From rough rapids to wild animals: Inside an explorer’s dangerous mission to protect water for millions of Africans

How do you provide enough water for people when climate change is drying up sources such as rivers and rainfall? In Singapore, the government is ramping up desalination and recycling of used water. 

In Africa, the answer may lie in a column of raised hills in the Angolan Highlands, in the south-western part of the continent. 

The hills contain vast peatlands that act like a giant sponge, holding 25 times their dry weight in water and providing a constant supply to the region’s rivers, even in the dry season. 

This is critical for the hundreds of millions of people who rely on the waterways throughout the year for water, food and transport.

South African conservationist Steve Boyes, 45, estimates that these natural water towers, which he calls the “Great Spine of Africa”, pump 423 cubic km of water into rivers every year, equivalent to 10 times the annual water usage of California in the US. 

The peatlands also lock away enormous quantities of carbon, which would otherwise contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, in their densely compacted soils for thousands of years.

In partnership with the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, National Geographic Explorer Mr Boyes leads the Great Spine of Africa expeditions. Through his organisation, The Wilderness Project, he studies these vital water towers and their river ecosystems to champion their conservation.

The ambitious endeavour aims to complete 200 expeditions over eight years; the first was in mid-2022.

“The objective is to explore and better protect more than 1.2m sq km of irreplaceable African watersheds and wetlands by 2035, in partnership with local communities. Africa can only have an abundant, prosperous future with intact large-scale sources of freshwater,” he explains. 

In an expedition last year, he led a 12-strong team on a five-week, 627km-long odyssey along the Cassai River. This vital waterway flows into the Congo River basin that spans six African countries and supports 75 million people.

The team found that the Angolan Highlands water towers deliver nearly twice as much water into the Cassai as what is thought to be its primary source on the eastern slope of the Bíe Plateau in Angola.

Such discoveries underline the Great Spine’s value and the importance of conserving it. “Our work helps governments make informed decisions about water use, urban development and infrastructure,” says Mr Boyes.  

He adds that the Swiss watchmaker plays a crucial role by enabling the research, and giving him a global reach to share findings with decision makers. “The support from Rolex has changed my life.”

A journey into the unknown

Over the past decade, Mr Boyes has traversed 12,000km of Africa’s wild rivers. The Cassai expedition stood out for its difficulty.

First, the team had to ride in an armour-plated truck to cross Angolan land littered with landmines – a legacy of the country’s decades of civil war – during the opening part of the journey into the Angolan Highlands. 

Once they found the head of the Munhango River, which flows from the highlands into the Cassai, they travelled down the waterway on canoes.

“It was almost a relief when we got onto the river, but on the water, every day involved going into the unknown. No one had navigated the river or knew what was in it,” he shares.

Furthermore, the researchers’ progress on the initial stretch of the Munhango was painfully slow.

The thin stream was often blocked by dense vegetation, requiring them to get out and carry their canoes around the obstacles. “Everything was a struggle and nothing was easy.” In 12 days, the group covered just 42km.

After the river widened and deepened, other dangers arose, including the risk of encountering crocodiles, hippopotamuses and “terrifying rapids”.

To stay safe, the team relied on the advice and knowledge of locals along the way. “The best policy is to go to the closest village. We had two priorities on the river. The first one was safety, and the second one was the science.”

Still, the results from the expedition were worth the challenges. Mr Boyes and his colleagues documented everything they saw, from birds to animals, and from people to settlements.

They took samples from the river for analysis, captured 360-degree photographs every 30 seconds, deployed drones for aerial photography, and even collected testimonies from local people. 

He explains: “These are the most detailed river baselines ever undertaken, so that in 50 years’ time, scientists will be able to make comparisons.”

With this attention to detail, the team has, so far, identified 154 species in the eastern Angolan Highlands that are new to science, besides uncovering the highlands as the true primary source of the Cassai.

With an eye on protecting the highlands’ ecosystem and biodiversity, the researchers also built relationships and helped put together teams of local scientists, fishermen and hunters who would be able to continue to advance the goal of river conservation.

Looking back, Mr Boyes says: “It was an extraordinary expedition, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced on the rivers of Africa.”

What to know about the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions

• The Great Spine of Africa expedition series aims to map Africa’s largest watersheds, like the Okavango, Zambezi, Congo, Nile, Chad and Niger. These watersheds are crucial, supporting vast ecosystems and over 500 million people.

• The inaugural expedition mapped 900 kilometres of the Zambezi River in Angola. This was the first scientific survey of the river’s source, gathering critical data on biodiversity, habitat health, and threats to the ecosystem.

• The teams documented wildlife and ecosystem health, tracking species like crocodiles, elephants and rare birds. They discovered new populations of vulnerable species, underscoring the urgent need to protect these ecosystems from poaching, deforestation and climate change.

• With advanced techniques like eDNA sampling and aerial imaging, scientists record biodiversity, hydrology and terrain. Geotagging bird sightings and ecosystem threats is part of a larger effort to track changes over time and inform conservation strategies.

• By protecting rivers and their ecosystems, the expedition series aims to secure climate resilience for millions in Africa. This effort not only safeguards wildlife, but also ensures clean water and climate stability for over two-thirds of Africa’s population.

Achieving water security for Africa

While the Great Spine of Africa team ended the Cassai expedition at Angola’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a group of Congolese scientists picked up the mission and took it onwards. 

Such collaboration is also in keeping with Rolex’s long history, going back nearly a century, of supporting pioneering explorers to push the boundaries of human endeavour. 

With climate change and other threats to the world’s natural ecosystems, the watchmaker has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet, committing for the long term to empower individuals and organisations using science to understand and address today’s environmental challenges. 

In 2019, it stepped up this engagement with its Perpetual Planet Initiative, which initially focused on the Rolex Awards and longstanding partnerships with the National Geographic Society and Mission Blue. The latter is a non-profit organisation founded and led by legendary oceanographer Sylvia Earle, who is also a Rolex Testimonee, to explore and protect oceans.

The Initiative now has a diverse and growing portfolio of over 30 partnerships, concentrating on ocean conservation, wilderness protection and the living world’s preservation, including with Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, which protect landscapes in South Africa, Under The Pole expeditions for underwater exploration, and Rolex Awards Laureates.

Rolex also supports organisations and initiatives that are fostering the next generations of explorers, scientists and conservationists through scholarships and grants.

These include the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and The Rolex Explorers Club Grants that nurture talented young people and help them to gain experience in their chosen fields.

Mr Boyes lauds Rolex’s forward-looking and expansive vision. “It’s really inspiring, interacting with an organisation where, when you talk about a big idea, and they want you to think even bigger than that idea.”

Since the Cassai expedition, the Great Spine of Africa team has completed another voyage, studying the Chambeshi River, the Congo River’s furthest source, in Zambia. 

With the findings from his expeditions to date and Rolex’s support, he is cautiously optimistic about Africa’s future.

He explains: “The world looks at us as climate change sets in and thinks, ‘Africa is going to suffer the most’. But in the previous models, we didn’t know that Africa has these water towers, this built-in resilience that can be protected. We just need to protect it now.”

We The Earth is a partnership between The Straits Times and Rolex and its Perpetual Planet Initiative. Mr Steve Boyes, a Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative partner and National Geographic Explorer, is a stellar example of the many individuals who are doing their part to solve the issues Earth faces.