The Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions, led and founded by explorer Steve Boyes and supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, have proven that the source of the Zambezi River is in the Angolan Highlands. Over the years, Boyes and his team have traversed more than 30,000 kilometres of rivers, many of which have never been scientifically documented before.

Following years of intensive research measuring the heartbeat of these river systems, South African conservationist Boyes travelled to the 2025 Ramsar Convention in Zimbabwe, where he presented his findings on the Lisima Lya Mwono landscape in the Angolan Highlands water tower in a bid to have it recognized as a wetland of international importance. The Ramsar Convention is a crucial global event for the protection of wetlands. With 172 national governments participating, recognition as an official Ramsar Site would ensure the area is protected by national and international conservation frameworks, with a particular focus on sustainable use and land management.

Next to the roaring white waters of the mighty Victoria Falls, he condensed a decade’s worth of work and findings from more than a dozen expeditions across Angola and Zambia into a 15-minute speech to gathered changemakers. His team’s world-first research effectively proves that the source of the Zambezi is in fact in Angola. This pioneering assessment, which combined expedition findings with high-resolution satellite imagery, was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal in September.

With Boyes making such a strong case for the Highlands’ nomination before key collaborators – including Musonda Mumba, the secretary general of the Ramsar Convention, and Nyambe Nyambe, executive director of Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) – the team is optimistic that Lisima Lya Mwono could be officially classified as a Ramsar Site within a matter of months. Before the convention, Boyes was able to bolster his presentation with local knowledge provided by kings and chiefs of communities living along the Zambezi’s banks, who gathered for the first time in 60 years to listen and review his findings. The support of the kings has been crucial to the entire project, Boyes explains.

“This meant a huge amount to me. Rivers unite people across borders. These are river guardians. They’re proud of the water. It’s an agreement across five countries for us to work very closely with them on monitoring the ecosystems.”
– Steve Boyes, founder of the Great Spine of Africa expeditions

Boyes has spent 25 years studying wetlands and working in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. But in the eastern highlands of Angola, he found a place that was “unprecedented”.

“The lisima lya mwono (source of life) landscape is a system of source lakes and previously undocumented peatlands – the second largest peatland discovery in tropical africa. I found it astonishing that this was not globally recognized”
– Steve Boyes, founder of the Great Spine of Africa expeditions

Driven by the desire to better understand and protect these precious waterways, and building on his success as leader of the National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Team, he launched the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions in 2022 under his newly formed organization, The Wilderness Project. The aim of these expeditions, supported by the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative, is to provide the first scientific baselines of Africa’s major water towers, (areas that act as natural water stores) and investigate their role as the sources of the Zambezi, Congo, Niger and Nile rivers, on which two thirds of Africa’s economy depend.

Their first Great Spine of Africa mission was the Lungwevungu Expedition, which explored the remote Angolan Highlands, where local people had suggested that a tributary of the Zambezi could turn out to be its very source. Together with Kerllen Costa, National Geographic Okavango Wilderness Project Angola Country Director, Boyes travelled down the Lungwevungu River in dugout canoes in the first of many gruelling research trips, seeking to produce scientific evidence reflecting this traditional local knowledge.

Now, as they seek to protect 1.2 million square kilometres of African watersheds, plateaus and rivers by 2035, their expeditions are moving into the continent’s other major waterways, including the Congo and Nile Basins. The project has completed 20 expeditions just this year and Boyes plans to reach 25 expeditions next year, with Rolex’s support.

“Only 14 percent of africa is protected right now. Whenever i go to the source of a river, there are people living traditionally, protecting it already. They just need to be recognized as such.”
– Steve Boyes, founder of the Great Spine of Africa expeditions

Spending nine months of the year away from home, paddling on boats eight hours a day, Boyes faces unlikely challenges, from getting capsized by hippopotamuses and charged by elephants, to spending six days in hospital with malaria.

At 15 million hectares, the area which Boyes and his team have scientifically demonstrated to be the Zambezi River’s water source will be the third largest Ramsar Site in Africa and the fifth largest in the world. Their work shows the importance of preserving the Angolan Highlands, not only for the benefit of the Zambezi ecosystem and the 20 million people who depend on it, but for other major African rivers, including the Congo and the Okavango, which bring life to several hundred million people.

ABOUT THE PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE
Rolex celebrates human achievement, recognizing journeys marked by milestones and emotions that culminate in defining moments.

For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers to help them achieve countless historic feats. Over time, the company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet. Through the Perpetual Planet Initiative, Rolex stands alongside those building a better future for all life on earth.

The Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative was launched in 2019 and now has a portfolio of more than 30 partners, active in three main focus areas: Oceans; Landscapes; and Science, Health, and Technology.

For the Oceans, Rolex supports a wide range of projects such as: Mission Blue and Rolex Testimonee Sylvia Earle; Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen; and Coral Gardeners.

The Landscapes roster includes: a strengthened partnership with the National Geographic Society; Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile, offspring organisations of Tompkins Conservation; and Steve Boyes and the Great Spine of Africa series of expeditions.

Rolex also supports partners in Science, Health, and Technology, such as: Rolex Awards Laureates Andrew Bastawrous; Felix Brooks-church; and Miranda Wang.

Rolex also supports organizations and initiatives fostering the next generation of explorers, scientists and conservationists, such as the Royal Geographical Society, The Explorers Club, the CERN & Society Foundation and the EPFL (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) in Lausanne.