South Africa: Holgate Foundation embarks on Mozambique expedition with Land Rover Defender convoy

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South Africa: Holgate Foundation embarks on Mozambique expedition with Land Rover Defender convoy

8:43 CAT | 04 Jun 2025

Image: Land Rover via Women In Motoring South Africa

A convoy of Land Rover Defender vehicles is heading North {from South Africa] as part of the Kingsley Holgate Foundation’s latest expedition into Mozambique.

The mission, called the Greater Gorongosa Expedition, sets out today and focuses on delivering malaria prevention tools, educational materials, and basic aid to rural communities near Gorongosa National Park.

The Holgate Foundation is known for combining off-road exploration with humanitarian work, and this trip marks another chapter in a relationship with Defender that spans more than two decades.

The team will travel in a mix of modern and older Defender models, continuing a long tradition of relying on the vehicle’s off-road capability in remote parts of Africa.

Two new Defender 130s, nicknamed ‘Moyo’ and ‘Isibindi’, will lead the expedition. Both recently completed a 62 000-kilometre journey through 21 African countries during the Afrika Odyssey trip. They’ll be joined by four classic Defender models that have been part of earlier Holgate journeys. The vehicles are loaded with gear and medical supplies, including mosquito nets intended for families in high-risk malaria zones.

The expedition highlights the continuing health challenges in Mozambique, where malaria remains one of the leading causes of child mortality. According to the World Health Organisation, sustained efforts are still needed in the region. During its last major campaign, the foundation distributed nearly 16 000 mosquito nets.

While the new Defenders bring updated tech and improved comfort, the inclusion of older models is a nod to the vehicle’s role in previous expeditions.

Ross Holgate, who leads the mission, said the combination of new and old Defenders reflects the evolution of the brand while maintaining the same core purpose—reaching places that are difficult to access and doing meaningful work when they get there.

The team departed from Hoedspruit following a community send-off at a local environmental camp. They’re expected to spend the next few weeks navigating rugged terrain in one of Southern Africa’s most biodiverse regions.

About Kingsley Holgate

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Born under African skies into a missionary family, Kingsley’s adventures started at a young age. Countless hours spent on his father’s lap, he was enthralled by stories of the great Victorian explorers. This led to many missionary journeys with his parents into the wilds of Africa – as far as the old Belgium Congo – that were to plant the seeds for Kingsley’s own epic journeys of discovery.

It’s taken much of a lifetime, but no other group of adventurers have completed journeys of exploration (many of them world-firsts) that include: an expedition that tracked the entire outline of the African continent through 33 countries in 449 days; a south-to-north journey from the Cape of Good Hope to Alexandria and the mouth of the Nile along the waterways of Africa; an east-to-west crossing along the Zambezi and Congo Rivers in the footsteps of early explorers Livingstone and Stanley during the years of civil war in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo; following the Tropic of Capricorn around the world by Land Rover; a year sailing a traditional lateen-rigged Arab dhow up the east coast of Africa to Somalia and back; two transcontinental expeditions: Cape Town to Kathmandu, and the first ‘Hot Cape – Cold Cape’ journey for the new Land Rover Defender from Cape Agulhas (Africa’s southern-most point) to Nordkapp in Norway’s Arctic Circle, and in a series of humanitarian and geographic expeditions, embracing all 54 countries on the African continent including all the island states.

The Kingsley Holgate expedition team have also achieved two significant, geographic world-firsts: the discovery of the geographic centre-point of Africa deep in the rainforests of the Republic of Congo, and reaching all seven extreme geographic points (‘poles’) of the African continent – both verified by the International Geographic Union.

But in the midst of all this, was a deep need to give something back to the people of Mama Afrika. For Kingsley and the team, it was about finding a cause close to our hearts and truly making a difference to the lives of rural Africans. So, with the by-line, ‘Using adventure to save and improve lives’, the Kingsley Holgate Foundation was formed, with the humanitarian initiatives of malaria prevention, water purification, and Rite to Sight spectacles for the poor-sighted. Using personal funding initially, the work has grown from strength to strength and now, thanks to the support of the Foundation’s partners, more than four million lives have been touched.

The Foundation’s South Africa-based Early Childhood Development programme also continues to nurture young children in the all-important 0-to-6years age group by upgrading impoverished rural creches into ‘centres of hope’, providing educational ECD materials and distributing nutritional DoMore meals.

Wildlife conservation, especially of critically endangered species such as elephants and rhinos threatened by poaching is also a key interest and so the Kingsley Holgate Foundation’s Conservation & Communities initiative continues to build lasting connections between nature, culture and community. In 2021 we expanded this programme to include Carbon Neutral Expeditions: all our geographic and humanitarian journeys are now fully carbon neutral, with CO² emissions offset through the planting of thousands of indigenous trees.

We pay tribute to our partners, without whose help the Foundation’s achievements would not be possible and thank the hundreds of individuals – expedition members, volunteers, friends and communities – all over Africa who’ve helped make these geographic and humanitarian journeys of discovery possible.

Using adventure to improve and save lives

Using adventure to improve and save lives – that is the key concept of the Kingsley Holgate Foundation, founded by one of Africa’s most colourful modern day explorers. Kingsley Holgate is a humanitarian adventurer, author, TV personality, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Land Rover Ambassador, speaker at the New York Explorers Club and a legend that Getaway Magazine calls ‘the most travelled man in Africa’.

On every expedition – many of them world-firsts – the Kingsley Holgate Foundation team actively work to prevent malaria amongst pregnant women and mothers with young children who are the most vulnerable, provide the gift of sight to poor-sighted, mostly elderly people in remote regions, reduce the spread of water-borne diseases and provide potable water to drought-stricken communities, upgrade impoverished Early Childhood Development centres and proactively support wildlife conservation efforts, especially of critically endangered species such as elephant and rhino.

Having explored all 54 countries on the African continent during 40 expeditions, no other team of modern-day explorers have achieved so much in using the energy of adventure to make such a positive difference to the lives of so many.

They are also the only expedition team in history to have followed the Tropic of Capricorn around the world by Land Rover, tracked the entire outline of Africa through 33 countries, discovered the geographic centre-point of the continent deep in the Congo rainforests, and reached all 7 of Africa’s extreme geographic points.

I’ve loved Land Rover Defenders for as long as I can remember, and followed and written about previous Holgate expeditions. Feeling honoured to be joining the latest.

Thanks to @OrmsDirect I’ll be documenting the adventure with some awesome @CanonRSA and @DJIGlobal kit 📸 pic.twitter.com/dZEVj8Je1y

— oliverkeohane (@OliverKeohane) June 3, 2025