Weighty walk for wildlife

STEVEN Entwistle will tackle a walk from the Umgeni River Mouth to uShaka Marine World wearing a 70kg diving suit, to raise funds for Monkey Helpline.

Entwistle will set off on Saturday 28 June at 7am and aims to complete his walk to uShaka Marine World at 1pm.

All funds raised will go towards Monkey Helpline's new and exciting project to build a Monkey Rehabilitation centre and help to release two troops of Vervet Monkeys back into the wild.

Steven said it was while walking over the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban in 2014 wearing the diving gear that the idea for this next event came about.

“Taking in the views of Durban as I walked up the 500m high arch raising funds for the Thula Thula Rhino orphanage, I saw Durban’s beautiful beachfront spread out before me and thought that my next adventure would be to walk the 6km along the beachfront wearing the standard diving dress of the early 1900s divers,” he said.

Entwistle will be armed to the teeth in this get-up, with the Siebi Gorman diving helmet, circa 1900s, weighing 21kg, the replica Siebi Gorman diving suit weighing 5kg, chest and back weights at 22kg, the Siebi Gorman knife and sheath circa, 1950s at 1kg, the Siebi Gorman torch, circa 1950s, at 1kg and the lead soled diving boots weighing in at 20kg a pair.

“I will be shuffling along at a snail’s pace of 1km per hour! This event will be again be mentally and physically demanding and shall take me around six hours to complete. As well as raising funds for this fantastic project, I also hope to raise awareness of the dangers that our urban wildlife and vervet monkeys face on a daily basis such as speeding cars, pellet guns, electrocutions via high voltage power cables, dog attacks and so on. How lucky are we to share our gardens with such amazing wildlife,” said Steven.

Monkey Helpline will be building three open air enclosures along with the required outbuildings such as a clinic and staff accommodation with funds raised through this expedition.

“We can all make a difference, starting with our own little piece of Africa – our gardens, verges, window boxes, veggie patches. Every animal and insect has a place, a purpose, a reason – each insect, bird, mongoose, genet, gecko, moth, monkey has a role to play in our ecosystem. In our modern lives we forget where we to have come from. The hustle and bustle of our lives has removed our senses from the natural world. Our urban wildlife is under severe threat and strain – trying to survive in an ever unfriendly intolerant human world. We forget that we moved into their habitat to build our homes and factories. And we must learn to live side by side – and to share our space. Ignorance is dangerous and we all need to be continuously educated to understand why certain animals do what they do,” he said.

If you want to follow Steven, visit: https://www.givengain.com/activist/121339/projects/9416/

Donate to Monkey Helpline at: https://www.monkeyhelpline.co.za/donate-here/