As a racer, we are all too familiar with that feeling of sitting on the start line, heart pounding, and wondering what challenges lie ahead. Well in the Giants Adventure Rally, you can rest assured that it will be epic. Big skies, big trees, big country, and big game.
The concept for the Giants Adventure Rally is ‘BIG’, and to maintain the theme of the event, the race will kick off just outside Botswana’s biggest city, Gaborone. With the Mighty Solomon’s Wall as the ultimate bearing, competitors will have to navigate 3 days (with an optional 4th day) of the most epic Southern African landscape.
Day 1 kicks off in spectacular fashion just outside of Gaborone. After tucking in behind the bars and charging down the open bushveld, participants will face typical Desert Race type terrain for 130km. Shifting between 3rd and 4th gear, competitors will work their way through non-fenced tribal land, following the Ngotwane River as they find their flow and prepare for the ‘special’ that awaits them along the way.
Emerging from the 1st Ross Branch marked timed stage, competitors will continue to work their way towards the confluence of Ngotwane and Limpopo Rivers. Arriving at the most magical open grass area alongside the river, participants will be able to take a well-deserved tea break and refuel their bikes and bodies before continuing.
From the break, the track heads through the Ngotwane river and picks up the famous Pioneers Road as it heads into a large private game farm. On this legendary trail, those on bikes will have in their mind, TswanaFuel’s star-finding initiative – a great opportunity to pioneer their way into the international rally scene. The track continues to meander through the game farm, sticking close to the river.
The road crosses into another private game farm for a short time, before moving on to a farm belonging to the De Vrye, one of our current sponsors through De Vre Transport. Competitors will be hoping to still have some energy in reserve at this stage, as they will face a mixture of open flood plain and more technical jeep track, for their 2nd special of the day.
BIG SKIES, BIG TREES, BIG COUNTRY, BIG GAME!
Having charged hard to log a fast time in the special, competitors will be happy to roll into Wimpie’s farm next. With time on their hands, they will want to check out the massive old ship engine that was the heart of a Tulip farming operation all the way back in 1948. As a man who knows all about the Pioneers road and the archeology around that region, competitors will be hard pressed to not to end their race here and spend the evening chatting to such an interesting man.
Needless to say, the race must go on and here is where the trail takes an 8km detour on the backline road towards the tar road, to avoid a closed farm. Competitors then drop into the massive 100 metre wide dry Mahalapye riverbed. After 8km of epic sand riding and just before the mighty Limpopo, navigation prompts competitors to pop out onto another private farm. Still on the Pioneer road, the route goes through James O Reilly’s farm next before changing onto the Makwate Road towards Parr’s Halt border post.
A BIG left arrow will then pop up on the navigation unit and point competitors through some narrow strip farms, towards their final day 1 destination – Bush Babies Botswana. Hopefully, competitors will not have too much work to do on their machines and can sit back, rest and discuss all the BIG stories from the first leg of the Giants Adventure Rally.
Let’s wander where the WIFI is weak.
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