Bloggers and Adventurers Team Up to Promote Afrika Expedition Force with Kingsley Holgate and UAM

 

 

 

 

 

Kingsley Holgate – well known adventurer and malaria activist – is travelling from Ghana to C.A.R to deliver the nets and complete his mission to visit every African country on the continent. Realising that once he has delivered the last of the nets, Kingsley would be returning in an empty jet, United Against Malaria saw an opportunity to combine two missions into one.

Partnering with the Jane Goodall Institute SA (J.G.I) and backed by a number of private sector eco-warriors, Holgate and company decided to use the opportunity to track down threatened chimps and relocate them to the Chimp Eden Sanctuary in South Africa. These four chimps were left behind in an earlier mission to the CAR and have been desperately waiting for relocation for six months.

 

 

Waiting to be taken to their new home at Chimp Eden in South Africa

 

 

An advance team departed from Johannesburg for CAR this past Saturday, 20 November 2010 led by Phillip Cronje, JGI sanctuary manager and Dr Stephen van der Spuy, JHB Zoo CEO and veterinarian. A crack team of Peacekeeping troops and an award-wining film crew from Aquavision are accompanying the team to document the whole expedition. It will be a race against time to complete all blood tests and finalise the paperwork for the transfer to South Africa before the second team arrives.

 

The backup team, lead by Chris Thorpe of United Against Malaria (UAM) and David Oosthuizen of the Jane Goodall Institute SAwill join the advance team, the four chimps and Holgate in Bangui ten days later. They will deliver fresh supplies to the UAM team and peacekeeping troops, drop off a new crew and pick up the advance team and the chimps.

 

“The mission involves a number of logistics challenges. After the chimps have been rescued, blood needs to be drawn and flown to Holland to test for various diseases such as Simian AIDS. The rescue team has to maintain the chimps in challenging conditions until the chimps are cleared for travel,” said Chris Thorpe, United Against Malaria.

 

Over the past few years The Jane Goodall Institute has relocated chimps from numerous countries. They are given a new lease on life and spend their days in the JGI SA Chimpanzee Eden Sanctuary.

 

“If we manage to pull this job off, it will be quite an achievement,” said Margi Brocklehurst, executive director of the Jane Goodall Institute South Africa.

 

The relocation of the chimps involves a daunting number of permits and security clearances; the coordination of transport, logistics and personnel; as well as tight cooperation between NGOs, corporate sponsors, various African governments and one of the world’s foremost adventurers to accomplish all of the mission’s goals in less than a week’s time.

 

 

United Against Malaria team in the Serengeti

 

 

“Never before have we been able to bring such a unique group of organisations and people together, each with the skills that will ensure the success of this expedition. The Central African Republic Expeditionary Force will pave a new path in the way expeditions of this nature will be carried out in the future,” concludes Thorpe. 

 

• ChrisThorpe (United Against Malaria) - Phone: +27 (0) 82 883 6125
• MargiBrocklehurst (The Jane Goodall Institute South Africa) - Phone: +27 (0) 82 561 3681

 

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Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, author, humanitarian and modern-day explorer is one of South Africa’s best-known adventurers. With his family and team, they have completed a number of successful humanitarian expeditions to all but five of the 47 countries that make up the continent of Africa. Now the challenge is to make history by completing the entire continent – ending with the All Afrika Expedition in C.A.R. to support the Chimp Rescue Mission.

Founded by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, the Jane Goodall Institute is a global organisation that empowers people to make a difference for all living things. In South Africa, the JGI SA Chimpanzee Sanctuary is home to chimpanzees that have been misplaced from their natural habitats in Central Africa.

 

This tranquil sanctuary is committed to the rescue, rehabilitation and care of Chimpanzees in need of refuge and brings the world of chimpanzees closer to humanity through education and tourism. In the 50 years since Dr. Jane Goodall first set foot on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in what is now Tanzania’s Gombe National Park, the chimpanzee behavioural research she pioneered there has produced a wealth of scientific discovery, and her vision has expanded into a global mission to empower people to make a difference for all living things.

As part of the energy that surrounded the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the UAM Expedition that preceded it, the geographic objective of The ALL AFRIKA EXPEDITION is to now complete the remaining five countries of Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and the Central African Republic, all before the end of 2010. Inkeeping with the ongoing theme of using adventures to improve lives, The ALL AFRIKA EXPEDITION will continue to promote malaria prevention awareness through the United Against Malaria partnership. The ALL AFRIKA EXPEDITION will carry a Scroll of Peace and Goodwill and will continue to promote goodwill, tourism and conservation links between South Africa and the countries visited.

Malaria is a disease caused by parasites and is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. If left untreated, the infection in its most severe forms can lead to a coma and death. Malaria is preventable and treatable, but continues to kill a child every 45 seconds and overall nearly one million people each year. Malaria contributes to the cycle of poverty and limits economic development

United Against Malaria is a partnership of football teams and heroes, celebrities, health and advocacy organizations, governments, corporations, and individuals who have united ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to win the fight against malaria. Our goal is to galvanize partners throughout the world to reach the United Nations target of universal access to mosquito nets and malaria medicine in Africa by the end of 2010, a crucial first step to reaching the international target of reducing deaths to near zero by 2015. www.UnitedAgainstMalaria.org