Holgates return to SA after epic 40,000km Land Rover journey

Being arrested by the military in war-torn Sudan and spending days at border posts dealing with bureaucracy was all part of the experience in the latest journey by Mzansi’s most famous exemplars of motoring wanderlust: Kingsley Holgate and his son Ross.

The bearded adventurers and their team have returned to SA after an epic nine-month, 40,000km trip driving Land Rovers across Africa and Europe.

The Defender Transcontinental Expedition was nicknamed the “hot Cape to cold Cape” trip after starting in Cape Agulhas on the southern tip of Africa and ending in Norway at the most northern border point in Europe. It was the 40th geographic and humanitarian odyssey for the explorer and his team.

Land Rover ambassador Kingsley and his team brought the long journey to a ceremonial finish by driving their three expedition-equipped Land Rover Defenders onto the beach at Red Wharf Bay in Wales, where the first Land Rover design was sketched in the sand by engineer Maurice Wilks in 1947. 

Being held in Sudan for three days by the military was one of the more unsettling experiences of the trip, but the team was let go after soldiers warmed to the compassionate aspect of the enterprise.

As with Holgate’s previous trips, the journey had a humanitarian purpose with the six-member team handing out mosquito nets along the expedition’s route through Africa to assist with malaria prevention. It’s a matter close to the hearts of Kingsley and Ross, who between them have had malaria more than 90 times.

Also, reading glasses were donated to elderly people in remote communities, and clean drinking water was delivered to drought-stricken regions of northern KwaZulu-Natal.

“When we started from Cape Agulhas, cross-border travel was extremely difficult because of Covid-19 restrictions,” expedition leader and logistics expert Ross said.

“Add to that, uprisings across the breadth of North Africa meant that for the first time in decades, Africa was pretty much off-limits to overland travellers. We had to reroute to avoid certain areas and in doing so, we inadvertently became the first expedition in 30 years to cross Africa from south to north through the two Sudans.”

Reaching Europe, the expedition traversed Greece, North Macedonia and the Western Balkan countries of Kosovo and Serbia, including a reroute through Montenegro, to reach Hungary and Slovakia. Avoiding the war in Ukraine, the team took roads less travelled through eastern Poland close to the border with Belarus and into the Baltic states of Lithuania (which according to Ross had the prettiest women on the trip), and then into Latvia and Estonia.

From there they crossed the Baltic Sea and traversed Finland before crossing into Norway and driving to the northernmost point in Europe accessible by car.

Apart from a dead battery the four-wheel-drive new-generation Defenders picked up no mechanical issues on the journey, which included many off-road forays.

Aside from the run-in with the military, the border-crossing red tape and uncountable checkpoints, the standout memory of the journey was how friendly people were, said the Holgates.

“What has been an overwhelming experience of this journey is how ordinary people in every country we’ve journeyed through, no matter their age, nationality, culture, race or religion, just want to live in peace,” Kingsley said.