Exploring spirit of giving in a Landy
Nearing the end of yet another epic journey by professional adventurers, Kingsley Holgate and his son Ross, an expedition – arranged by Land Rover to test the Defender range – could not have come at a better time.
The year is almost at an end, but festivities may prove to be more challenging for some than ever before.
The Holgates set out in September to follow the land border of South Africa, tracking the Atlantic and Indian Ocean coastlines with a circumnavigation of landlocked Lesotho.
The journey, dubbed the Mzansi Edge expedition, was not just to follow non-existent pathways while mapping the country’s border. It was also to hand out hundreds of thousands of meals to rural and impoverished communities whose circumstances have worsened due to Covid-19.
The Kingsley Holgate Foundation’s expedition is an estimated 70-day, 10 000km humanitarian journey.
When the Land Rover team caught up with the Holgates on their own expedition, with many new Defenders in tow, they had already helped transport roughly 21 000 meals to disadvantaged school children in the Free State.
Their goal was to hand out 250 000 meal packs by the end of the year, which consist of 10 1kg bags of nutritious porridge.
With more than half of the expedition completed, the Holgates have now delivered around 214 000 meals so far.
From the borders of Mozambique, Eswatini and Botswana, to the Kruger National Park and Mapungubwe Heritage Park, the Holgates and Land Rover have delivered food to 1 253 children and more than 180 families.
“We’ve crossed countless rivers and covered seemingly endless kilometres of bone-shaking corrugated gravel roads, yet we look forward to the second half of the expedition and making a difference,” Kingsley said when they reached the Western Cape.