Organised by Roberts Racing, the South Africa Kalahari Rally is a new event that will be raced from 13 to 19 October in Mafikeng, South Africa.  This rally has its roots back in year 2014, when for the first time a race like this was planned. The time has come for South Africa to host a Cross-Country Rally with international standards. South Africa produces some of the most successful and competitive rally cars, bikes and quads with small budgets in comparison to the world rally community.

Therefore it makes sense that South Africa moves to the next level of rallying by hosting an international format rally. Southern Africa boasts some of the best rally terrain in the world.

With that in mind, Robert Racing announced for spring 2018 (dont’ forget, the race is in the south hemisphere) the inaugural multi-stage cross-country rally edition of the South Africa Kalahari Rally. It will be hosted by the North Western part of South Africa, only 25 km from the Botswana border, and in the Southern part of the Kalahari Desert. The rally has a medium term strategy to eventually become a multi-country rally.

The race will have 6 stages, with a total racing distance between 2600 and 2800 kilometres in the vastness of the Kalahari desert. The stages vary from sand, riverbeds, mountains, hard pack to very technical navigation.

But in fact, the Kalahari Desert is not really a desert, but rather a large arid to semi-arid sandy area in southern Africa, covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa. Though it is semi-desert, it has huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains and is rich in wildlife. The homeland of the Bushmen for perhaps thirty thousand years, the desert was the setting for the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy, which featured a Bushman family.

The entries for this rally will open at 31 March and will close in definitive at the 1 August.

European competitors wanting to compete overseas have to arrange travel, shipping, logistics and so much more. To make your life easier, Kalahari Rally organisers have put together an afordable complete shipping and travel logistics package directly from Europe to the rally. Flight to Johannesburg, transfers of competitor and equipment directly to the rally bivouac, and right back to Europe as well as providing basic service equipment.

If you could enjoy a change in scenery and enter this exciting race in South Africa, please contact the organization, by emailing them at info@kalaharirally.com