For a man who has carried a Zulu calabash and a scroll of Peace and Goodwill from Cape to Cairo along the waterways of Africa, followed the steps of Livingstone and Stanley along the Zambezi and Congo rivers, used land yachts to tackle the world’s largest saltpans and circumnavigated the globe by Land Rover along the Tropic of Capricorn – what could possibly be next?
In keeping with his personal mantra to ‘save and improve lives through adventure,’ Holgate has travelled across 33 African countries in a quest to provide rural people with life-saving mosquito nets as a way of stemming the malaria epidemic, which claims more lives in Africa annually than all other diseases combined. His latest venture – the Cape-to-Cairo expedition which left Cape Town on 25 April – will see the team circumnavigating the entire coast of the African continent for the free distribution of mosquito nets – an undertaking that will take no less than 12 months to complete. En-route mobile libraries will also be distributing books to a number of needy schools up the West Coast, while a focused ‘Right to Sight’ programme through which ‘readers’ will be distributed to the poor sighted in remote villages, will be yet another humanitarian effort linked to the expedition.
Holgate’s most recent communication to us, dated 4th May, claimed the expedition had reached Port Nolloth on the West Coast. Media coverage of the launch had been really strong and public support had been incredible thus far.
Mechanical spares and tyres
The team will maintain contact with home base via satellite communication. That said, the further they travel the more dependent they will become on their supplies in the form of mechanical spares and spare tyres.
“Up to now, we have been supremely impressed by the performance of our Land Rovers (all of which are serviced en-route should the need arise by certified Land Rover personnel),” stated Holgate prior to departure. “The same can be said for the tyres on the vehicles which are sponsored by Cooper Tires. We have been running on Cooper for the past six expeditions with no problem whatsoever,” said Holgate. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if were to complete the entire expedition without a single tyre change, in spite of the treacherous terrain we’ll be navigating!
“What is all the more amazing is the tyres are expected to work doubly hard for the duration of our expeditions which for the most part, travel into rural areas so as to reach remote clinics, villages and the like,” added Holgate. “And I won’t deny given the distances and remote destinations we do travel, we have no option but to overload the vehicles, thereby placing even greater pressure on the tyres.”
We are most fortunate to enjoy the support of our sponsors in our endeavours,” said Holgate. “Without them, we could never hope to be able to provide much-needed assistance to people that desperately need it.”
Sponsors of Kingsley Holgate’s Cape-to-Cairo expedition include Grindrod, Gervans Trading, Land Rover, Garmin, Captain Morgan, Motorola, 4x4Mega World, Yamaha, USAID and Cooper Tires.
We will provide regular updates on Kingsley’s current mission over the course of the next 10 months. FollowKingsley Holgate’s adventures, and you could stand a chance to win a set of Cooper tires and exclusive Cooper Tires/Kingsley Holgate hamper later in the year.
