A seven-year-old red Siberian husky, Jaxx, and his 62-year-old owner, Desmond Langkilde, are walking from Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town to raise an SOS about abandoned huskies.
Jaxx is only 7 but has been through five foster homes already.
Mr Langkilde’s wife, Beverley, adopted Jaxx through Husky Rescue SA, but it has since closed its Cape Town branch.
Saviors Of Siberians (SOS) is a husky rescue organisation which has taken over this work in the region. DelRay Nortier founded the Cape Town-based organisation in September 2019.
Ms Nortier said she was thrilled with the fund-raiser that Mr Langkilde had offered to do for her. Every cent would help to establish a haven for huskies as kennels were unsuitable for the breed, she said.
Mr Langkilde is a travel blogger and founder of Walk4Africa.org (W4A), which runs annual walkathon events to promote tourism in Africa.
The dog and human pair are travelling a round-trip distance of about 4000km, having left Johannesburg on Wednesday July 28.
They are walking along the 800km coastal route, from Plettenberg Bay to arrive at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Sunday August 29, to establish a husky haven and cover the costs of rescuing, rehabilitating and re-homing huskies that have been abandoned or surrendered because of the pandemic.
Half of the proceeds from the walk will support the Walk/Run/Ride 4 Animal Rescue walkathon in September 2021, in aid of the Garden Route and Cape of Good Hope SPCAs.
This weekend, you can meet Jaxx and Mr Langkilde as they complete the last leg of their journey. On Saturday August 28, from 3pm, they will be at Sunrise Beach, Muizenberg. They will meet the Mushi Up husky team, which meets every Saturday to sled on the beach at Muizenberg.
From about 4pm, Jaxx and Mr Langkilde will be in Kalk Bay, and in Fish Hoek, opposite The Galley, at about 5.15pm.
On Sunday, at 9am, they will start a walk to Llandudno from Hout Bay's main beach. From about 10.15am, the pair will leave Llandudno view point and walk to Camps Bay view point. From there, they wend their way to Mouille Point Beach and end at the V&A Waterfront at 1.40pm.
People and their dogs are invited to join the last two legs. "Just choose a day/location and meet up at the time and walk for as long as you (or your pooch) want to. Bring enough water for you and your dog," said Mr Langkilde.
Visit walk4africa.org/blog/ for more information.