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Kingsley Holgate and his Land Rover
Expeditions are legendary in Africa. This African adventurer has
undertaken some of the most exciting and unique African
adventures. Kingsley takes his Land Rovers where others fear to
go. His expeditions are not just overland trans Africa type trips
on roads and tracks. Holgate adventures follow ancients foot
paths, navigational lines, continental outlines and geographic
pathways. Also his adventures don't take huge backup crews and
support vehicles. His adventuring family travels in Land
Rovers with overland kit. The Kingsley Holgate
expedition books detail his adventures.
His vehicles are sponsored by Land
Rover. It is fitting for such a legendary explorer to use such a
legendary vehicle.
Kingsley comments: "You'll
always get some bloke that complains about dust or a rattle but
when you buy a Landy what you really pay for is a tough, off-road
4x4 chassis, transmission, steering wheel, a never-say-die engine,
and four wheels. The rest is for free! So don't complain, just
enjoy one of the finest heritage 4x4's in the world."
Kingsley has a long history with Land
Rovers, he started off with a Series 2 back in the 70's. This
series 2 was used to carry trading supplies to his trading store
in the Nkwalini Valley in Zululand. It also fulfilled many other
functions as you would expect including an ambulance and a water
truck.
Eventually the Holgates got into
safaris, running Safaris in Zululand. They offered
expeditions to remote areas and villages in Zululand. By all
accounts Kingsley was using a Series 3 station wagon. The attached
picture appeared in the Getaway magazine and was send in by a
reader on one of these guided tours back in 1977.
 The
first Kingsley Holgate Expedition was a Cape to Cairo trip down
Africas waterways.
They used this trip together with their aquired skills in movie
making to start a legacy of documented modern day adventures.
Their first major land expedition using Land Rovers was the Great
Explorers Expedition in the footsteps of David Livingstone.
According to Kingsley this decision was pretty obvious "It's
not surprising that when we got into serious expeditioning, our
vehicle of choice remained a Land Rover." This expedition used
two green standard Land Rover Defenders, a TD5 110 Station Wagon
and a TD5 130.
The next expedition was in 2004,
the Rufiji Expedition followed the footsteps of Captain Frederick
Courtenay Selous. The two trusty Land Rovers were used as support
vehicles for this river expedition.
 The
next big expedition was the Capricorn adventure, a round the world
trip by Land Rover, boat and bicycle following the Tropic of
Capricorn. White Land Rover TD5 Defenders were used, and this time
it was a 110 Station wagon and a 110 hardtop. This trip had to
cross some serious terrain as they were following a compass and
not a road.
The latest expedition is call the
Outside Edge Expedition, a circumnavigation of the outer edge of
the African continent. This trip has already had some challenges
travelling up the West African Coast through the diamond mining
areas and the Namib desert. The vehicles are 3 white TD5 Land
Rover Defenders, two 110 station wagons and a 130 double cab.
 The
Outside Edge expedition had an amazing send off with a world
record Land Rover convoy leaving from Cape Point. Kingsley was
pretty impressed with the turn out and wrote: "You
have proved that Land Rover owners are not afraid of challenges.
You've braved the elements to succeed in the
world´s longest Land
Rover Humanitarian convoy ever to have left the Cape of Good Hope.
We have also cracked a Guinness record which is being sent off to
them for ratification. More importantly, you succeeded in a
massive show of solidarity in the fight against malaria proving
that Landy owners care for Africa. Thanks for saving and improving
lives through adventure. Hope to see you in a year’s time."
(The world record is subject to official confirmation.)
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