Kingsley Holgate and Land Rover South Africa have once again joined forces to fight malaria-related deaths in Africa, with the latest venture entitled the United Against Malaria 2010 Expedition.
The project, set off from the Lesedi Cultural Village in the Cradle of Humankind on World Malaria Day, in April, accompanied by a host of early Land Rovers from the Land Rover Owners Club, the Lesedi cultural dancers and a large contingent of media, sponsors and supporters.
United Against Malaria is the latest initiative, and proudly continues the many years of dedicated work conducted by Kingsley, Gill and Ross Holgate - and supported by Land Rover South Africa - under the One Net One Life banner.
"This expedition aims to capture the energy and common purpose of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, and use this to overcome malaria on the African continent," Holgate says.
"It includes soccer-themed malaria distribution events in rural communities, all with a strong malaria prevention and education theme. We use trained local malaria prevention educators to highlight the importance of using mosquito nets properly, rather than simply dumping the nets as so often happens in Africa to ensure the sustainability of the programme once we leave."
The expedition route will visit 12 African countries, and is set to cover approximately 20 000 km, while distributing 10 000 mosquito nets and providing malaria prevention education to almost 1-million people leading up to the start of the World Cup in June.
With mothers sharing a net with two or three children, this has the potential to save around 30 000 lives - which is a significant contribution towards malaria prevention, considering that a child dies roughly every 30 seconds in Africa from this devastating yet preventable disease.
Following the tradition of the many previous Holgate expeditions, the team carries a United Against Malaria Scroll of Peace and Goodwill which will be endorsed and messaged by people in each of the countries, cities and villages visited en route. The scroll will be returned to South Africa ahead of the World Cup to be endorsed by the world's premier football stars.
And, as always, the famous colourful calabash remains an important symbolic 'member' of the trip, carrying water collected at the Cradle of Humankind, which will be poured out at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro at the end of the expedition on the 7th June 2010.
Saving and improving lives through adventure
The journey certainly takes the team's well-known concept of 'saving and improving lives through adventure' to an entirely new realm, visiting many of Africa's most iconic destinations.
The first major challenge was taking a United Against Malaria flag to the top of Mount Mulanje in Malawi, the highest point in central Africa. This milestone was achieved by Ross, and his wife Anna, on 1 May 2010.
While the younger Holgate pairing were climbing Mulanje, Kingsley and Mashozi (as Gill is affectionately known) were leading a team through Mozambique, hosting soccer events at rural schools and communities, and distributing life-saving nets to pregnant mothers, and moms with children under the age of five - those most vulnerable to the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito.
Heading north, numerous other geographic highlights await, including visiting the Victoria Falls, Lake Tanganyika (Africa's longest and deepest lake), the lip of the Kalambo Falls (more than twice the height of the Victoria Falls), Lake Kivu and the famous mountain gorillas in Rwanda, the summit of Mount Stanley in the famed Ruwenzoris (known as the Mountains of the Moon) and Lake Victoria (Africa's largest lake).
As a grand finale, Ross will be joined by a team that includes SA cricket legend Jonty Rhodes to take a UAM flag to the top of Uhuru Peak, the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest freestanding mountain in the world at 5 895 m.
United Against Malaria bracelet project
Another important element tied into the United Against Malaria Expedition is the launch of the UAM bracelet project.
The colourful United Against Malaria bracelet continues the age-old legacy of African beads, but is now being used to support the purchase and distribution of mosquito nets across the continent, while also supporting job creation in poor communities.
The bracelets are made by unemployed people in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where a non-profit organisation has established small production units.
Income from the sale of the bracelets, which are sold in South Africa, and indeed around the world, at a cost of R25 (US$3.00 / €3.00) is directed back and administration of the social enterprise (R3,00), paying those making the bracelets (R3,50) and towards the fund for malaria nets (approximately R8,00 or US$1.00).
Powered by Land Rover Discovery 4
Kingsley Holgate and Land Rover are virtually synonymous, having together achieved numerous world-firsts, including crossing Africa from east to west, circumnavigating the globe on the Tropic of Capricorn and tracing the outside edge of this colourful continent on an historic 449-day expedition.
On the most recent adventure, the 2009 Boundless Expedition, which united nature, culture and community and took in the transfrontier parks across southern Africa, the team swapped the venerable Defender for the sophisticated Discovery 3.
Although some traditionalists were less than enthusiastic about the move, the Disco 3 proved that it's perfectly capable of conquering everything Africa can throw at it.
"At times we had the water level just below the breather snorkel, had them on their sides, had them in the mud winching from Mopani tree to Mopani tree," Kingsley reminisces. "We drove them exactly the way we did the old Defenders. The only thing we didn't do was jump onto the bonnet from the roofrack as we used to with the Defender."
"We didn't have a single problem with the Discovery, and people find that very interesting. Here you have a state-of-the-art vehicle that's proven to be able to take on Africa, and succeed."
The exceptional new Discovery 4 (in 3.0 TDV6 SE-specification) carries the 2010 UAM expedition and, from the outset, it has already impressed the crew with its even greater levels of comfort and refinement, while the new¬ United Against Malaria is a fast expedition, covering a lot of ground in a relatively short time," Kingsley says. "And in order to achieve this, we need the right kind of vehicles. Life marches on, we need to move with the times, and what the Discovery does is take a lot of the sweat out of an expedition."
"This is our first expedition in the Discovery 4, and it may well be the first to take place worldwide for the latest model," Kingsley enthuses. "It's fantastic that we're using the latest in modern technology to fight an ancient disease."
