Kingsley Holgate Foundation

REFLECTIONS ON HOPE – Throughout this Afrika Odyssey expedition, from Angola to Rwanda, the DRC, South Sudan and even in Chad and Benin, there’s been a common topic of excited chatter amongst the African Parks community, all about one of the most ambitious wildlife projects ever undertaken on the continent.

“You can’t really say you’ve completed the expedition without visiting our newest undertaking. I’m sure there’s still room for another calabash filling – call it number 23!” says mischievous Dave Wilson, African Parks’ commercial director, who’s been our go-to guy throughout this year-long journey.

And so, back home in South Africa, we exchange sweat-stained clobber for warm jackets and beanies and head into the cold of a highveld winter – what a contrast after months of endless heat and humidity. This final leg sees us winding up the spectacular Oliviershoek Pass in the foothills of the Drakensberg, along back roads through hibernating farmlands and dusty communities, and down a narrow dirt track to an electrified gate and a welcoming party of two solitary figures.

“Welcome to Rhino Rewild – what took you so long – we’ve been looking forward to seeing you!” shouts jovial Don Jooste, the project manager. “Hope you’re not too tired after your long journey to get here?” adds Kyle Harris from AP’s head office with a tongue-in-cheek grin.

Last year, after failing to find a buyer, John Hume’s rhino breeding operation of 2,000 southern white rhino on a 7,800-hectare farm in the North West province became African Parks’ newest responsibility. This enormous herd represents 15% of the world’s remaining southern white rhino population and with poaching syndicates still cashing in on Asia’s unremitting demand for rhino horn, it was an obligation that African Parks couldn’t refuse.

South Africa lost 499 rhinos in 2023, with our home province of KZN setting a grim new poaching record – 325 brutally killed for their horns. The province’s flagship Hluhluwe-Mfolozi Park, established in 1895 specifically to save the last remnants of southern white rhino, is now ‘Ground Zero’ of the rhino poaching war, taking over that dreadful mantle from the Kruger National Park, which has seen its rhino population plummet to levels that are too tragic to mention.

307 of KZN’s losses last year occurred in Hluhluwe-Mfolozi where in the 1960s, conservation legend Dr Ian Player and his team successfully relocated hundreds of rhinos to other game reserves throughout their historic range, including the Kruger, in ‘Operation Rhino’. At the time, it was a conservation world-first that saw the white rhino population increase over the years to around 20,000.

But in the past decade, more than half have fallen victim to poachers’ guns. Now, Hluhluwe-Mfolozi is the newest battle ground and game reserves across the country continue to fork out millions of Rands each year for rhino security. It’s a tragedy that every member of our expedition team is all too familiar with, and one that we’ve worked for years to see the end of.

As we follow Don and Kyle to Rhino Rewild’s simple HQ, huge paddocks come into view, dotted with enormous grey pachyderms. The dry, flat landscape of the farm is a far cry from the undulating green hills of Zululand and we can’t help but feel a bit sorry for the residents. But Don is on a high; 120 dehorned rhinos have been successfully translocated from here to private reserves that are part of the Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation (GKEPF) along the Kruger’s western boundary. It’s the biggest, single rhino relocation ever undertaken and up there with African Parks’ efforts to rewild at scale, like moving 500 elephants across Malawi to repopulate Nkhotakhota Forest Reserve a few years ago.

“That’s the best part of my job – seeing them return to the wild,” says Don over coffee and rusks. Waving an arm at the rhino paddocks around us, he continues, “If African Parks hadn’t stepped in with the support of the South African government, other conservation NGOs and donors providing emergency funding, these rhinos could have been lost to conservation forever. We couldn’t bear the thought…but it’s a mammoth undertaking.”

“We’re turning this farm into a rhino sanctuary and want to relocate all 2,000 rhinos to well-managed, secure wildlife areas across Africa within 10 years. In fact, if we can do it sooner, I’ll be the happiest guy in Africa! But we must also stay ahead of the birthing rate and we’re not giving away just one or two rhino at a time; the goal is to establish or supplement populations of at least 50 rhinos across the continent to protect the long-term future of this species. We’ve also moved 40 rhinos to the Munywana community conservancy that’s linked to Phinda in KZN. There’s lots of interest from other reserves, plus existing African Parks-managed wildlife areas like Akagera in Rwanda and Garamba in the DRC.”

As we’ve seen throughout this expedition, AP’s professional approach to managing daunting projects is truly astonishing. Each rhino paddock has an attendant ‘camp master’ who knows every rhino in their care and reports on their charges twice a day. There’s a giant database detailing every single rhino – age, s*x, condition, gestation, birth-history, even who’s been saucy with whom – which is updated daily to keep a finger on the pulse of this mega-herd. Security, obviously, is at the next level.

Vet nurse Claudia Andrionie takes us on a tour of the well-managed, ‘no touching’ rhino nursery that cares for babies when their mums aren’t able to. Soft spoken and reserved, this remarkable lady and her team have successfully reared and returned dozens of orphans back into the semi-wild existence of the farm. The boisterous, comical antics of the tubby tots and pre-teens are testament to the care they receive.

The benefits of rewilding these 2,000 southern white rhinos will be immense. Not only will they improve genetics of existing but decimated wild populations but as mega-herbivores, they’ll play a critical role in restoring wild landscapes that will benefit everything from antelope and predators to dung beetles and butterflies, and importantly, increase tourism revenue and job opportunities for neighbouring communities. Talk about an ambitious vision of hope!

As the winter sun starts its descent towards the horizon, there’s one final task to complete. We all pile into Don’s bakkie and take a winding track through the rhino paddocks, stopping to chat to a few of the camp masters before reaching a large watering hole. Out comes the well-travelled expedition calabash, looking a bit worse for wear after its continent-wide journey.

Field ranger Kenneth Ndubane is given the honour. Balancing on a rock and with great concentration, he dips the calabash for the final, symbolic water-collection ceremony of this Afrika Odyssey expedition. We stand in silence with just the sound of the wind sighing through a nearby grove of trees; it’s an emotional moment for us.

Visiting the Rhino Rewild project is the perfect ending for this Afrika Odyssey expedition – simple yet incredibly profound. When we started out on this mission to counter the doom-and-gloom headlines of conservation tragedies and find stories of hope for Africa’s wildlife, wild spaces and the communities that depend on them, to be honest we weren’t sure what to expect, or if we’d find anything to celebrate.

We found plenty. And what an extraordinary journey of hope it turned out to be.

PHOENIX RISING – This isn’t our first visit to Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), which lies on the northern bank of the 1,000Km Ubangi River that flows into the Congo River. Years ago, we arrived here in an old-style Defender 130 as part of an overland journey through Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, the CAR and Equatorial Guinea called the All-Afrika Expedition; so named as these were the five remaining African countries that we hadn’t yet explored on our 30-year mission to adventure to every country on the continent. What an incredible journey it was, a story we included in the book, ‘Africa, a Love Affair with a Continent’.

Now we’re back again on the final leg of this year-long expedition to link all 22 African Parks-managed areas across this beautiful continent; the mission is now to reach the wildlife refuge of Chinko in the far eastern region of the CAR, a remote and volatile area that’s so isolated it once served as a secret base for Joseph Kony’s notorious rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army.

We overnight at African Parks’ simple guest house below the hill on which still stands a huge sign declaring ‘Bangui – La Coquette’ (Bangui – the beautiful lady). Approximately the size of France, the CAR was formerly called Ubangi-Shari and was once a playground for the French, where the wealthy would come to hunt elephant and bongo antelope. But the country has been unstable since its independence in 1960 and whilst it is rich in diamonds, gold, oil and uranium, it remains one of the world’s poorest. When we were last here, it was a breeding ground for mounting opposition and rebel activities against then-President Francois Bozize, who was eventually overthrown. It’s a story best told by the book ‘Battle for Bangui’, which exposes the reckless folly and greed of Zuma’s government (obviously wanting their share of the gold and diamonds) that dragged a tiny force of 200 crack South African troops into the conflict. Badly outnumbered, they fought bravely to try and hold off an overwhelming force of 7,000 Séléka rebels;13 South African soldiers died and 27 were wounded before they were forced to negotiate a ceasefire at their base – it remains a scandal to this day. Sadly, the CAR civil war was ongoing, involving successive governments and rebel leaders from the Séléka coalition and Anti-Balaka militias, with thousands killed and over a million people displaced by the violence. Hopefully, those dark days are passing, with a new president in place; Bangui’s streets are alive with pedestrians, motorbike taxis, shops and market stalls – some street vendors are even selling used camo bullet-proof vests.

But friendly Tunisian-born Zakaria who handles AP’s difficult logistics and is driving us through Bangui warns us not to take pictures. “Don’t even point at anything or the Russian Wagner mercenaries – now called the Africa Corps – will be onto you like a shot,” he says. “Then there’s the heavily-armed government troops and police and the Blue Berets – the UN peacekeepers, which include more than 2,000 Rwandan soldiers and police officers as part of the peace-keeping force.”

“Lots going on here,” Zakaria continues. “I was 10 years with Médecins sans Frontiers working as a logistics guy in places like Bangladesh, Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan, then ended up here in Bangui, which was pretty rough at the time. That’s how I encountered African Parks and the incredible work they’re doing at Chinko. So, I made a choice; I’d dedicated a decade to humanitarian work, so I decided to give the next 10 years to conservation; already, it’s proving an excellent choice.”

Our excitement mounts – just one more Park to go – as we’re bundled into AP’s Cessna Caravan piloted by friendly South African Stephan Fouche. “The flight is about two-and-a-half hours – I’ll let you know when we cross into Chinko,” he says through the headphones with a grin. You can see he enjoys his job.

The outskirts of Bangui, a sprawling cluster of tin roofs, dirt roads and the sweep of the massive Ubangi River, are soon behind us. Once over Chinko, the views of this untamed sanctuary that was once a hunting concession takes our breath away. To think that this massive stretch still exists in a country that has been so torn apart by civil war, is surely one of the greatest stories of hope for conservation in our time, and a huge credit to African Parks, the CAR government and other partners involved.

“That’s Chinko’s basecamp below us,” comes Stephan’s voice. “It’s called Kojo, after the river nearby. As you can see, it’s in the middle of nowhere!” Tiffany Gobbert is there to meet us, and we’re amazed at how organized this remote AP HQ is: aircraft hangers, a long line of neat accommodation units, mess area and kitchen, workshops, fuel tanks and storage sheds, all linked by a spider’s web of neat gravel paths. Then we meet the extremely likable CAR-born park manager Jean Baptiste Mamang-Kanga. What an interesting character! With 25 years of tough experience in conservation, and through Tiffany’s translations, we quickly sense his passion and dedication, not only for protecting this unique ecosystem but also for improving the lives of people around Chinko. Spanning a colossal 55,700Km², it is the most remote and uninhabited wilderness area left in tropical Africa and has a story of revival like none other.

For nearly 50 years, this vast landscape, flanked by the DRC in the south, Sudan in the north and South Sudan in the east, endured the onslaught of lawless exploitation by war rebels, ivory poachers and masses of armed Sudanese cattle herders, who burned vast areas for grazing. 95% of the wildlife was wiped out. As we bump along a muddy track to reach the Kojo River and collect symbolic calabash water – Defassa waterbuck scattering, buffalo glowering from the thick undergrowth and swatting persistent tsetse flies – Jean Baptiste tells us that since African Parks’ involvement began ten years ago, the wildlife has begun to return. Holding the calabash aloft as he balances on a fallen tree, he says, “You’ve saved the best till last!”

Chinko is now one of the only protected areas in Africa where both forest and savannah elephants co-exist. It’s become a stronghold for around 1,500 giant Lord Derby Eland, 14 primate species including 1,300 eastern chimpanzees, and recent surveys suggest that it could be home to the largest population of bongo antelope in the world, The northern lion population, which was almost eradicated, has increased to a few hundred and other carnivores such as hyaena, leopard, serval, wild dog and the elusive golden cat are on the rise too. The Chinko River is the only uninhabited tropical river system in the world and home to a rich diversity of fish species, including the highly predatory giant Goliath Tigerfish that’s found only in the Congo river basin, which can grow to 1,5metres in size and a hefty 50Kgs.

But Chinko still has its challenges. With the current civil war in Sudan, thousands of refugees are pouring over the border from the nearby Darfur province and hundreds-strong cattle herds still pose an ever-present risk. But it’s interesting to see how Chinko has adopted a peaceful ‘words not weapons’ approach to engage with the nomadic herders and prevent them from roaming through Chinko’s protected terrain. The park’s ‘Tango’ teams (easily identifiable in bright yellow hats and non-camo gear) take time to visit the nomad camps, explain the park’s boundaries, and guide the herders to designated corridors that avoid sensitive wildlife areas. That night after a simple meal at Jean Baptiste’s house, Tiffany and Erik Mararv (AP’s regional manager), show us the first screening of a new Chinko documentary, which showcases the work of the Tango teams. (You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMRFCxvyAwo.

Up at sunrise next morning and flying like a bird with Erik in his old microlight, following the beautiful Chinko River as tree branches flash past the wings in near-touching distance, is a mindboggling encounter. The rising mist in the undulating valleys and panoramic views of the tall, dense Congolian rainforest and wooded savannahs that make up the huge expanse of Chinko is breathtakingly magnificent; maybe we have saved the best till last.

As resident biologist Thierry Aebischer writes in the nearly-full Scroll for Conservation: ‘Chinko is one of the most forbidding and forgotten places on the planet. After centuries of neglect, the CAR government, African Parks and many partners, including adjacent communities, have finally been able to start managing this crown jewel of diverse biodiversity on a large scale, ensuring that local people really can benefit from their natural resources. Chinko’s history is dark, the challenges are real, but the potential for nature and people is huge. It’s a privilege to work here and see a phoenix reemerging from the ashes.’

For our Afrika Odyssey expedition, reaching Chinko in the CAR is a ‘mission accomplished’ milestone. The dots on the map of all 22 African Parks managed areas with over 20 million hectares under protection are finally ticked off; this epic 12-month journey is done and dusted!

Or so we thought… seems there’s one more special African Parks project we must visit before the final wrap up. Will keep you posted!

WE’RE HOMELESS – “Forget it! It’s simply not possible in a regular 4x4 vehicle, despite your expedition Defenders being so capable – you’ll kill them trying to do it,” says Erik Mararv, African Parks’ regional operations manager for central Africa. Erik knows what he’s talking about: he was born in the Central African Republic and has spent a large chunk of his adventurous life there. He’s also one of the founders of the Chinko Project – the last AP-managed wildlife reserve left to complete on this Afrika Odyssey expedition.

Erik goes on to tell us that the last section of the 900Km road from Bangui (CAR’s capital) to Chinko is known as ‘The Hole’. “The ‘middle mannetjie’ is so high and the banks so steep on either side that even the tough, old, 6x6 high-clearance ex-military trucks sometimes have to be tow-piped together in a sort of push-me-pull-you truck train to get through,” he says. “Some of the mud holes are deeper than the trucks themselves – it’s not uncommon for the trucks to topple over and the drivers spend days, sometimes weeks, digging, winching and cutting detours through the surrounding bush.”

Erik continues, “Rebel groups have to be negotiated with for a rite of passage and the military join the convoy for a section. If a truck gets stuck in one of the deep holes, it’s difficult to go around because you’ll have to cut your own track through the jungle – and that could invite attention from the rebels. The only way we get lighter vehicles to Chinko is to tie them down in a 20-foot container, weld the doors closed, load them onto a bush lorry and hope for the best. It’s a mission and the rains are only a few weeks away; our team is flat out loading the last convoy to Chinko for this season – everything has to be trucked in three 14-tonne loads: drums of aviation fuel, diesel, essential food supplies, equipment – it’s a race against time right now. Your only way to get to Chinko I’m afraid, is to fly.”

Chinko is surely the most remote of all 22 African Parks-managed areas on the continent. Seeing our glum looks, Erik lets out a laugh. “Don’t worry – you’re saving the best til last. We’ll organize the Cessna to pick you up in Bangui and fly you to Kojo basecamp. If all goes well, I’ll see you there.”

And so with Benin’s Pendjari and Park W now behind us as well as the sad situation of five more rangers killed in a senseless jihadist attack in the north of the country, we make the decision to drive our expedition Defenders along the Atlantic coast from Cotonou and across Togo to Accra in Ghana to be shipped back to South Africa. We’ll then fly to the CAR and onto Chinko to complete this year-long conservation, community and cultural-themed journey that’s uncovered so many stories of hope for Africa’s wildlife and wild spaces.

Despite the never-ending heat and humidity, our excitement grows as the Chinko plans begin falling into place – now we really can taste victory! But at the Togo border, the s*** hits the fan as a very hostile immigration lady rudely points to a typed notice in French stuck on the wall. The land border has, without warning, been closed to foreigners, even for South Africans who normally don’t even need a visa. “Go back,” she says curtly, pointing in the direction of Benin. We try to plead our case but she’s implacable – seems the directive has just come through from ‘on high'.

Now what! Shipping arrangements have been made in Accra but with the security situation being what it is in the northern areas bordering Burkina Faso, we can’t drive around. What makes it even more frustrating is that tiny Togo is less than 100Km wide and only takes a few hours to cross to reach Ghana.

Fortunately, in Africa, you can always ‘make a plan’. The helpful Land Rover agents in Accra agree to dispatch two drivers, who with their ECOWAS papers will be allowed to cross Togo, and meet us where we’ve holed up at friendly little guest house near the Benin/Togo border.

Expedition member Graeme Madsen leaps into action; all the smaller stuff is offloaded from the Defenders, the jerry cans and spare tyres removed from the roofracks and packed inside for shipping. We spend hours washing away months of grime and dust and repack our kit, leaving just a small personal bag each and of course the symbolic expedition calabash and heavy Scroll for Conservation that must travel with us to Chinko. Later that afternoon, we hand over the keys and paperwork to the two delightful Ghanian drivers who seem quite confident that they can handle the Togolese border officials.

It’s sad moment to see Moyo and Isibindi, our two overworked Defenders, slowly disappearing down the sandy track. Like hermit crabs, they’ve been our homes for 12 months and some 60,000Km of zigzagging across Africa. What champions: they’ve carried tonnes of supplies – malaria nets, Rite to Sight reading glasses and Wildlife Art templates for the expedition’s community programmes at each African Parks-managed protected area – and haven’t missed a beat. From the vibrant send-off at Lesedi Cultural Village near Joburg, across the vast expanses of Angola’s Iona, and Liuwa Plain, Kafue and Bangweulu Wetlands in Zambia; along roads less travelled in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania to reach the highest source of the Nile in the Nyungwe forests of Rwanda, racing a storm during a ferry crossing of Uganda’s Lake Albert, nearly succumbing to record floods at Garamba in the DRC, and surviving unbelievably broken roads to reach the largest mammal migration in the world in South Sudan. And on this final chapter, they heroically tackled the massive distance from Namibia to Zakouma and Ennedi in Chad, making short work of sticky, muddy tracks in the Congo rainforests and the powdery sands of the Sahara Desert. They’ve survived a dash through the badlands of Cameroon, a risky crossing of Nigeria and into the jihadist ‘red zone’ in northern Benin. Sand tracks, mud tracks, goat tracks, no tracks…they’ve done it all and already, we’re feeling homeless!

That night around 8pm, we get a call from Accra: Moyo and Isibindi have arrived safely – their last road trip of this Afrika Odyssey expedition is over. For us, Chinko is calling – will keep you posted.

As we were uploading yesterday’s story of our time in Benin’s Park W, news broke that 5 African Parks rangers and 7 members of the Benin Armed forces had been killed in an attack by militant extremists inside Park W. We absorbed this terrible news with deep shock, having been so recently inspired by the dedication, passion and bravery of the African Parks managers and rangers in both Park W and Pendjari. This senseless violence and the broader conflicts in the region, which impact on so many, are truly devastating.

As an expedition team, we sometimes feel that we’re risking our lives to save lives through humanitarian endeavours; but too often it’s an everyday occurrence for rangers, especially those in Benin, who are risking their lives on a daily basis to help preserve Africa’s landscapes, wildlife and the communities that depend on them. These losses are especially poignant as tomorrow (Wed 31 July) is World Ranger Day, which is dedicated to highlighting the critical and dangerous work rangers do.

We send our deepest condolences to African Parks and those who've lost loved ones, and mourn in solidarity with you.
Kingsley, Ross, Sheelagh, Anna, Mike, Fiona, Graeme – Afrika Odyssey Expedition.

This photo was taken only a few days ago at Park W's memorial to rangers who've lost their lives in the line of duty.

WE CAN SMELL VICTORY – Friends in Adventure, thank you for following our seemingly endless dispatches from this year-long Defender journey to link conservation, culture and community through all 22 African Parks-managed protected areas across our beautiful continent.

The last we heard was that Kingsley and Dr Samuel (AP’s Benin doctor) had arrived safely from W National Park by small plane, then by ambulance to a busy government hospital in Cotonou. Somehow, Dr Samuel found the only available bed in the small emergency room for Kingsley and refusing to leave his side, the good doctor slept next to him on the floor, using Kingsley’s old Melvill & Moon ‘Bulawayo’ bag as a pillow and well-travelled Shuka (Maasai blanket) as a covering. Dr Sam is from Bujumbura in Burundi and served with AMISON, the peace-keeping force in Somalia, where he had his fair share of challenging medical situations. What a good man – another example of the committed, quality characters that African Parks attracts – and determined to ensure that the Beard in his care isn’t going to breathe his last breath in Benin.

“The Beninese people are wonderfully kind and friendly,” Kingsley says in a ragged voice note a couple of days later. “They excelled themselves in coming to my rescue. Teams of doctors, plugged into oxygen, chest x-rays, every blood test, drip, painkiller and antibiotic imaginable. Got me breathing properly again…. seems it could be a double-whammy of complicated malaria and a Covid-type thing. Frightening experience, but I’m on the mend!”

Meanwhile, the expedition team are still in Park W in the far north of Benin, where in a race against time to complete the important community work attached to each of the AP-managed Parks we visit, Jacques Kougbadi, their energetic head of communications for Benin, whisks Ross and Graeme off to meet the celebrated Bariba Horsemen of the Banikoara Commune. “Re-enacting elements of the famous annual Gaani Festival, the equestrian parade is incredible,” reports Ross. “The colourfully-dressed horsemen on their richly harnessed mounts put on a great show to the accompaniment of sacred drums and handmade, blaring, two-metre-long trumpets. And still more messages have been added to the hundreds already in the huge Scroll of Hope for Conservation that we’re carrying across Africa.”

Challenged by the never-ending heat and humidity, and constantly aware that they’re in the ‘Red Zone’ – a high risk security area – the humanitarian work continues at an intense pace: malaria prevention, including distribution of mozzies nets to pregnant women and mums with young children; and the endless satisfaction of our Rite to Sight work, the instant joy of smiling recipients who, through the gift of a pair of correct-strength reading glasses, are reconnected with the gift of sight – something we all tend to take for granted – giving generally elderly, poor-sighted people the chance to see clearly again, read their Bible or Koran, do craftwork, thread a needle or fishhook. It’s instantly gratifying, as is Park W’s Wildlife Art competition for community kids in this remote region; their joy at being singled out for their efforts is priceless to watch.

This chapter of the expedition ends with a sobering, thought-provoking event though. With Park manager Abdul-Azziz and rangers lined up on either side of a simple, stone memorial, Ross and Graeme participate in a moving ceremony to remember those who’ve died in the line of duty here in Park W, many of them from cross-border insurgent attacks.

These two national parks of Pendjari and W are indeed the last strongholds of conservation in this part of West Africa. More than 50 large mammal species rely on these two African Parks-managed areas for survival, including elephant, buffalo, a dozen antelope species, hippo, spotted and striped hyena, leopard and critically endangered species like the West African lion and north-west African cheetah. Threats to their continued existence aren’t just from insurgents; habitat destruction from overgrazing, illegal hunting and fishing are just as severe, as is the pressure from cotton cultivation, Benin’s largest cash crop. But what a great conservation and community job the African Parks team does under these challenging circumstances; their resilience, passion and commitment make us proud to share their stories – heartfelt congratulations.

And so, with the expedition’s time in Benin’s two national parks in the far north now complete, Ross, Graeme and Jacques point the two South African-registered, travelled-hardened Defenders back south, down the entire length of the country to meet the alive but somewhat shaky and few-Kgs-lighter Kingsley on the verandah of the Livingstone Hotel in Cotonou, the busy port city on the Atlantic coast of Benin.

Over a few cold La Béninoise (the national beer), we discuss our final challenge: to reach Chinko in the volatile eastern region of the Central African Republic, surely the most remote wildlife reserve in Africa and the very last of the 22 African Parks-managed areas we must visit to successfully complete the mission of this Afrika Odyssey Defender expedition. We can smell victory but it’s not over yet; will keep you posted.