Dispatch 42 - Disco's Can Do It - An Expedition Dispatch from Kingsley Holgate
Modern Day adventurer Kingsley Holgate and his expedition team have reached the halfway mark of their latest expedition to link 2 oceans, 9 countries, 7 Transfrontier Conservation Areas, more than 30 Nature Reserves and Game Parks and more importantly the communities adjacent to and within these areas. Backed by the governments of Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa, this world first Land Rover expedition will map out a Boundless Southern Africa adventure route that other 4x4 enthusiasts can follow. As in all Kingsley Holgate led expeditions, there' s a link between nature, culture and community, projects that include One Net One Life malaria prevention, Rite to Sight spectacles, box libraries in their literacy campaign and writing materials to remote schools - this time round there' s also LifeStraws for purified water, the Boundless Art Competition for conservation and the Boundless Soccer Challenge - a rural world cup for conservation leading up to 2010.
His latest dispatch is all about 4x4's - as always it's a story best told in his words...
With all this activity, extra Land Rovers and a number of volunteers have joined in to help and as always after a hard day around the campfire at night one gets to discussing 4x4's - the fastest, the toughest, deep water crossings, mud and deserts, tyres, roofracks, bullbars, suspensions, loading capacity - another enamel mug of Captain is poured and some goat sizzles on the coals. Tonight I' m having my leg pulled. " You look great in an old Landy Defender. But now you' re pulling the ring out of it," laughs Hugh Roe, who' s just flown in to the Zambezi from Cape Town, he' s a great guy to have on expedition, even been with us down the Niger to Timbuktu as a volunteer on the recent Outside Edge Expedition when we took three Landy Defenders on a 448 day journey through 33 countries around the Outside Edge of Africa. " But to see you and Ross leading the convoy in Land Rover Discoveries - isn' t that an incredible break in tradition?" questions Hugh. " You' re bloody right," I reply, as I throw another piece of Camel Thorn on the fire. " It was a huge leap in faith, but I' d figured we' d done our time in old Landy Series 1' s, 2' s and 3' s, forward controls, TDi' s and remember Hugh we even took two Defender TD5' s around the world on the Tropic of Capricorn. We' ve had the shake, rattle and roll, the familiar growling of the engine, the hum of the transmission, rain leaking onto the accelerator foot, the hand-brake wedged against your left calf - Landy Defenders will always be part of our lives. Look around you. On this expedition there' s an old 130 long-wheel based TD5 that has spent seven years on various journeys in the footsteps of famous explorers - she became part of a book and a documentary; there' s a little canvas top 90 shorty that' s doing the mapping for Garmin; there' s an old battered Africa Outside Edge TDi that now carries the mosquito nets, libraries, soccer balls and a PA system that' s used at the Boundless soccer games; and an old green TD5 double cab that' s loaded to the hilt with expedition supplies." " But be honest, how are the Disco' s doing?" continues Hugh. " Can they really do the job?" I call expedition photographer Mad Mike over and ask him to flip open his smash proof laptop on which there are hundreds of great expedition visuals. " Here' s the proof, Hugh - have a look at these& " He can' t believe it - pics of the Discos' piled high with equipment, boulder hopping over high mountain passes in Lesotho, carrying kit for community days, ploughing through soft sand, wading through rivers, lying side-ways in gooey mud on the Angolan border, bouncing over Mopani pole bridges in first gear low ratio and being scratched and bruised as we follow the overgrown Old Cattle Trail from Nxai Pan to Pandamatenga - more than three months of tough expedition work already behind us, and they haven' t missed a beat. I nudge Hugh in the ribs. " We' ve earned it my friend, no more back-ache, you flick a switch and the air suspension rises, flick another and you' re into high or low ratio, twiddle a knob and you' re into rock crawl, mud ruts or sand - you can even move over to command shift, 3rd' s great, it eats up the soft Kalahari sand and the low revs mean you don' t chow diesel. When it comes to doing a bit of towing and recovery work, she' s a demon." We' ve never had it so good, and in keeping with the exploration nature of our journeys, we' ve nicknamed them Congo and Zambezi&
Next day I hand Hugh my Disco keys. "You've got Zambezi for the afternoon." I squeeze behind the wheel of the old Defender 130. There's that old familiar smell and feel, the grunt and growl of the engine. It's not 20 minutes and Hugh's excited voice comes over the radio: "Jeez Boss," he says excitedly, "now I understand what you mean."
