Missioned accomplished for Kingsley Holgate’s toughest adventure

Before setting off on what was to be his 40^th journey from Cape Agulhas to Nordkapp in Norway, and then on to Red Wharf Bay on the Welsh island of Anglesey, master explorer, adventurer and humanitarian Kingsley Holgate remarked that the trek would be the most difficult he had ever done.

Bar the almost 40 000 km journey being derailed by the impact of Covid-19, additional factors that threatened the Defender Transcontinental: Hot Cape to Cold Kapp trip becoming a disaster included political instability in North Africa and, once in Europe, Russia’s War on Ukraine.

Expedition plans

A trip that was to span 33 countries over two continents and eventually nine months after officially starting last October following a Covid enforced delay, the trio of Land Rover Defender 110s that ferried Holgate and his partner, Sheelagh, son Ross and family friend Mike Nixon throughout the journey eventually made it to Red Wharf Bay where then Rover Chief Designer, Maurice Wilks, famously drew the outline what was to become the first Land Rover in the sand in 1947.

In addition to the achieving the goal of journeying to the most northern and coldest point of Europe before heading to Wales, the humanitarian aspect came in the shape of providing mosquito nets as part of the Goodbye Malaria campaign, the provision of reading glasses to the elderly under the Rite to Sight initiative, provision of clean drinking water and porridge to poverty-stricken schools in Africa.

The first expedition to be carbon neutral as a result of the prior planting of 6 000 spekboom at the Tanglewood Conservation area outside Grahamstown in order to offset the emissions of each of the three Defenders, Kingsley stated while it expected the trip to be tough from a logistical standpoint, being stranded for no less than three days in a military camp admits the war between Sudan and South Sudan wasn’t something anyone had expected.

Trek turns wild

“Getting to Ethiopia with a war raging between South and North and with the border completely closed, we had to ask ourselves, What do we do? So, we decided on going to South Sudan,” Kingsley told the assemble media at the Jaguar-Land Rover Experience in Lonehill as part of the expedition’s welcome back event at the end of last month.

ALSO READ: Defender Transcontinental expedition: Kingsley Holgate still roving at 75

“We got to the border, got taken to the capital Juba with a military escort, and arrived at a camp for NGOs and expats on the banks of the Nile. Was the journey to continue?”

Already flustered by angered citizens rocking the defenders outside of the United Nations base and taking several items from the vehicles on-route to the camp, Kingsley stated it all seemingly appeared lost, until the intervention of a few South Africans.

“Imagine these vehicles with us inside being rocked, soldiers on towers overlooking, tanks, helicopter gunships and big C130s. Ross on the phone, ‘guys open the [border] gates’. [The message comes back], you will have to phone somebody in Geneva.”

“A mission of peace and goodwill [seemingly over]. [But then], South Africans to the rescue. There is South African de-mining unit inside the camp. They find out about us and helped with the paperwork. Next do, we were out.”

Having eventually succeeded in making it through South Sudan and into Sudan itself, more issues arose in the form of endless paperwork, illegal roadblocks and reluctance based on apparent hesitation of the group’s intentions.

“Once we had given these guys the malaria nets and glasses, they just decided that it would be better to let us go. Maybe one day that legacy or ambassadorial role would change Africa going forward, but after seven days armed with paperwork and a visit to the Ministry of Tourism in Khartoum, we turned off into the desert and never saw another tar road again,” logistics leader Ross said.

“Once you are free from the bureaucratic paperwork of military, you find the friendliest of people. But that also quickly ended when we arrived in Egypt.

“Once you get to the border, everything has to be redone; new licence, registration, ID cards, hundreds upon hundreds of Euros and several hours later, you are an Egyptian. [What’s more], you are only allowed to travel on certain roads,“ Ross continued.

“They tag the front of your vehicle and monitor you by camera. It is so restricted in a land that is visited by millions every year. The clearance to leave for Europe took another three days and about a month after not seeing the vehicles as they arrived in transit via Turkey and Israel, we finally managed to continue.”

Into Europe

Once on the Old Continent, the terrain changed and while progress through Greece, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia continued without major disturbances, the war Ukraine required a re-route via Poland and a visit to the infamous World War II Nazi-era concentration at Auschwitz where over a million of the six-million plus Jews were murdered during the Holocaust.

“The atrocities committed there blows your mind. The remnants of hair, suitcases, combs, all on display. Negative yes, but something that needs to be seen and experienced to get a better understanding of,” Ross remarked.

The bout in Poland, preceded by a visit to the Nitra factory in Slovakia where Defender production takes place, concluded with a border crossing into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia followed by the crossing of the Baltic Sea into Finland and ultimately, Nordkapp on the other side in Norway.

The seriousness and animosity of Poland took a more light hearted twist on the country’s border with Belarus heading into Lithuania though as the convoy were momentarily halted by police.

“After about an hour of paperwork, checking on the computer and told to stay in the vehicles, they [the police], became so enamoured with the vehicles, that they were no longer checking on the computers, but taking pictures of the Land Rovers and then Googling of what the expedition was all about,” said Ross.

“In fact, they so loved the expedition and the vehicles that they tore off the ephialtes of their police badges and stuck it into our book of remembrance. Absolutely incredible.”

Destinations reached

Once in Norway, the significance of reaching Nordkapp become more poignant as the group were joined by Land Rover enthusiasts who had tracked the progress via regular updates on its Facebook page.

Having succeeded in reaching Nordkapp, the second part of the journey now had to be completed; reaching Anglesey as a tribute to the two Defender P400s and single D300 that had taken them the 40 000 km.

The eventual landing in Red Wharf Bay after driving through Norway, Sweden and Denmark before crossing the Baltic once again into Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and then over the Channel to the United Kingdom and Wales culminated in not only the ceremonial pouring-out of the traditional calabash filled with seawater from Cape Agulhas onto the beach, but also a visit from the mayor of Anglesey.

Also in attendance to witness the landmark were a serious of Land Rovers, including a trio that took part in the 1954 Trans-Africa Expedition.

“The challenges of these past nine months were all the more worthwhile when our three Defenders finally reached the historic landmark at Red Wharf Bay,” Ross remarked in a statement afterwards.

Along with their objectives, a total of 700 000 mosquito nets were handed out together with water purification devices capable of providing a combined 16 million litres of clean drinking water.

“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,” Kingsley stated.

“That’s one of the best things about expanding your horizons through travel and adventure; it gives one hope for the future.”

As for what the future holds for the now 75-year old expedition master and his group, only time will tell.

For more information on the trek and the Kingsley Holgate Foundation, click here.