Jen Cook and Eloise Roxburgh of Rotorua Canopy Tours have completed a week-long ‘Rickshaw Run’ – a Sri Lankan tuk-tuk race to support rainforest conservation worldwide.
The Bay locals joined participants from all over the world in a bid to raise funds and awareness for Cool Earth – an international initiative dedicated to saving global rainforests through partnerships with indigenous communities.
In seven days, all participants cover over 3,000km in their automatic rickshaws – from Colombo, the capital, to Matara in the south of the country. Both Jen and Eloise especially loved their time in Sigiriya, the ruins of a 5th-century city nestled atop a colossal rocky outcropping.
“Seeing the Sri Lankan national parks and how they protect their natural environments, even after so much hardship, is truly inspiring,” says Roxburgh. “Both New Zealand and Sri Lanka care deeply about their fauna and flora, and work hard to protect it.”
“We fundraised for weeks to try to generate as much as we could to put back into this charity – selling fudge, artwork, running donations pages, and the like,” says Cook. “We fully funded our own travel and participation in the race, and we were responsible for fundraising for Cool Earth entirely separately. We’re so glad we put in as much effort as we did. It felt really, really good to give it to Cool Earth.”
Eloise Roxburgh studied at the University of Waikato and now holds a Bachelor of Science in Biological Science. She has been passionate about environmental issues from a young age. Her father worked for DOC and she enjoyed family tramps in the bush as a child.
“It’s in my blood, really,” says Roxburgh. “I’m so grateful to have been able to build a life and career around nature, and this trip cemented that fact. Growing up around native forests meant I felt the importance of connecting with my environment and looking after it. We took what we do at Rotorua Canopy Tours into different forests, to protect another forest system.”
Rotorua Canopy Tours is known for its conservation work in the forest. Featuring two courses that utilise bridges, ziplines, and cliff-faces to showcase the forest, native wildlife is thriving from the adventure business reinvesting back into the preservation of the forest.
