National Geographic Explorer Steve Boyes (left) and local guide Abraao Tony Luhoke approaching rapids on the Cassai River. The pair carry valuable scientific equipment with them on the canoe, which they use to study the areas they travel through. photos: The Wilderness Project/Jesse Manuel
Water security in Africa is a major concern, but through the Great Spine of Africa Expeditions, our comprehension of the continent’s water resources is being reshaped.
Led by Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative partner and National Geographic Explorer Steve Boyes, this expedition is showing that many of Africa’s great rivers originate in massive but little-known water towers like the Angolan Highlands.
Through these expeditions, Boyes is ensuring that we can finally understand and protect an area that provides water security for nearly 500 million people.
Acting like a giant sponge, the peat contained here holds 25 times its dry weight in water, ensuring a constant supply for rivers, even in the dry season.
This makes peatlands incredibly effective water towers; areas that store and provide fresh water that sustains life downstream during the dry season.
As the sun sets over the savanna, The Great Spine of Africa expedition team establish camp alongside the Cassai River and begin repairing damage that the canoes have sustained during the long day of travel.
These structures are usually in the form of high-altitude glaciers and Boyes estimates that, despite the absence of snow cover, 423 cubic kilometres of water – equivalent to 10 times the water usage of the entire State of California – come off the Angolan Highlands Water Tower.
It is here where the Cassai River finds its source, every year.
In his latest expedition, Boyes led his team of 12 on an epic five-week, 627-km odyssey along the Cassai River, a major tributary to the vast Congo River, resulting in extraordinary findings.
An early and startling discovery was that the source of the Cassai may have been misidentified.
The team found that the Munhango River, which originates in the Angolan Highlands, contributes almost twice as much water as the currently credited source.
This means that the Cassai’s source is just 20km from the true source of the Zambezi, which is also in the Angolan Highlands Water Tower.
While discoveries such as these are essential, most of the expedition is concerned with much finer details.
A hippo charging through the Cassai River rapids. The semi-aquatic mammal can be located in most major rivers and wetlands across sub-Saharan Africa.
The team documents everything, using aerial photography, measurements of water flow and quality and environmental DNA samples to establish meticulous ecological and hydrological baselines for the river.
“We record everything we see: birds, animals, people, settlements,” says Boyes. “These are the most detailed river baselines ever undertaken, so in 50 years’ time, scientists will be able to make comparisons.”
Boyes’ expedition was besieged by hardship, passing through a country littered with landmines – a legacy of decades of civil war in Angola – and the team had to use a specialised armour-plated truck for the first part of their journey.
“It’s almost a relief when you get onto the river,” says Boyes. “But on the water, every day involves going into the unknown. No one navigates these rivers or knows what’s in them.”
Progress was painfully slow on the first stretch of river as the thin stream was blocked by dense vegetation, and in the first 12 days of the expedition, the group only covered 42km.
Then, as the river widened and deepened, the tedium was replaced by the danger of encountering crocodiles, hippos and, in Boyes’ words, “terrifying rapids”.
However, the trials faced in the course of exploring such a remote and inhospitable river also brought indescribable rewards.
As the animals have not learned to be fearful of humans, giving the team a uniquely intimate view of the local wildlife: so far, they have discovered 143 species that are new to science in the Angolan Highlands.
Peatlands don’t just function as water towers, but as carbon sinks, storing huge amounts of densely compacted carbon for thousands of years.
The Great Spine of Africa expedition team approaches powerful rapids whilst traveling down the Cassai River. It’s important to stop and assess the best route to navigate the rocky waters before setting off in their custom-built canoes.
The Angolan peatlands are so rich in biodiversity and so effective at storing carbon and water that protecting them is of global importance, and understanding this key source of the Congo and Zambezi rivers is essential in protecting it.
Boyes and his team play an important role in helping governments make informed decisions around water use, urban developments and infrastructure projects.
According to Boyes, this is where his partnership with Rolex is so fruitful – in getting the message across to key decision makers. He maintains that Rolex has provided him with the global reach to pass on his discoveries, and the support has been unwavering.
“It’s really inspiring, interacting with an organisation where you talk about big ideas, and they seem to want you to think even bigger than that idea. The support from Rolex has changed my life.”
Over the last decade, Boyes has explored 12,000km of Africa’s wild rivers, and his travels and discoveries have made him cautiously optimistic about the continent’s future.
“The world looks at us as climate change sets in and thinks ‘Africa is going to suffer the most’. But when we modelled that, we didn’t know that Africa has these water towers, this built-in resilience that can still be protected, but we need to protect it now.”
Rolex has supported pioneering explorers for nearly a century, moving from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to committing for the long term to supporting individuals and organisations using science to understand and devise solutions to today’s environmental challenges.
The Perpetual Planet Initiative, which initially focused on the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, as well as longstanding partnerships with Mission Blue and National Geographic Society, now has more than 30 other partnerships in an expanding portfolio.
Rolex also supports organisations and initiatives fostering the next generations of explorers, scientists and conservationists through scholarships and grants, such as Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and The Rolex Explorers Club Grants.
