CEBU, Philippines - Uma Thurman’s latest accomplishment is helping to save an endangered white rhino and its calf as she traveled with a team of experts leading the animals from South Africa’s Timbavati Game Reserve to Botswana, an area with a lower rate of poaching. The rhinos are in high-demand for their horns, which can fetch up to $1 million, because many people believe they can bolster virility and even cure cancer. There was concern that Thurman’s group would be hijacked.
Not only did the model turned Oscar-nominated actress survive, she looked lovely as ever in the photographs Town & County captured of the journey for its October issue. The quotes she gave about the experience prove that the dangerous journey did nothing to shake her perfection.
“To hear its deep breaths, to smell it, to touch its skin — even a rhino has soft bits,” “The Slap” star said. “To see how delicate they really are, how vulnerable. There is the obvious excitement of it all, but also a quietness in the midst of all the panic.”
She added, “I was so moved. I was just breathing in the dearness of her.”
Then, Thurman said something that belongs in a self-help book or the latest issue of Oprah’s O magazine.
“I think so many of us feel that there is no point — Who are we? What can we do? There are so many dire situations, and it’s all out of our control. And there is sort of truth to that. But what I learned in Africa is that one must make an effort anyway. Because you just don’t know. Until the story is concluded, there is always hope.” (FREEMAN)