SOUTH AFRICA – Renowned South African 77-year-old explorer Kingsley Holgate and his expedition team embarked on a challenging new humanitarian and geographical odyssey [21 June].
This time to reach some of the wildest and most isolated regions on the African continent, as reported by Durban TV, a partner of TV BRICS. The 18-month expedition follows a challenging journey into the wild heart of 12 diverse African countries.
In a unique collaboration with conservation NGO African Parks, Afrika Odyssey the 41st Kingsley Holgate geographic and humanitarian expedition, is a heritage journey with the theme ‘conservation, culture and community’ theme’.
Departing from South Africa the Afrika Odyssey expedition aims to showcase the inspiring revival of 22 national parks managed by African Parks, covering 20 million hectares under protected area status, which form the basis of the continent’s biodiversity and benefit many thousands of people.
“During 40 expeditions to all 55 countries in Africa over the past 30 years, we have deeply appreciated Africa’s unique biodiversity and iconic wildlife, which is now under tremendous threat. For years we have asked: where can we find hope for Africa’s critically needed wild spaces and irreplaceable fauna and flora, and the communities that depend on them?
Fortunately, powerful and positive stories are emerging across the African continent stories that need to be told. With this new expedition, we hope to draw attention to the incredible work that is now being done,” said Kingsley.
Starting in the ancient Namib Desert of Iona National Park in the south-west corner of Angola, the journey will cover Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique, Rwanda, the Republic of Congo and Central African Republic, South Sudan and Chad in north Africa, and conclude in Benin, west Africa.
The Afrika Odyssey expedition will document ancient indigenous cultures, traditions and historic places of interest on its continent-wide journey. And, in the words of often unheard indigenous communities who depend on the survival of Africa’s natural landscapes, the expedition will record authentic and powerful stories of hope to create an enduring archive of positive, grassroots narratives in support of conservation from across Africa.
Africa is one of the largest continents (second only to Eurasia). It is almost equally divided into two halves by the equator; consequently, the continent stretches from the tropics in the North through the equator to the tropics in the South (only the outermost edges of Africa are slightly surrounded by the subtropics). The climate can be perfectly imagined without much verbiage it’s hot with a big day/night lutz.
African countries are unevenly endowed with water resources: the equatorial belt has a surplus of moisture, while arid regions have virtually no rivers and lakes. The largest water bodies in the world are the Nile, Congo, Niger, Orange, and Zambezi rivers, and the lakes of Victoria, Tanganyika, and Nyasa.
The name of the Afrika Odyssey expedition and logo has special significance as it is a revival of the very first major expedition undertaken by the Kingsley Holgate family in 1993, when they became the first South African expedition team to travel from Cape Agulhas to Alexandria in Egypt through the wild waterways of Africa. Thirty years later, they were revived to celebrate the 41st geographical and humanitarian journey of Kingsley Holgate, the renowned and beloved modern South African explorer.
