KNGS - Independence expedition
Last season an expedition from the Kazakhstan National Geographical Society (KNGS) team set a Guinness world record in fasted overland transverse driving from Novo to the South Pole, 2308 km in 108 hours in two AT44 Expedition. On the way back the team did another unofficial record going the same route in only 84 hours. The route is shown on the map with the green line.
This season the expedition will be bigger, 3 vehicles, 7 people and the team will take 10 days in to drive to the South Pole, carrying out various scientific research on the way. The team will be at South Pole Dec 14th in memory of the first human to arrive there, Amundsen, 100 years ago. On 16th of December the team will celibate the 20th year of Kazakhstan independence before returning back to Novo.
One new vehicle will be introduced: AT 44 Cruiser build to Toyota Land Cruiser 150. This vehicle will test a new suspension setup with stronger components and considerable longer travel which will give softer ride and more speed over rough areas. With this year as the 60th anniversary of Toyota Land Cruiser there are many anniversaries to celebrate.
Nurlan Abduov receives the official Certificate from Jack Brockbank, representative from Guinness World Records.
Here is a link to webiste of the Kazakhstan National Geographical Society where you can also follow the expedition.
| Estimated time |
Early December |
|
Route |
Novo - South Pole - Novo - 4600 km back and forth |
| Participants |
Two Arctic Trucks peole will join, a driver/mechanic expert and a driver/doctor. |
Update
DEC 22
The flight from Novo to Cape Town has been delayed due to bad weater so Eyjó and Geiri who had hoped to get back home to their families in Iceland before Christmas will be spending this Christmas travelling! So sorry guys - this just shows how unpredictable Antarctica can be!
DEC 19
The KNGS expedition has returned to Novo. They drove back from the South Pole in 5 days. The driving conditions were bad some parts of the way so they could not drive very fast because of bad visibility.
DEC 14
We are now preparing the journey back to Novo and we are planning to take off in about an hour, which is two days earlier than planned.
DEC 12
We just heard from Eyjólfur. They are now only few kilometers from the South Pole and finally got some rest after a long drive.
