South African team completes world-first 35,000km transcontinental expedition.
10 months, 30 countries and 35,000 kilometres after setting out from Cape Agulhas on the southern tip of the African continent, South Africa's well-known adventurers Kingsley and Ross Holgate have reached Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey, Wales, so completing another world-first expedition.
Two years in the making, it is the first 'Hot Cape to Cold Cape' transcontinental journey in recent years, and the 40th geographic and humanitarian odyssey for the Holgate expedition team.
After a resounding send-off from the Cape Agulhas community in October last year, the six-member, all-South African team travelling in three new Land Rover Defenders, became the first expedition in 30 years to cross Africa from south to north through the disputed territories of South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan and reach the port of Alexandria in Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea. They then traversed eastern Europe and the Balkan States to reach the most northern point of Europe at Nordkapp in Norway's Arctic Circle.
The expedition then turned south and tracked the entire west coast of Norway, crossed Sweden, Denmark and Western Europe before reaching the UK for a symbolic ending on Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey, Wales.
A jubilant Kingsley said, "After tackling some of the harshest terrain in Africa and toughest roads in eastern Europe and Scandinavia, it was a momentous moment for the entire team as we proudly flew the South African flag at Nordkapp's famous Globe monument that marks the 'top of the world', and again at the expedition's finale on the sands of Red Wharf Bay."
As with all previous Holgate geographic feats, this Defender Transcontinental Expedition was also a humanitarian journey of purpose. Some 300,000 people received assistance through nutritional support, malaria prevention, provision of clean drinking water and distribution of reading glasses to elderly, poor-sighted people in remote communities along the expedition’s winding route through Africa.
Veteran expedition member ‘Shova Mike’ Nixon, one of only three people in the world to have completed all 18 Absa Cape Epic MTB races, achieved another world-first geographic feat by cycling 10,000 kilometres of the route from Cape Agulhas to Anglesey on a gravel bike alongside the expedition Land Rovers.
“We’re a team who delight in achieving geographic goals,” said expedition leader Ross Holgate. “The challenges of these past ten months, including some serious life-threatening moments, became all worthwhile when we finally reached the sheer cliffs of Nordkapp that drop into the Arctic Ocean, and then carried on to symbolically end this 35,000 kilometre journey at the exact spot where 75 years ago in 1947, Maurice Wilks sketched the first Land Rover design in the sands of Red Wharf Bay."
Accompanied by a convoy of heritage Land Rovers, including the first two Series I vehicles that pioneered overland travel by being the first to cross the African continent in 1954, the expedition's Anglesey finale had a touch of South African flair. Assisted by the Mayor of Anglesey and supporters from the UK and South Africa, the Holgate team built an 'isivivane' (stone cairn) on Red Wharf Bay topped with pebbles from Cape Agulhas, and emptied Atlantic and Indian Ocean seawater symbolically collected from Africa’s southern tip and carried in a traditional Zulu calabash to Red Wharf Bay.
"What has been an overwhelming experience of this journey is how ordinary people in every country we’ve journeyed through, no matter their age, nationality, culture, race or religion, just want to live in peace,” concluded Kingsley. “The expedition’s Scroll of Peace and Goodwill is full of hundreds of heartwarming messages.
“That’s one of the best things about expanding your horizons through travel and adventure; it gives one hope for the future.”
Pictured here top, Ross Holgate and below Ross with Kingsley Holgate.
MORE INFORMATION
Expedition Facts at a glance:
• 35 000 kilometres.
• 30 countries.
• 2 continents where over 1000 languages are spoken.
• Over 28 million tyre revolutions.
• 300 campfires and nights spent camping.
• In some areas, rainfall measured in meters.
• Daytime temperatures of +50'C in the deserts of north Africa.
• Route included goat tracks, mud tracks, no tracks, countless mountain passes, river crossings and traversing the ancient deserts of north Africa.
• Over 20 000 litres of fuel used.
• 5 cases of malaria in the team.
• Carbon Neutral offset through the planting of 6000 trees in South Africa.
• Zero breakdowns and Zero punctures.
Country List:
1. South Africa
2. Swaziland
3. Mozambique
4. Malawi
5. Tanzania
6. Kenya
7. Uganda
8. South Sudan
9. Republic of Sudan
10. Egypt
11. Italy
12. Greece
13. North Macedonia
14. Kosovo
15. Montenegro
16. Serbia
17. Hungary
18. Slovakia
19. Poland
20. Lithuania
21. Latvia
22. Estonia
23. Finland
24. Norway
25. Sweden
26. Denmark
27. Germany
28. Netherlands
29. Belgium
30. UK (England/Wales)
Expedition’s Humanitarian Work:
Before leaving South Africa, this included reaching the milestone of distributing two million nutritional meals to needy families and children at creches in remote rural communities alongside game reserves that are still affected by the long months of Covid lockdown; upgrading poorly resourced early childhood development centres; and provision of clean drinking water to communities in water-scarce regions of northern KwaZulu-Natal.
In Africa, the expedition focused on malaria prevention, working with Goodbye Malaria in Mozambique and assisting thousands of pregnant women and mothers with children under the age of five years in other countries where malaria is rife, as well as providing eye tests and reading glasses to elderly, poor-sighted people in remote communities.
A Carbon-Neutral Expedition:
This Defender Transcontinental Expedition is also one of the first carbon-neutral expeditions in the world. Before leaving South Africa, the Holgate team joined forces with conservation groups in the Eastern Cape to plant 6,000 indigenous Albany Thicket trees to offset the three expedition Defenders’ carbon footprint, as part of a large-scale wilderness restoration project. They also helped launch a One Million Tree-planting programme adjacent to Tanzania’s famed Serengeti.
Other notable expeditions by the Kingsley Holgate team:
Previous world-first expeditions include circumnavigating the world following the Tropic of Capricorn; a 449-day journey to track the outline of Africa through 33 countries; discovering the geographic centre-point of Africa deep in the rain forests of the Republic of Congo; and being the first exploration team in history to reach all seven 'extreme' geographic points on the African continent.
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