Nineteen months after she was poached at Kariega and three months after her pioneering skin grafts, Thandi the rhino recently received follow-up treatment as the skin grafts have not taken well. She does, however, seem to be doing well although she still has a long way to go to full recovery. From here the veterinary and management team at Kariega are letting Thandi find her own way …

How incredibly fortunate I am to have two men of the stature of Dr Ian Player D.M.S. and Dr Allan Heydorn believe in me and my book Miracles < of Hope: Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century, one writing a beautiful Foreword and the other providing an amazing Comment!

I first met Dr Player, who is considered one of the world’s most outstanding conservationists and environmental statesmen, on a cold, winter morning at a very upmarket hotel in Johannesburg more than a decade ago (it is reputed to be where Oprah stays when she visits the City of Gold), as he had invited me to have an early breakfast with him to discuss my book. I was incredibly touched that Dr Player took the business of reading it and referring to the bibliography so seriously and I was immensely pleased when he agreed to have his name associated with it by writing a Foreword.

Dr Allan Heydorn, who is an acclaimed marine ecologist and specialist consultant for WWF South Africa, also has a house in Betty’s Bay and I met him at a presentation about Antarctica held at a local venue. Like Dr Player, Dr Heydorn is deeply thoughtful and concerned about what is happening in the world and he, too, was very serious about critiquing my book, writing a very considered and astute Comment.

But what is so inspirational about both Dr Player and Dr Heydorn is their seniority. Both men are now in their 80s, yet they are still consulting, advising and mentoring much younger generations such as my own! What an outstanding example they both are and how lucky I am to have been the recipient of their wonderfully old-fashioned courtesy, their thoughtfulness and their exceptional diligence.

< Cover of "Miracles of Hope: Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century"[/caption]Globally things are hotting up and with the recent disruption of the American economy as the most recent indicator, there is no doubt that we are manifesting all the disruption of a culture in the throes of a great change. Globally we are witnessing the dramatic death throes of the old world order and there can be no doubt that we are a global community in transition as hypothosised in my book Miracles of Hope: Surviving and Thriving in the 21st Century.

Change of this magnitude will not be accomplished without enormous dissention and anxiety which could be seen in a negative light. And, yes, the short-term effects of realigning ourselves to another reality are bound to be painful, however, underlying the negativity is a groundswell of change in human attitudes and actions that signify an enormous shift in human consciousness – and this is immensely positive. There is no doubt that we are living in extraordinary times!