5 000 years of history in a Land Rover Defender

The Kingsley Holgate Foundation shares a three-part Land Rover story, reminiscing about past expeditions and the magic of undertaking each in a Land Rover Defender.

Part 1.

Whilst on the ‘Hot Cape to Cold Cape’ Defender Expedition from Cape Agulhas to Nordkapp in Norway’s Arctic Circle, we made a point of stopping and chatting to other Defenders and even older Series-type Landies and their equally colourful owners, which we bumped into along the way.

This expedition tradition gathered momentum right across Africa, through Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, and all the way to Anglesey in Wales, where in 1947 the first Land Rover design was scripted in the sand by Maurice Wilkes.

This ‘meet and greet’ with other Landies was more than just the traditional ‘Defender Wave’ that owners give one another – although there were plenty of those. On meeting, we’d scribble down the year of manufacture of each Landy and subtract it from the current year.

READ | 50 000km in a Defender through Africa’s harshest terrain

For example: if we met up with a 1998 Defender, we’d subtract that from 2021 (and later 2022), which would be 24 years – then we’d grab a pic or two and have a chat. The purpose of documenting these chance encounters was to see how many years of Land Rover history we could notch up by the end of the expedition.

First up was at our departure from Cape Agulhas in October 2021 where, braving the mist and rain, local Landy Series and Defender owners gathered to form a Guard of Honour below the historic lighthouse.

Thanks to the guys at Karoo 2.25 in Hermanus, Nekkies from Gateway 4×4 Centre and the team from Melvill & Moon, there was a huge family of vintage Landies; what wonderful solidarity and an inspiring expedition send-off that made us feel both privileged and humbled.

This incredible ‘esprit de cour’ only happens with Landy owners and by the time we crossed the Breede River on the Malgas ferry, we’d already chalked up over 1 000 years of Land Rover history!

That was just the beginning as good mates Greg and Dave accompanied us through the Baviaanskloof in ‘Noodles’, their old 1995 never-miss-a-beat Defender.

At 4×4 MegaWorld in PE, we met up with another clutch of noble Defenders and their owners for a tree-planting fundraiser with Dr William Fowlds of the Conservation Landscapes Initiative, who with the Tanglewood Foundation and Rhodes University, was setting up to plant tens of thousands of Albany Thicket trees on old, barren farmlands.

In time, this will mean the return of wildlife to these once verdant areas and a great tourism boost for the Eastern Cape. For now, it offset the expedition’s carbon footprint and made our journey the first of its kind to be carbon neutral. Thanks again to all the Defender crews and drivers who pitched up on the night – a great gesture that brought the ‘Landy History’ tally to close on 2 000 years.

Wow! Now the game was on, as we next met up with keen mountain biker and Land Rover devotee Charles Mansfield in Ladybrand with his ‘Green Monster’, a Huey-green-and-white Series II with the delightful quirk of giving a gratuitous blast on the hooter every time it turned left, which added a further 67 years to our records.

Charles, a delightful character and true son of Africa, had mountain-biked the famous Freedom Challenge, raised money for rhino conservation and previously helped us with our humanitarian work. So impressed was he by our new expedition Defenders that he added a new D300 to his own stable. Sadly, Charles has passed away and will be sorely missed by Heidi, his family and many friends.

RIP, Charles, buddy, you’re a legend.

After completing the high mountain passes of the Eastern Cape, we reunited with ex-muso Rasta Graham who, can you believe it, has every Land Rover Series and Defender model tattooed on his biceps. We threw out our bedrolls at his ‘Landy Nursery’ (that’s what he calls it) at Ifafa on the KZN South Coast, where amidst a mind-boggling collection of early Series models, Rasta Graham trades in old Land Rover bits and pieces.

His personal adventure vehicle (called Vumbi) is a 1996 Defender Tdi 300, which has taken him and his wife Bianca all over sub-Saharan Africa. What a character! Graham rattles off the history of all his Landies with names like Sir Gerry, Huff n’ Puff and Old Blu – adding a further 157 years to the expedition’s register.

But it’s not just guys – what about the Landy Ladies who also love their charismatic vehicles? Hiding amongst the valleys and mountains of the Eastern Cape, we met Margie Murray at her little shop across from the historic Rhodes Hotel, where she introduced us to her pride and joy – a 2004 TD5 130, long-wheelbase Defender, increasing our score by another 17 years of hard, high altitude work.

Still more Land Rover ladies: we bump into the madcap, wildlife-loving duo of Yolande van Breda and Carla Geyser. Carla of the Blue Sky Society adores the boxy profile of her 24 year-old Dora – her ‘soul mate’, complete with bright pink rims, enviable expedition kit and close to 300 000 clicks on the clock.

Yolande’s Chi-Chi, also a ‘97 Tdi Shorty, was the backdrop to her surprise wedding.

Thankfully she said, ‘I Do!’ to Ron, and Chi-Chi – gaily decorated with ‘Just Married’ graffiti and a string of tin cans bouncing behind – made a great wedding car and added a further 24 years of history to our story. Landies, you see, are all about fun, romance and great adventures – how lucky we are to be part of it.

Then on the Dolphin Coast, there’s Bjorne Meehan, the proud owner of chassis number A739. Born in 1967, she’s an immaculate Series IIA in green with fire-engine-red rims and steering wheel. This old girl has a delightful gastronomical difference, especially if you have a taste for the best of North Coast pizzas cooked to perfection in the two gas-fired ovens that nestle perfectly inside her tailgate. Called ‘Pizza BAE’, she’s the talk of the town.

North into Zululand, with the transcontinental adventure only just beginning, we caught up with larger-than-life Eshowe farmer Steve Dahl. His 1958 Series I started life as a police vehicle in Bulawayo and years later in 2016, went on to tackle the high mountain passes of Lesotho as part of a 70-year tribute to the Land Rover brand. This little 88” is nicknamed Sir Bhejane (the Zulu word for black rhino) because of its tackle-anything character.

A few months after waving us goodbye, Steve – with a clutch of other old Landy owners – took off on his own epic crossing of Africa in Sir Bhejane. What a crazy, back-in-time adventure! As we neared the cliffs of Nordkapp in the Arctic Circle, Steve and his crew bumped and growled their way into hot and heaving Cairo, then on to Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast.

“I’ll rest a while, then take my 67-year-old piece of automotive jewellery all the way to Nordkapp and the place of my Nordic ancestors!” said Steve with a chuckle.

What a coincidence: there we were crossing Africa in three state-of-the-art new Defenders named Isibindi, Mamba and Moyo only adding three years each to the Landy Register – and not long afterwards, along came Steve and his team in their ancient Landies doing almost the same Cape to Cairo route, and proving it can still be done in iconic yester-year vehicles. Steve – we’re in awe – well done to you and your team.

Further into Zululand – what a pleasure to meet up with the ever-helpful father and son ‘Landy Man’ team of Rick and Richard Sparks who are a lifeline for Landy travellers. Green runs thick in their veins and they work magic when it comes to keeping the old girls running.

Wherever we go, old Landies still give that quintessential ‘Out of Africa’ feel to the wildlife areas we travel through. Like Heinz Kohrs, the veterinary doctor and owner of the Pongola Game Reserve that’s well known for its White Elephant Lodge, whose personal bush vehicle is a 66-year old Series I in perfect nick.

Heinz, from his sanctuary below the ancient Lubombo mountain range, is also the custodian of several Land Rover oldies, one of which is nicknamed Blythe. She’s on display at a camp called The Loose Mongoose where she rests as a tribute to legendary conservationists Blythe and Digs Pascoe, who gave much of their lives to bashing around in this battered old Landy, relentlessly fighting the scourge of rhino and elephant poaching in Namibia and SA.

This gathering of stories and pics of old Landies met along the way adds a quirky element to the journey. What’s especially rewarding is the presence of old Defenders that pitch up to assist with the humanitarian and conservation work that is such an integral part of all our expeditions.

Wonderful characters like Adam Turk and his Jerry Can Club team of volunteers, who also contributed some bucks to our expedition fuel costs, which as we reached Europe and Norway, became a killer.

Adding even more history and character to the Landy tally is regular expedition participant ‘Makhuthala’ Ian Gourley in his tough-looking 2015 TD5 Defender aptly nicknamed Insele (Honey Badger), which also helped carry thousands of DoMore nutritional food packs to mums and children in deeply rural areas during the long months of Covid-19 lockdown. ‘Defenders doing good ‘ – they’re always there to help.

And so, with the expedition’s ‘Landy Register’ already sitting at 2 487 years of history, we crossed into Moz and hit the long road north towards Alexandria in Egypt. East Africa we knew would have its fair share of Landies to meet. Further north, the war raging in Ethiopia and border closures would force us re-route through South Sudan and the Republic of Sudan…. perhaps a few old Landy desert taxis could still be found?

And who knows who we’ll bump into whilst crossing Eastern Europe before reaching the northern-most point you can drive to in the Arctic Circle – let alone the expedition’s endpoint in Anglesey, Wales, where the word is out for a bit of a historic Landy gathering.

Maybe – just maybe – we’ll reach our whimsical goal of tallying up over 5 000 years of colourful Land Rover history!