Kingsley Holgate

Considered a bit of David Livingstone himself Kingsley Holgate the Grey Beard of African Adventure is one of Africa's most colorful Modern day Explorers. Well known on National Geographic Television, Kingsley is also a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His adventures many of which are world firsts include his son Ross and wife Gill. As a family they completed a 1993 Cape to Cairo journey in open boats, the Zambezi and Congo Rivers in the footsteps of Livingstone and Stanley and a circumnavigation of Lake Turkana the world's largest desert lake. Following in the footsteps of the early explorers the Holgate family has survived countless attacks of Malaria, the threat of bandits and wild animals, landmines. Called "Extreme Latitude" and travelling on foot, by bicycle, bullock cart, dugout and Land Rover, Kingsley Holgate and his adventurous family have circumnavigated the world by land following the Tropic of Capricorn.

Their next Odyssey was called the African Rainbow Expedition; a journey by traditional Arab Dhow up the East Coast of Africa in Support of Malaria Prevention.

Despite his love of travel and adventure, Kingsley's roots are planted firmly in Zululand. He lives with his wife Gill on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast.

Fans of Kingsley Holgate and his wild adventures, tackled fearlessly with his petite wife Gill and son Ross and a varying band of expedition members, will relish this new series of epic exploits. Always game to venture where many before him have feared to tread, Kingsley and his entourage have set out to honour those tough, courageous early explorers of the African continent. David Livingstone, Henry Morton Stanley, Frederick Courtney Selous, John Hanning Speke and others all faced starvation, fever and often death to open up Africa to the Western world. Like these brave and tenacious individuals, the Holgate party tackle mighty rivers such as the Nile, Congo, Rovuma and Rufiji, negotiating angry rapids, thrashing with crocodiles and startling territorial hippos. Circumnavigating Africa's greatest lakes – Niassa, Victoria and Tanganyika – they battle demonic high winds and water, and endure the blistering furnace of the desolate lava-bouldered Jade Sea's shores. These are tales of such daring, courage and endurance that it's impossible for readers to tire of the Kingsley family's high adventures.

Capricorn – Following the Invisible Line is legendary adventurer Kingsley Holgate's record of his journey around the world along the Tropic of Capricorn. Kingsley, his wife, Gill, and their son, Ross – with different expedition members on each continent they crossed – tackled everything the ten Capricorn countries could throw at them. Heading forever west along 23° 27'S in their trusty Land Rovers Chuma and Susi, the hardy Capricorn Expedition team braved unexploded landmines left over from the Mozambican civil war, the man-eating lions of the Kruger National Park as they crossed the reserve on foot, and the great Namib Desert. In South America they had the Andes to overcome and then the Atacama Desert – driest place on planet Earth. Australia's greatest obstacle was the endless parallel ridges of the vast Simpson Desert, never before crossed by vehicle along the tropic. Madagascar, the final Capricorn country, was far from being the easiest. The team found themselves almost unable to continue, after days trekking on foot through the island's dense mountain forests.

Cape to Cairo chronicles the epic journey of Kingsley Holgate, his wife and son across the continent as they venture along South Africa's Wild Coast, up the magnificent Okavango Delta, along the length of the great Zambezi River and across some of Africa's greatest lakes, including Victoria, Tanganyika and Turkana. The romantic in Kingsley leads him up the east coast in the wake of Arab dhows, while his sense of history makes it imperative that he seek out the source of the mighty Nile. The journal of the adventure is a rich weave of daily challenges, historical titbits and a record of the diverse cultures and natural wonders that this group of intrepid travellers encounters.