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JLR South Africa, local distributor of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, marked the annual Africa Day celebrations with members of the media and the Kingsley Holgate Foundation. The bearded octogenarian and expeditionist and his family are arguably the company’s foremost ambassadors for Africa, and have traversed the continent for the past 25 years using Land Rover vehicles. Holgate uses adventure as a humanitarian tool to improve lives, with programmes that include wildlife conservation, mosquito net distribution and the Rite to Sight programme, which has handed out more than 224,000 reading glasses throughout the continent.JLR SA's Izak Louw, left, with Kingsley Holgate, right, at the Bongimfundo Primary school. (JLR SA) Africa Day with Kingsley HolgateWe spent Africa Day on May 25 with Holgate and his adventure partner and son, Ross, near Durban. The day began with a visit to Bongimfundo Primary School in Zinkwazi, where the foundation has been running a wildlife conservation programme using an art competition in which the scholars have been taking part. According to Holgate, the aim is to get young minds thinking about the importance of protecting wild animals, particularly elephant and rhino, whose population numbers have been decimated by poaching. The next stop was Africa House, Holgate’s official residence in the area, which is essentially a shrine dedicated to the continent and filled with numerous destination mementos, from crafts to statues and more. The Holgate family has completed more than 40 expeditions across the continent and overseas, including Europe and Australia. Holgate says he is not done yet and is deeply saddened by the recent xenophobic violence gripping South Africa. He wishes to remind Africans that unity is important in preserving this beautiful continent.Litterboom founder Cameron Service stands next to the Defender 110 prize he won at the Defender Awards. (JLR SA) Defenders of the SeaAs part of continuing conservation efforts, Holgate also took us for a visit to the Litterboom team stationed near the Umgeni River mouth. Litterboom was recently announced as the winner of the inaugural Defender Awards 2025 that aim to recognise small-scale charities or non-profit organisations globally that protect wildlife and the environment. The awards have a £100,000 (R2.2m) prize, including a Defender 110 model.Litterboom teams extract litter from rivers before it enters our oceans. (JLR SA) The Litterboom project was founded by South African Cameron Service, who was chosen as the winner among contenders from other nations. His mission is to protect the country’s oceans by deploying pipe barriers across rivers that are able to capture tonnes of litter before it enters the Indian and Atlantic oceans. The simple but innovative system traps the rubbish, and the company’s teams — also situated at the Tongaat, Umhlanga and Umbilo rivers — then collect and recycle some of the usable plastic rubble into by-products including combs, keyrings and more. Unusable litter is sent to landfills. TimesLIVE
