Deep in the wilds of Point Reyes, a rutted dirt track leads to Drakes Estero — a vast complex of salt marshes, eelgrass beds and mudflats that are at once a nursery, a home and a waypoint for myriad species of marine life and migratory birds. Depending on the season, and the depth of the ruts, the road can be treacherous, at least in an ordinary car. In the Land Rover Defender 90, a boxy yet beautifully sleek all-wheel-drive SUV engineered to thrive in the world’s most challenging terrain, it’s but a cakewalk.
Most of us will never come close to tapping a Defender’s full capabilities, like wading through water near the tops of the wheel arches, or crawling up impossibly steep, rocky slopes, or slaloming down the face of a massive dune. But on any given day, on multiple continents, a cadre of determined individuals push their Defenders to the limit for the best of all possible causes: bringing aid and relief to those who need it most.
For Land Rover, it’s a mission that began more than 70 years ago, in 1954, when the first Land Rover — the Series I from which the present-day Defender’s design inspiration was drawn from — entered service with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, outfitted as a mobile dispensary for aid work in the deserts of Dubai. Several Series I Land Rovers were also dispatched to Kenya, where they supported nurses providing services to women and children in the villages of Nyeri.
The Series I, itself inspired by American World War II military jeeps, was a spartan affair, so much so that niceties like passenger seat cushions and a heater were initially extra-cost options. Despite the lack of creature comforts, the Land Rover was a runaway success, garnering legions of fans, among them a young Queen Elizabeth II, who tooled around Balmoral in her own 1954 Series I.
As Land Rovers evolved over the ensuing decades, growing ever more stylish and well-appointed, so too did their off-road capabilities, making them ever more indispensable to humanitarian aid workers operating in the most extreme environments.
In 1968, Land Rovers were dispatched to Nigeria to support the efforts of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies during that country’s civil war. In India, in 1977, they were used to distribute aid to survivors of the Andhra Pradesh cyclone. In 2008 and 2009, Defenders joined hurricane relief operations in the Turks and Caicos and the Cayman Islands. More recently, they were deployed after the catastrophic floods in North Carolina and wildfires in Southern California. And to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Land Rover’s partnership with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a Defender outfitted with a roof-mounted satellite dish was recently delivered to the Italian Red Cross to ensure continuous communications in areas affected by natural disasters.
Land Rover, for its part, doesn’t make much noise about its decadeslong commitment, preferring instead to simply get on with the work. But given the history, it certainly gives one pause and raises the question: when help is needed, how will you answer the call?
