Kevin Pietersen re-teams with Hublot to continue to help save the rhino

Kevin Pietersen looks frustrated. We’ve all seen him look frustrated before, but normally it involves a cricket ball repeatedly being bounced at his head at 120kph. Still, those kind of roughed up tactics have rarely phased the former swashbuckling England batsman who, more often than not, would end up going on the offensive and spanking those balls away to the boundary – the more aggressive then better.

It’s not cricket that is making Pietersen frustrated today, it’s his phone – or, more specifically, the pictures on his phone.

“It’s disgusting to see some of the stuff I get sent,” he rages waving his phone at the screen on the other end of a Zoom call from a quarantine hotel in India. “The other day a park ranger friend of mine sent me some pictures of a wild rhino that had been smashed. It’s despicable to see. It’s horrible. We’re completely ruining this planet!”

For clarity, Pietersen is upset about the plight of rhinos in the wild, and not being sent the pictures. The South African born cricketer specifically asks to be sent those horrific pictures, in order to keep abreast of the worsening situation regarding the rhinoceros.

Never one to sit still and rest on his past achievements – of which there are many – in 2018 Pietersen set up the charity SORAI (Save Our Rhinos Africa & India) in order to raise awareness of the escalating crisis facing an animal the World Wildlife Fund has described as ‘critically endangered’.

As is evidenced by the pictures on Pietersen’s phone, SORAI’s main fight is with poachers. Over the last 10 years, two thirds of the rhinos in South Africa’s Kruger Park have been killed by poachers, who prize rhino horn for its use in traditional medicine and its value as a status symbol in some cultures. As Pietersen recites a series of terrifying statistics, including the fact that there are estimated to be less than 500 remaining Black rhinos in Kruger Park today, you don’t need to be a conservationist to understand the urgency of the situation currently facing rhinos.

Early on in the global pandemic, multiple ‘good news’ stories started doing the rounds of how nature was reclaiming itself during a period of humans being in lockdown. We asked Pietersen whether the last twelve months had helped or hindered the protection of the rhino.

“Because of how severe the lockdown was in South Africa, early on in the things were flourishing,” he explains. “My game ranger friends were telling me that they were seeing things they’d never seen before, like animals using different routes and doing things that were groundbreaking for them to see, because there were no humans about. But as soon as the lockdown stopped, it was chaos. Absolute chaos.”

Pietersen explained that because foreign tourism had come to a standstill, many companies were forced to make cost-saving measures, including the anti-poaching unit patrols in the parks, making the animals an easier task. “They are being butchered, man. It is so sad to see.”

That anguish is something that is clear on Pietersen’s face when he talks about it. “It’s something that I’m so passionate about. It’s just in my nature,” he explains. “I can’t change who I am in wanting to try and help as much as possible, which is why we’ve joined forces with likeminded people to try and make the world a better place.”

Of those ‘likeminded’ people, the Swiss watchmaker Hublot have been involved with SORAI since its inception, and has followed it up with a second special edition Big Bang Unico timepiece. Limited to 100 pieces, the SORAI II is equipped with the Unico manufacture movement and its colour scheme is inspired by the natural colours of the bush in summer: a blend of two shades of green, from the green ceramic case to the green camouflage rubber or velcro strap. Sold in Hublot boutiques a portion of the proceeds from the sale will be donated exclusively to Care for Wild, the largest rhino sanctuary in the world, supported by SORAI, for it to use as it sees fit.

“For me, Hublot has always been a forward-thinking and proactive brand,” says Pietersen. “When we had our initial discussions, I think we all realized that this was going to be a huge success. And that’s exactly what the first SORAI watch was – a major success because of the awareness that was driven. I believe that this next piece is going to be as good, if not better.”

Aside from the money raised, Pietersen shares an example of another way the collaboration is makes an impact. “There was a guy from Germany who was a big Hublot collector, and he bought one of the original SORAI watches. He then got in contact with me to learn more about the charity, and how he could help. I was told that he started travelling through Africa with his watch and was telling everyone he met about the cause. I think people are proud to be able to walk around with a SORAI watch on,” says Pietersen. “I hope it is as much a conservation piece as it is a conversation piece.”

hublot.com. oursorai.com