Holgate to track ‘Mzansi edge’ in new expedition

With the easing of travel restrictions in SA, Kingsley Holgate and his team are about to embark on a new adventure – this time to track the outline of Mzansi.

Called the ‘Mzansi Edge Expedition’, this journey will give the Kingsley Holgate Foundation its first long-distance test of the recently-launched new Land Rover Defender while delivering humanitarian aid to those in need along the way.

ALSO READ: Rabies Awareness Month – 5 facts about the disease

The expidition will cover 10 000km over 70 days, following the entire land border of SA and track the Atlantic and Indian Ocean coastlines.

Aside from putting the new Defenders to their first real world test, the expedition will include several geographic and humanitarian objectives.

It will begin at the country’s most easterly point near Kosi Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal in mid-September, with the symbolic filling of Holgate’s traditional Zulu calabash.

From there the team will travel in an anti-clockwise direction, staying as close as possible to South Africa’s borderline, to reach the most northerly point on the border with Zimbabwe, the extreme westerly point at the mouth of the Orange River on the Atlantic seaboard and Cape Agulhas, the most southerly point of the African continent.

While journeying up the Indian Ocean coastline, the expedition will break away to circumnavigate the border with Lesotho, before rejoining the east coast and ending back at Kosi Bay in late November.

The challenging route will cover eight of SA’s nine provinces, include World Heritage Sites such as Mapungubwe, ancient deserts, coastal dunes, precipitous cliff trails and river crossings.

The expedition will see rare geological formations and extreme mountain passes, soft sand 4×4 tracks, iconic landscapes, unique biomes such as the Cape Floral Kingdom and world-renowned wildlife areas.

The expedition also aims to reach all 52 lighthouses along the west and east coasts and will research and record stories of SA’s ‘edge’ – from ancient civilisations to modern times.

‘After five months of lockdown, you can well imagine how a fellow like me who suffers from constant wanderlust, is desperate to get out and explore again,’ said Holgate.

‘So many of our journeys have been in search of wild and distant destinations deep in Africa, but now an opportunity exists for us to explore our own Mzansi to outline this world in one country that we’re proud citizens of – and to bring charity close to home.’

Holgate explained as September is Tourism Month in SA, it is only right that the Mzansi Edge Expedition’s humanitarian focus will be on distributing 200 000 meals to needy families close to wildlife parks, as well as to early childhood development centres and crèches in rural communities, in partnership with the DoMore Foundation and others.

They will also distribute face masks and sanitising soap to families, as well as digital thermometers to community groups and organisations that need to maintain strict Covid-19 health protocols.

The Holgate team will be joined by other South African adventurers to tackle parts of the route by mountain bike, canoe and on foot.

These include veteran mountain biker ‘Shova Mike’ Nixon, one of only four people in the world to have completed every ABSA Cape Epic, Everest mountaineers Sibusiso Vilane and André Bredenkamp, and adventure runner David Grier, the first person in history to run the Great Wall of China in both directions.

They will also meet up with fellow Land Rover ambassador and international rugby player, Bryan Habana, in Cape Town to assist the Habana Foundation with its humanitarian outreach in Cape communities.

HAVE YOUR SAY Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

For news straight to your phone invite us:

WhatsApp – 060 784 2695

Instagram – zululand_observer