In Nepal, the expedition team will hand over messages of solidarity against rhino poaching from South African youth to Chitwan National Park in Nepal as part of the Foundation’s partnership with Project Rhino.
The Land Rover Cape Town to Kathmandu expedition that departed from Cape Town’s Nobel Peace Square on International Mandela Day, 18 July 2018, has safely reached the border with Iran after traversing southern and east Africa and now across Turkey, Georgia and Armenia.
“It’s been a great adventure so far,” said expedition leader, Ross Holgate.
Armed with a Madiba100 Scroll of Peace and Goodwill and a symbolic Zulu calabash filled with cold Cape seawater and with loads of positive humanitarian and community conservation work already done in Africa, it’s now time to plot the Asian leg of the expedition.
“Despite there still being eight countries and around 12,000 kilometres to go, our sights are firmly set on reaching Kathmandu in Nepal before Christmas.”
Kingsley Holgate, considered the most travelled man in Africa, explained that the journey is also part of celebrating Land Rover’s 70th anniversary and that at the pre-launch of the expedition, 70 Land Rovers dating back to 1948 had formed the shape of a giant, numeric ‘70’ to mark this important milestone in Land Rover’s history.
“We also linked the expedition’s send-off to humanitarian work, in the form of ‘Rite to Sight’ provision of reading glasses to mostly elderly, poor-sighted people, provision of wheelchairs for the disabled, distribution of early childhood development teaching materials to poorly resourced preschools, and malaria prevention work with pregnant women and mothers with young children in high-risk malaria areas.”
Crossing the Bosporus Strait that connects Europe to Asia in the mysterious metropolis of Istanbul was a highpoint for the six-member South African team of adventurers, as were Turkey’s iconic UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ephesus, Troy, Pergamon, Pamukkale, Cappadocia and the WW1 battlefields of Gallipoli.
Following the mountainous Black Sea coastline, the expedition set itself a new objective: to reach the highest permanently inhabited settlements in Europe, which lie in the northern Caucus Mountains of Georgia near the border with Russia, before the first winter snows closed the challenging 4×4 Zigara Pass.
“It turned out to be a fascinating chapter,” explained legendary adventurer Kingsley Holgate, says legendary adventurer.
“The high-altitude villages of Ushguli, with their stone-built watch towers nestling beneath Mt Shkhura, the highest mountain in Georgia and other grand, snow-capped mountains are out of a medieval fairy tale and added to the many UNESCO World Heritage Site already visited by the expedition.”
“We’re Africans and the closest we’ve ever come to these conditions is in the Maluti mountain passes of Lesotho or the highlands of Ethiopia. But as we’d been warned, the journey through mud, snow and ice was extremely difficult but certainly proved the incredible capability of the all new Land Rover Discoveries and the heavily-loaded Defender 130.”
From northern Georgia, the expedition made its way south into Armenia, following ancient Silk Road mountain passes to stone-built World Heritage Site monasteries, through villages and mining towns reminiscent of the old days of Soviet occupation and enduring nights camping in sub-zero temperatures. Few, if any, South African-registered vehicles have ever reached these parts, but the waves and shouts of welcome from locals in their old Russian-made vehicles was heart-warming for the expedition team.
Apart from the three Land Rovers, one of the expedition members, Mike Nixon, who is also a member of the Land Rover Cape Epic mountain bike team, is cycling the journey to Kathmandu.
“It’s tough going,” he said, “Especially the snow-clad mountain passes in Georgia and Armenia, where temperatures drop to well below zero and the occasional, fierce Armenian sheep dog gives you a run for your money.”
123 days into the journey, on an overcast day at the border post between Armenia and Iran, underneath dark, brooding mountains, a large Islamic Republic of Iran flag flopping in the wind, the Cape to Kathmandu expedition team met up with a Russian Land Rover experience group also waiting to cross the border. There were shouts of welcome, mugs of coffee and photographs of the two teams. Here for the first time, messages of peace and goodwill were added to the Scroll in Russian and Farsi (Persian).
Africa has taught the team to be patient and seven hours later, after much paper shuffling and being shepherded from office to office, down came the entry stamp and the three Cape Town to Kathmandu Land Rovers crossed into Iran.
“Ahead lies a 2,000Km journey through the deserts of Iran, a testing crossing of the Baluchistan region with armed Pakistan guards, then onto Lahore and Islamabad,” said Kingsley.
“Then, the next geographic challenge will be the famous Karakoram Highway that traverses the Himalayas to China, then on through India, and if the Zen of Travel is on our side, our convoy of Land Rovers will reach Kathmandu in Nepal by 11 December.”
In Nepal, the expedition team will hand over messages of solidarity against rhino poaching from South African youth to Chitwan National Park in Nepal as part of the Foundation’s partnership with Project Rhino. Hundreds of Rhino Art messages from South African children in the expedition’s three Land Rovers and are en route to Nepal.
These will be handed over to Nepalese conservation officials and children living in communities bordering Chitwan National Park, before Kingsley and the team head to Kathmandu for the expedition’s finale.
To follow the team on their expedition go to the Kingsley Holgate Foundation Page on Facebook. For more info www.kingsleyholgate.com.
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