Following Holgate and Cooper’s collaboration on last year’s Rainbow Expedition, the off-road tyre manufacturing specialist is spearheading another twelve month-long trip, the Outside Edge Expedition. A convoy of 347 Land Rovers all shod with tough all-terrain Cooper tyres – the longest humanitarian train ever – set off from the Cape of Good Hope in April.
The mammoth expedition will circumnavigate Africa, traveling as the name suggests, around the edge of the vast continent. The aim of the trip is linked to the Cooper-supported One Net One Life campaign, which will see the expedition delivering tens of thousands of life-saving mosquito nets to pregnant mothers and children under the age of five.
Shockingly, two babies die every minute from the bite of a mosquito – that’s 3.5 million Africans a year, more than die from HIV/Aids, according to the One Net One Life campaign.
Also linked to the Outside Edge Expedition is the Cooper Tire-supported Right to Sight initiative, in which ‘readers’ are supplied to help poor-sighted villagers.
“We know it will be tough, but with all this incredible goodwill and a great sponsor partner such as Cooper Tire, how can we fail?” said Holgate at the launch. “Following the edge won’t be easy, but there are some wonderful challenges ahead – the ancient Namib’s Skeleton Coast, the Congo, Niger, Nile and Amazon rivers, the equatorial jungles of West Africa, the Sahara desert – it all promises to be an exciting odyssey, using adventure to save lives.”
The Outside Edge Expedition will arrive back at the Cape of Good Hope to coincide with next year’s Africa Malaria Day, Apr. 25, 2008.
