ROUTE

May 18-24
2025
Sign Up For
Updates
SOUTH AFRICAN SAFARI RALLY
ROUTE
This route will expose you to some of Africas beauty, with over 1,600 kms of special sections. The race will cover a dry and dusty central Africa to the more fertile mountain regions.
The event will be run from Sun City, a world-renowned luxury resort and casino situated in the Noth West Province. It is surrounded by some of Africa’s most magnificent bushveld with minimal liaison sections to get some amazing rally raid routes.
The marathon stage will take you into the hot and dry central region of South Africa, with fast, open roads flowing through the savanna plains. The rest of the stages will be in and around the Pilanesberg National Park, offering more technical roads with some bush and river crossings.
The 2nd and 3rd selective sections are combined into a marathon stage, during which the competitors receive no overnight assistance from their support crews, and camp overnight in the remote bivouac.
South Africa may be a small country, but it has a large rally raid footprint because of our well-established local national championship.
The route is designed by the well-renowned Evan Hutchison. As a seven-time South African Cross Country Champion, he has been integral in designing routes for the South African Rally Raid Championship for several years.
DISTANCES SELECTIVES AND ROAD SECTIONS WITH TOTALS
All Stages are of Safety Type “Track”
Stage | Location | Liaison 1 | Liaison 2 | Liaison Total | Selective Section | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Prologue | Sun City | 53 | 27 | 80 | 25 | 105 |
1 | Lichtenberg | 162 | 124 | 286 | 285 | 571 |
2 | Barberspan (Marathon Stage – Part 1) | 203 | 30 | 233 | 315 | 418 |
3 | Stella (Marathon Stage – Part 2) | 10 | 247 | 257 | 280 | 537 |
4 | Skilpadshek | 247 | 171 | 418 | 280 | 698 |
5 | Sun City | 50 | 30 | 80 | 210 | 290 |
Power Selective Section | Sun City | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 10 |
TOTALS | 726 | 630 | 1356 | 1403 | 2759 |
DESCRIPTION OF SELECTIVE TERRAIN
Dirt Tracks | Gravel Roads | Stony Tracks | Sandy Tracks |
---|---|---|---|
48% | 27% | 15% | 10% |
Prologue: This stage is just 30km from Sun City and will offer competitors a short special section of 24km of typical South African bushveld terrain, open grassy fields with trees, twin bush tracks with a short section in the forest.
Stage 1. Lichtenburg: This stage is about 200km west of Sun City and offers tracks and roads in and around the agricultural land as well as some sand tracks and open bushveld. tracks with a short section in the forest.
Stage 2. Barberspan: This stage will take you into the more open savanna areas with lots of fast open tracks and some off-piste section where navigation will be important.
Stage 3. Stella: This stage will be similar to stage 2 with open savanna areas with lots of dirt tracks and some more navigation.
Stage 4. Skilpadshek: The beginning of this stage is dirt tracks through the bush and then it becomes tight and rocky as it goes into the mountains.
Stage 5. Sun City: This stage is made up of hard pack cotton soil, which when its dry is very hard (no dust) but if it gets wet it is very slippery and difficult, there are a few river crossings and some gravel tracks.
Power Selective Section: This will be a mix of Dirt tracks and river crossings

