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Adventures with Kingsley Holgate (24)

Adventures with Kingsley Holgate (24)

Date: 2016-09-09
Taken from Kingsley's scribbles in the sweat-mud and blood-blotched pages of the 'Heart of Africa Expedition journal....

Who would have thought that after a tough Land Rover 6 country journey of over 9000kms it would be the last 17.6kms that would almost kill us. It became a physical and emotional nightmare of endurance that would run into the longest 7 days of my life. 7 days of grabbing roots to pull ourselves on our bellies through muddy goo, constant deep mud wading dragging falling and cutting pole bridges. Swatting, cursing and scratching, sweat bees crawling up our noses and into the corners of our eyes. Blood pouring from torn skin and one of the Ba'aka even take to binding our shins and forearms with green broad- leafed Marantancea leaves.

And then the moment of truth sets in. With 1.7kms of dangerous swamp ahead to reach the 'Heart' the Ba'aka realize we have bitten off more than we can chew and begin turning back. I collapse my stinking wet, aching body into a sitting position at the base of a tree that could well be over a thousand years old. Is this the end. I'm so exhausted I could just give up and die. But Ross is having none of it. 'Guys we've come this far and we will not fail, so using sign language and expedition member, Big Deon Schurmann's French we persuade the Ba'aka to lead us on.

Ross pulls me up by the hand, father and son, and with me the finest expedition team of diehards I could ever wish to journey with gather around in support. Seven hours later, in a daze of pain, I arrive at the co-ordinates as verified by the International Geographic Union. We slowly screw the Beacon into the roots of an ancient tree and then with some emotion I pour out the symbolic water that had been carried from the Cradle of Humankind. On the Beacon are the colours of the Republic of Congo,the words Geographic Heart of Africa-A tribute to Africa's Elephants and coordinates 17.05291 E. 2.07035 N.

Three days later after more untold hardships we complete our journey out to get back to the expedition Land Rovers where we ask our Ba'aka Pygmie friends to scribble their names into the Heart Of Africa Scroll of peace and goodwill. The spirit of these joyful Ba'aka people will remain in the hearts of the expedition team forever as the true unsung heroes of our journey. Thanks to them, a beacon that marks the geographic centre of the African Continent, now stands at the base of a tree deep in the swamps of the Congo rainforest, the lungs of Africa a vast area of over 200,000 sq Kms of pristine Mama Afrika that needs to be protected and treasured for future generations.