FOLLOWING THE INVISIBLE LINE
Twenty-five years ago, Gill (Mashozi), Ross and I set out on an adventure that would become a piece of Land Rover history. Over 18 months, we drove two Defenders around the world by land, following the invisible line of the Tropic of Capricorn.
What an incredible journey it turned out to be.
In those days, we dodged unexploded land mines in Mozambique, risked predators as we traversed the Kruger National Park on foot, encountered fascinating African cultures and crossed the vast Kalahari and Namib deserts.
In Brazil, still following the Tropic of Capricorn, we crossed the wet tropical jungles of the Serra do Mar, negotiated the concrete jungles of São Paulo, crossed the Rio Piranha and the Mato Grosso, battled our way through the wilds of Paraguay and, in those old Defenders, crossed the Andes before tackling the Atacama Desert – the driest place on Earth.
It was a world-first for Land Rover.
And the Aussies told us we would never make it.
But we did.
From the Great Barrier Reef, across the Simpson Desert – the largest parallel sand-dune desert in the world – through the big red Gibson Desert, we battled our way across the widest part of Australia to finally reach the ocean.
Then came Madagascar, a fascinating, lost-in-time island that proved to be one of the most difficult sections of the entire journey.
Now, a quarter of a century later, it was time for father and son to return to Africa and relive a chapter of that epic expedition.
DISPATCH 1 — AND SO, THE GREAT CROSSING BEGINS
23° 26′ S – THE NAMIB
There is something wonderfully appropriate about beginning an expedition at the place where desert meets ocean.
It is a thrilling race against the tide to reach our starting point. We skirt the swampy terrain around Sandwich Harbour, pass the rusting wreck of the tugboat Shawnee, and then slide the Defenders down the towering dunes towards the Atlantic.
This is where the journey begins.
At 23°26′S, with Cape fur seals frolicking in the cold Atlantic swell, we fill our symbolic expedition calabash with seawater.
It is the same calabash used 25 years ago.
A small object, perhaps, but one carrying a huge amount of history.
This time, Kingsley and Ross are joined by expedition regulars Brad Hansen and Graeme Madsen, together with the Milne family – George, Carol, Adam and Sara.
From west to east, following the Tropic of Capricorn, the expedition begins in true African adventure fashion.
With the Atlantic behind us, our convoy of Defenders tackles the soaring red dunes of the Namib Desert – one of the oldest, wildest and most extraordinary landscapes on Earth.
Looking back through the 2001 Capricorn Expedition journal, these words still jump from the page:
“It was an immediate baptism of fire… We dug, winched and pushed, lowering the tyres to under one bar.
We roared up the hard, wind-blown sides of massive dunes, flew the front half of the Landies over the summits and slid down the steep, soft slip-faces. The sand avalanches roared in our ears like jumbo jets.
At times, we were so exhausted that we simply lay back in the soft sand, too tired to move.”
Twenty-five years later?
Not much has changed!
We are once again skirting the same ancient, fossilised desert dunes, some 40–50 million years old.
And there is something incredibly special about camping wild in a place like this. The silence. The space. The sense that, for a while at least, you have the entire planet to yourself.
Of course, crossing the Namib is never quite as easy as it looks.
There is plenty of digging, sand mats, winching, pulling and a fair amount of teamwork.
Eventually, with the soft-sand embrace of the ancient Namib behind us, we descend into the tree-lined Kuiseb Canyon.
Another campfire. Another night beneath an enormous African sky.
Somehow, we made The Crossing.
What a thrilling adventure.
And this is only the beginning.
We’ll keep sharing.
Images credit Kingsley Holgate Foundation.
This article is written by Kingsley Holgate, renowned African explorer, adventurer, humanitarian and author. For more than three decades, Kingsley has undertaken some of Africa’s most challenging and inspiring expeditions, travelling across remote wilderness areas in Land Rovers and using adventure to raise awareness and support for conservation and humanitarian causes. Together with his family and expedition teams, he has explored Africa’s wild places from coast to coast, documenting extraordinary landscapes, wildlife, cultures and people along the way. His expeditions have become legendary for their spirit of adventure, endurance, discovery and commitment to Africa.
