the world’s largest rhino geoglyph
We have some exciting news! We have most likely created the largest, single animal geoglyph in the world, right here on the grounds of the Mapesu Private Game Reserve.
When one flies from South Africa over the air navigation beacon when crossing the Limpopo River that marks the border with Zimbabwe and Botswana, one can see from 10 or 12 kilometers high on a clear day the ‘Sky Rhino.’ It measures 1,280 meters (over 12 football fields wide) by 680 meters tall and covers an area of 54 hectares in the northern region of South Africa at the Mapesu Private Game Reserve.
What is that, you ask? Geoglyphs (various shapes) or biomorphs (animal shapes) are highly creative and artistic designs, lines, and geometrical etchings or motifs that are created by utilizing rocks, trees, gravel, or other elements of the landscape. Geoglyphs are found throughout the world with many being thousands of years old. Thus, far no one knows why they were made nor for what purpose.
In our case, we know why it was created! It was created by many volunteers and rangers on behalf of Shared Universe Africa (SUV), as a way to bring light to the horrendous plight of the rhinos and their fight for survival in the face of rampant poaching. It is a symbol of defiance and also hopes for change.
There are less than 25,000 rhinos left in the world. The fact that there are more rhinos poached than those being born means that extinction is possible within 20 years. Over 80% of them roam in South Africa, where both government rangers in National Parks and private anti-poaching units in private game reserves fight a heroic battle against poachers. The poachers intend to make a quick fortune as ground rhino horn in Asian Traditional Medicine has a per kilo value higher than gold, especially in Vietnam and China.
The deforestation project that created the ‘Sky Rhino’ is part of a larger effort to reduce mopane encroachment (caused by years of overgrazing by domesticated cattle) by restoring some of the areas to their original fertile grasslands. The ‘Sky Rhino’ encloses a sea of yellow grass (Panicum Maximum) while on the exterior stands a bountiful ocean of green, brown, and grey mopane trees. The grassy plains feed antelopes, zebra, wildebeest, and hopefully soon a couple of white rhinos.
See it for yourself on Google Maps here
See the original article here
Also, see article from Shared Universe here
