There’s just no stopping when you’re a legend, especially when your name is Kingsley Holgate.
The dust has barely settled from his recent 35 000 kilometre adventure, a 30-country “Hot Cape to Cold Cape” journey from Cape Agulhas to Nordkapp in Norway’s Arctic Circle, and he is off again on another epic expedition.
At 77 years old most people are keeping things calm but not in Holgate’s case as he saddles up the new Defender 130 for a quest to highlight the importance of conserving Africa’s iconic wildlife and remaining natural landscapes, and to draw attention to the needs of rural communities living alongside these remote areas.
There will be two Defender 130s that are expected to drive around 50 000 kilometres through some of the toughest terrain on the continent.
His 41st expedition, called Afrika Odyssey, is a collaboration with the conservation NGO African Parks and a journey with a conservation, culture and community theme and is expected to take 18 months through 12 different African countries.
The Afrika Odyssey expedition aims to showcase the revival of 22 national parks under the management of African Parks that encompass 20 million hectares under protected area status, which form the backbone of the continent’s biodiversity and that benefit thousands of people.
The journey starts in the Namib desert of Iona National Park in southern Angola and will encompass Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, Rwanda, DRC, Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, South Sudan and Chad in north Africa, before concluding in Benin, west Africa.
“This expedition is going to be one of our most challenging journeys ever attempted,” said Ross Holgate, Kingsley’s son and expedition’s leader.
“It’s not just the long distances we’ll be travelling on dirt roads, goat tracks, and probably no tracks, to reach all of the Parks that are, understandably, in very isolated regions and in difficult-to-reach terrain.
“We’ll also be tackling dense Congo forests, heart-in-mouth, seat-of-your-pants river crossings, vast desert and rocky mountain terrain where water and fuel will be hard to come by, and wetlands that are near-impassable especially in rainy seasons. The logistical issues of this expedition are extreme, to say the least,” he said.
As with all his expeditions they will continue the Kingsley Holgate Foundation’s malaria prevention work that has already helped 3 million people in Africa.
This will be done through the distribution of effective, long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets to African Parks staff and families as well as to pregnant women and mothers of young children in high-risk communities.
They will also provide community-based malaria prevention education and indoor residual spraying and community education in Mozambique, in partnership with Goodbye Malaria.
As has become custom, the calabash to collect water from every river they cross will be accompanying them as well as a scroll of peace and goodwill for conservation to all 22 parks in 12 countries.
The team will collect messages of support from traditional leaders, community beneficiaries, park rangers, conservation partners, government envoys, VIPs and other supporters met all along the way.
We would love to accompany him but for now, long live the spirit of adventure!
For more information on African Parks visit their website.
You can also follow the expedition on the Kingsley Holgate Foundation’s Facebook page