Prince Harry Sports A Beard While Saving Rhinos In Africa
Prince Harry grew a beard, while he was striving to give the rhinos a fighting chance of survival in Africa.
Harry has been roughing it in the wild to save the last remaining rhinos in Africa’s wilderness. Perhaps living in the wild may be forcing the otherwise immaculate Prince to sacrifice some of the daily routines, including a clean shave. Prince Harry has rarely been seen with facial hair below the eyebrows, but now he is sporting a gruff mature beard, which seems to deftly transform him into a man from a royal boy.
Prince Harry has largely been out of the spotlight and prefers to stay that way. However, the royalty was photographed while he met with the crew at the African Conservation Experience’s Khulula Care for Wild, based in Nelspruit, reported MSN. While the photo was meant to emphasize the need for the conservation of rhinoceroses, which are fast going extinct, the image is being obsessed over for a much different reason. Though the photo even had a cute baby rhino, likely to generate sympathetic associations with the cause, Prince Harry’s beard is what captured the internet’s attention.
Prince Harry has always wanted to work in Africa, doing something worthwhile for the animals. Hence last June, the royal left for the African continent, after completing a full 10-year service in the British military. Terming it his “dream job”, Prince Harry intends to devout his time to “raise awareness and curb threats to endangered species on the continent,” during his three-month stint there. His focus is on particularly troubled regions of Tanzania and Botswana.
According to People’s Magazine, the beard is the result of lack of time (or interest) on maintaining a perfect photo-worthy persona in the wild. Prince Harry has been completely dedicated to the tasks assigned, said Martin Bornman of Care for Wild Africa,
“Harry hasn’t shied away from getting in the thick of the job. He is working actively with the anti-poaching units inside the Park. That is why he has got the beard and everything. He had literally just come out of the bush. What Harry seems to do, which he is really good at, is that he is very empathetic and people-focused. He wants to know a lot about the people, what they are doing and how they do it.”
Perhaps sporting a beard helps Harry shed the suave and smooth metrosexual image and adopt a more son-of-the-soil one. This would certainly help him get close to the people and the animals.
[Image Credit | Charmain Swarts / Khulula Care for Wild / African Conservation Experience]
