Who is Earth Pilgrim Africa?
BIO: EARTH PILGRIM AFRICA
In the Himalayas with Everest in the background
I can’t say I remember the occasion, but I was born to loving parents Gladys and Ian Dalglish near Johannesburg on November 19, 1948. My birth certificate confirms my identity as Geoffrey Michael Dalglish, a South African. Geoff sounds better! Or maybe Geoff-free!
I do remember my first day of school though, and sobbed my eyes out, even before some sadistic sod locked me in the toilet (probably to silence my wailing). But school soon became enormous fun and I developed a reputation for mischief, rebellion and resourcefulness.
I attended a succession of Durban schools culminating in a brief adventure as a boarder at Kearsney College where the principal misguidedly telephoned my Dad in Japan to solemnly announce: “Your son lacks parental control.” I’d been caught bunking out, smoking and being one of eight in a car ‘borrowed’ without permission or a driving licence between us. My parents lived on the other side of the planet.
“Of course, he lacks parental control,” my Dad fumed. “That’s why he’s with you!”
A move to St Mary’s International School in Tokyo was awesome. I got to drive at age 16, meet the Beatles and the Beach Boys, borrow my father’s many credit cards without detection, and develop a passion for travel in foreign lands, often at the wheel of a fast car.
A fully paid scholarship to study economics and business administration at Whittier College in California was instructive and entertaining, often involving high-speed car chases with the police, but proved a poor investment on the part of the university authorities. I did meet old-boy Richard Nixon of Watergate fame and frequented a country club favoured by the Kennedy clan, although sadly my boyhood hero JFK had already been shot.
I headed home for a holiday and decided to get a proper job, initially doing financial journalist impersonations in a pin-striped suit before becoming a proper newshound on various rags including the celebrated Rand Daily Mail.
I indulged a passion for uncovering the truth and exposing injustice, as well as pursuing a love affair with speed, cars and motorsport, which ultimately saw me as motoring editor of The Star, then founding editor of Drive and years later of Drive Out, a guide to 4x4 destinations.
Between times I raced, rallied, helped set national speed and endurance records, became a 4x4 instructor and found time to marry delightful Scots lass Carol Macmillan Lochhead, fathering two amazing daughters Bonnie and Tammy – surely my greatest achievement.
Life was a rollercoaster of fun and jet-set travel but increasingly it lacked adequate meaning.
I found a sense of purpose in ever-more ambitious expeditions, in which I saw the sacred in all around me. I drove from the northern tip of Africa to its southern extremity; from Timbuktu to Table Mountain and from China to Cape Town, also trekking to the summit of Kilimanjaro, along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu and through the Himalayas to Everest Base Camp.
I began to see my body as the temple of the soul rather than as an alcohol recycling plant. I abandoned life as a carnivore, drank pure water and breathed as much crisp, clean mountain air as possible, which isn’t hard living in Cape Town, arguably the world’s most beautiful city.
Still there had to be more. I realised that Life needed to include contribution to the wider good - my days as an indulgent motoring journalist were finally numbered.
Fast-forward to a succession of Vision Quest rituals, several years based at the inspiring spiritual community of Findhorn in northern Scotland; and that lightbulb moment when I became an Earth Pilgrim and a wanderer with a purpose.
Its payback time … I need to consciously play my part in helping heal our world and each other.
MILESTONES
1966 Graduated from St Mary’s International School in Japan
1966-7 Attended Whittier College, California
1967 Joined Financial Mail in Johannesburg as trainee reporter
1969 SA Associated Newspapers School of Journalism
1969 Reporter on Northern Reporter, Sunday Express
1970-1 Drafted into SA Defence Force
1971-3 Rejoined Sunday Express as photo-journalist
1973-8 Reporter on Rand Daily Mail
1976 Covered Soweto uprising and unrest in SA
1976-96 Married Carol McMillan Lochhead, England
1978 Appointed Chief Reporter on RDM
1978-80 Chief Reporter on Sunday Tribune
1980-3 Motoring editor of The Star
1981 Motorsport debut in Roof of Africa Rally across Lesotho
1981 Daughter Bonnie born on March 19
1982-95 Toyota-sponsored driver in off-road championships
1982 Dad Ian Dalglish passes Nov 27, my anniversary
1983 Daughter Tammy born on May 10
1984 Founded DRIVE! Editor/shareholder
1984-94 Sunday Times columnist
1984 Mitsubishi-sponsored driver national off-road championships
1984 Member of VW’s record-breaking team, East London
1987 Member of BMW’s record-breaking team at Gerotek
1988-95 VW-supported national championship rally driver
1988 Competitor in Porsche Turbo Cup at Kyalami
1988 Drives Ferrari F40, world’s fastest at Maranello GP test track
1994 Celebrates new democracy in South Africa
1994 Mom Gladys Marion Dalglish nee Edwards passes
1995 SA team to international Camel Trophy. Runners-up
1995 Qualified Land Rover 4x4 Instructor, England
1995 Epiphany in Guatemala – will begin new meaningful life
1996 Divorced from Carol and partnered by Karen Lubbe
1997 Goes freelance. Columnist for various mags
1999 Moved from Johannesburg to Cape Town
1999 Lead driver in African Connection Rally, a trans-Africa expedition
2000 Founding editor of Drive Out, a destinations publication
2000 Partnered with Adelle Horler
2001 Malaysian Rainforest Challenger. 1st ever SA finishers.
2001 Lead driver BMW Trans-Africa Safari in BMW X5s
2004 1st summit of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak
2005 2nd summit of Kilimanjaro
2006 Hiked Inca Trail in Peru
2006 4x4 support driver for Mini Odyssey, Johannesburg to Cairo
2006 Led Toyota Timbuktu-Table Mountain Expedition
2006 Helped launch National Geographic’s Africa MegaFlyover
2006 Honorary Bateleur (flying for conservation in Africa)
2007 Chana Trax expedition leader from China to Cape Town
2007 Hike to Everest Base Camp in Nepal
2008 Partnered with Inga Hendriks
2008 World’s highest commercial abseil in Lesotho
2008 Logistics for extreme athletes in Op. Smile Coastal Challenge
2009 First visit to Findhorn ecovillage and spiritual community
2010 Served for 6 months as volunteer at Findhorn
2010 Inspired to walk with a message about treading lightly
2010-11 Pioneering drive to SA scientific base in Antarctica
2011 Earth Pilgrim Africa begins walking in Scotland
2012 Presenter at the Love, Magic and Miracles Conference
2013 Geoff walks as ambassador to the World Wilderness Congress
2013 Appointed PR for the Findhorn Foundation Community
2014 Nominated as finalist for Adventurer of the Year 2014
2015 Joins the Walking Water pilgrimage in California
2016 Geoff co-focalises many Findhorn programmes
2016 Geoff presents an 'Art of Pilgrimage' retreat on the Isle of Iona
2018 Appointed a Resource Person (RP) for Findhorn in South Africa