Delivering hope
Humanitarian Kingsley Holgate and his crew drove from Cape Town to Kathmandu, a distance of 11,000 miles) visiting 19 countries, while experiencing zero vehicle technical issues. Editor Patrick Cruywagen caught up with them in Kathmandu
Modern-day explorer Kingsley Holgate and his team take the new Discovery on an epic adventure
PC: They say that planning and paying for an expedition is harder than actually doing one. Did you have any issues? KH: There isn’t a team member of this Cape Town to Kathmandu journey that doesn’t thoroughly enjoy expedition life. The freedom of the open road, wildlife, tribes, sunsets and countless campfires, the excitement of not knowing what lies around the next bend in the river, or where you’ll roll out your bed. For all of us it’s become a wonderfully challenging way of life. But there’s one thing that we’ve all grown to hate and that’s the ‘visa wars’ – the endless bloody paperwork that it takes to move ourselves and our Land Rovers across borders. If you think Africa is tough – try crossing Asia to Kathmandu!
Mountains of detailed forms to complete: mother’s name, father’s name and their places of birth, children’s details, your schooling and work history, identification marks, religion, travel history for the past ten years, even pathology lab blood tests to prove we’re not harbouring HIV, TB and other infectious diseases. Thick files of vehicle papers, proof of hotel bookings, stamped letters of invitation, certified proof of permanent residence, travel insurance, stamped three month bank statements, certified copies of passports and driver’s licenses, and on it goes!
I heard that Armenia was one of your favourite countries. Why?
When we left Georgia and headed into Armenia, there was a bit of trepidation at the border posts – failure to get into any one of these countries and our route to Kathmandu would’ve been closed. You start to question your paperwork. A rather serious immigration official scrutinised our passports and visa stamps with a magnifying glass, even checking the stitching on the passports.
Armenia was magnificently beautiful. It lies in the highlands surrounding the biblical mountains of Ararat and was the first sovereign nation to accept Christianity as a state religion in 301AD. As always, we took the road less travelled – high-altitude tracks that brought us to ancient, stone-built monasteries and more World Heritage Sites to add to our list. Tough expedition member Mike Nixon, (who previously climbed Mount Everest) was determined to cycle as much of the route as possible and even his resolve was tested in the bone-chilling cold and snow of Armenia.
Some of the towns we passed through were quite grey and
sombre. Concrete slabs of tenement buildings and disused mines and factories – a hangover from the years of USSR domination. But not the people: they gave us waves and hoots from their clapped-out old Lada vehicles; everywhere friendship and welcomes. Despite their difficult past and the genocide tragedy this Christian nation suffered in 1917, they are without a doubt some of the toughest and friendliest people we’ve met.
Any problems with diesel supply or quality?
When in Mirjaveh, Iran, which is close to the border with Afghanistan and Pakistan we were battling to find diesel. To get here, we’d come through the Dasht e Lut desert and via the ancient mud-built citadel of Bam. There was a diesel restriction in this region on account of the lucrative diesel smuggling trade over the border. US$0,05C per litre in Iran – US$1.00 per litre in Pakistan – just imagine the smuggling!
Eventually a friendly garage owner in the town of Zahedan gifted us enough of the precious liquid to cross the border. This was so typical of the kindness and hospitality we enjoyed in Iran.
Driving the famous Karakoram Highway which connects China and Pakistan must have been something special?
For months we dreamed about achieving that major expedition objective – to take our all-new Land Rover Discoverys along the famed Karakoram Highway. We left Islamabad early one morning and headed north in the company of Lt. Col. Obaid Mansoor, Abubakr Malik, Essa Khan and Adil Rassol from Sigma Motors (in their big green Defender) and fought our way through the chaotic traffic of Abbottabad to reach the bridge at Tokal, which marks the start of what’s said to be the highest paved road in the world.
It was a long, fascinating and sometimes arduous journey of winding mountain passes, tunnels, wash-aways, landslides, squeezing past colourful, jingling Bedford trucks (the Landy’s Cooper tyres just millimetres from the edge of dizzying drops into steep gorges, where the green waters of the Indus River tumble and meander) and plenty of police checkpoints and convoys, all flavoured with the friendliness of the amazingly tough Balti people who inhabit this rough mountainous region, which through centuries of the Silk Road trade, has linked northern Pakistan to China.
Words cannot fully describe the breath-taking mountain majesty of this extraordinary place. We stood on the Karakoram edge in wonderment; it’s here on this ‘Roof of the World’ that the three highest mountain ranges on the planet collide – the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush and the Karakorams. This is the fabled Shangri-la, the Kingdom of Lost Horizons, a land of snow leopards and bears, apricot orchards, stonebuilt villages and hardy people, vast glaciers, alpine deserts and a third of the world’s 50 highest mountains.
Yesterday you visited the Chitwan National Park, home to the tiger and one-horned rhino. Do animals here face similar conservation challenges to those in Africa?
Seeing an Asian one-horned Rhino, that is so endangered, in its natural habitat was an emotional experience. Chitwan is a success story as they have grown their rhino population rather substantially, it was only a few years ago that all the rhinos here were nearly wiped out. That is thanks to government support and community involvement. They are so curiously different to our African rhino.
Everyday a rhino in South Africa is killed by poachers. Can South Africans learn lessons from Chitwan National Park where they have not lost a Rhino in five years.
Tell us about the Rhino Art programme?
It started five years ago on another expedition in Southern Africa which visited an area with the highest concentration of rhino in the world. Poaching was out of control there. Not everyone can pick up a rifle and go on a patrol. We needed to let the communities know that they are the natural guardians of wildlife in Africa. The best way to do this is through the kids as they are our future leaders. So we are using art
“The tyres were just millimetres from the edge of dizzying drops into steep gorges”
as an educational conservation lesson.
Over half a million kids throughout the world have taken part on our Rhino Art project. Even in the US and now Nepal, at the little school we visited near Chitwan National Park.
Are you confident using a new Discovery on your remote and long expeditions?
We have not once had one warning light come on. These Discoverys have done 32,000 miles each; most of this has been hard expedition-type work. We previously took them to the most eastern point of Africa in Somalia. On the way the drought broke in northern Kenya where we were doing malaria work. We had to get out of the flash floods quickly. You wouldn’t believe the impossible conditions that these vehicles went through.
Then once in Ethiopia we took the back roads through the Bale mountains and onto the old walled city of Harar. We went over rocky mountain passes that few adventurers have ever travelled on. Then down into the old British Somaliland. Travelling at breakneck speeds through broken desert country with a couple of Land Cruisers filled with 20 blokes all carrying AK47S and a few machine guns. It was crazy, crazy stuff. There was the constant danger of being taken hostage, vehicles nicked or being shot.
After reaching the most eastern point of Africa in Somalia we drove them back again to South Africa, stopping in some of the rural parts of Mozambique to do more malaria work.
You would not be able to do your humanitarian work without these Discoverys then?
We could’ve just taken the tar road across Georgia but in the spirit of the great adventure that this was we zig-zagged these Discoverys to the highest permanently-populated villages in Europe. The locals told us we would not make it because it was too late in the year and the snow would stop us in our tracks but we did. I remember pushing on through Ushguli World Heritage Site, going higher and higher up the great Caucasus mountains all the way to the Russian border. We made it through slush and snow and we were the only vehicles up there.
Any hairy experiences except for your beard?
You rely so strongly on the capability of the vehicles also the roads are clogged with trucks and tractors. If the guy in the front Discovery says on the radio that there is a gap you put down your foot and that instant acceleration gets you out of trouble. It’s truly amazing.
Your Discoverys are fairly standard though?
Yes they are but we put on some 18 inch rims and slapped on Cooper tyres for better off-road performance. Throw on a Frontrunner roof rack and some rear-mounted winches and you have the perfect rally car that is unbelievably tough. We have not had a single suspension warning light come on.
When you think of how technically advanced these cars are it’s a miracle. When we took off there was a huge concern of what would we do if something went wrong in a hostile area? That is the last place you want something to go wrong. We have had to rely on these cars to do so much and they never let us down.
What is the difference between the Defender and Discovery?
The main difference is you are easily able to do around 500 miles in a day in a new Discovery. Getting out of the car is like swinging out of an armchair. It could not be more comfortable or capable if you tried.
There is however the iconic history of the Defender and that is why we have the 130; we really believe in keeping that heritage alive. This expedition was a part of the 70 years of Land Rover celebration so it is nice for us to link the old Defender to the new Discovery as the historical past is so valuable to the brand.
You have met some wonderful Land Rover folk.
In every country we passed we made contact with old Land Rovers and adventurers. The clubs were incredible, especially in Pakistan and Turkey. That is the strength of the brand, we are just one extended family.
The company should be proud of this and with the new Defender about to be launched this camaraderie will just grow and grow. No other vehicle says exploration and adventure like a Land Rover.
Tell us more about the humanitarian work you did?
We long ago adopted the slogan to use Land Rovers to improve and save lives. It is something that has stuck with us. The reason we do Rite to Sight is that we came across a massive need for people to have reading glasses; the reason we do Rhino Art is that we love rhinos; then we do malaria work because all our expedition members have had malaria at some stage and it’s a massive problem in Africa.
You and I can just walk into the optometrist if we need reading glasses. For the less fortunate that is not possible. Imagine the satisfaction when you give somebody the ability to see properly again? Suddenly they can thread a needle, do some beadwork or put a worm on a fishing hook. It’s instantaneous gratification.
Our travels and personal observations helped us identify issues that needed addressing. It is a like thud to the heart when you see a mum with a screaming baby that has malaria and the nearest clinic is 100 kms (62 miles) away. A simple mosquito net could’ve saved that life. I remember once trying to rush someone with malaria to hospital in the Land Rover and sadly they did not make it. These are hard and harsh experiences. To date we have distributed over a million mosquito nets. Those are a lot of saved lives.
At the moment we are supported by Land Rover Global; without them we could not do this vital work.