Expedition heads for ‘true centre’ of Africa
Colourful explorer faces tough challenge in the Republic of Congo’s rainforests
WORLD- r e nowned adventurer Kingsley Holgate is going on his most demanding adventure.
Together with his son Ross and a team of explorers, he is heading to the rainforests in the northern Republic of Congo.
“Located in the northern Congo, bordering one of the world’s largest impenetrable equatorial rainforests, lies the true centre of the African continent,” he said.
“It might be one our toughest expedition challenges yet. Satellite images show the spot as equatorial rainforest and swamp.
“To reach the geographic centre point of Africa, we will use Land Rovers, mountain bikes, river boats, dugout canoes and finally, we will navigate on foot.”
In an interview with The Star, Holgate reminisced about what inspired him to become an explorer.
“My dad, the tall, rather serious Reverend Arthur, would hold me on his lap and enthral me with stories of the great Victorian explorers – men like Livingstone, Burton, Speke and Stanley.”
As a boy, Holgate was inspired to explore because of his mother and father’s love for the African continent.
“Their work took us all over southern Africa, so it was natural to be interested in Mama Afrika,” Holgate said.
“My mom, Ivy May, loved adventure and we’d all be piled into an old brown 1946 Chevy sedan to camp in the bush and eat stew cooked on a pumpaction primus stove from battered enamel plates,” he said.
“We would make long missionary journeys into the interior that took us as far north as the old Belgian Congo.”
Yet Holgate still can’t pinpoint when his close bond with Africa first formed.
“What I do know is that from an early age, I became fascinated with things African.”
Holgate said what kept him inspired to explore was his thirst for adventure, which was made special by being able to use these adventures to improve and save lives.
“It’s all about curiosity and excitement, not knowing what’s around the next bend in the river – rolling out your bedroll under the stars.
“We have some of the greatest wildlife spectacles in the world,” he said.
“There’s so much still to experience and that’s what inspires us to keep going.”
When asked about his most breathtaking expedition, Holgate laughed and said it was hard to choose because of how much he had seen.
“A lifetime of Land Rover journeys to every country on the African continent, including her island states, makes it a difficult question to answer,” he said.
“But, if I have to choose, I love the wild places of East Africa… sitting under a tree, alone in my Landy without another person in sight watching the Serengeti migration slowly move past at sunset.”
Holgate also told The Star about some of his humanitarian endeavours while on his life-changing journeys.
“Using our adventures to improve and save lives has become an integral part of all our expeditions.
“Over a billion people are at risk of malaria and most of them live in Africa. It’s like a thud to the heart when you get to a village, and you hear a mother screaming because a child is dying miles from any clinic or hospital especially when it’s a life that can be saved by a simple mosquito net.”
Supported by Land Rover and other great partners, Holgate and his adventurer team distributed life-saving mosquito nets and educate tens of thousands of mothers in highrisk malaria areas across Africa about the dangers of the illness.
He said another humanitarian endeavour he took part in during his trips was the KHF LifeStraw campaign.
“We distribute small filters to communities in deep rural areas that have unsafe, contaminated drinking water and these save lives.”
The expedition is due to leave on Sunday from the Landy Festival – the largest Land Rover event in the southern hemisphere.
Hundreds of Land Rover Defender owners will escort the team as they set off for the Heart of Africa.
Satellite shows spot as equatorial rainforest, swamp