Eye to Eye with The Big Five

October 2024 sees the start of our next long distance event, a drive of three weeks through South Africa, Namibia and Botswana for Classic Cars and 4x4s.
The twenty-seven-day event will take you through the most exciting territories of “The Big Five” game animals, as well as great scenic highlights not to be missed.
Marvel at the world’s highest sand dunes of the Kalahari Desert in Sossusvlei.

You visit the only game park which allows you to drive your own car.
You feel the thunder of the Victoria Falls.
You follow the blooming garden route along the beautiful coast of South Africa.
You visit wineries near Stellenbosch.

Best of all, you drive in your own car through one of the best Game Reserves to meet up with the other “Big Five”.
For those interested in competition sections there will be two or three a day, but if you prefer a gentle drive, there is the Safari Class which just visits the important controls. Due to the nature of the countries we are passing through and the limited high quality accommodation available, there is a strictly limited number of entries.

An entry form can be downloaded from our website here.

Yes man this is Africa

Click Entryform ST 2024 to download your entry form.

Nelson Mandela once said, “In my opinion South Africa is the nicest village in the world”
South Africa’s scenic wonders are legendary. From Table Mountain to God’s Window, our mountains, forests, coasts and deserts will feast your eye and lift your spirit…
Warning! Watching wildlife is addictive. First you start with the Big Five, then whales, penguins, meerkats, wild dogs, birds, dung beetles…

The Desert Landscape of Sossusvlei

One of the most compelling features of Namibia is the astounding landscape of Sossusvlei, a part of the Namib Desert. We take a tour of this desert landscape of Sossusvlei in Namibia – part of the World’s Ten Greatest Attractions.
The most spectacular moments to visit the dunes of Sossusvlei are the minutes before sunset and the minutes after sunrise. It is sometimes windy, sometimes very, very wet. The only noise you hear is your own heartbeat.
This clay-pan, even though situated in a desert, is occasionally flooded by the Tsauchab River, but mostly remains dry all year round.
Hiking and trekking on the huge red sand dunes is an incredible experience as you get to gorge on the colourful and ethereal panorama. Climb the highest sand dunes in the world. One can sight numerous dead trees in the landscape, especially in the region called Dead Vlei. These were known to be the camel-thorn trees, green and very much alive, until they stopped receiving water from the Tsauchab River.
What makes Sossusvlei fascinating is that the shape of the dunes keeps on changing because of the strong wind currents that blow across the desert.

Etosha National Park

Namibia and Etosha National Park is an unspoiled safari and adventure destination. There are plenty of parks and places with great opportunities to watch the wildlife and “The Big Five”. Namibia’s bountiful sunshine, abundant wildlife, scenic beauty and rich diversity of geological phenomena make the country a sought-after tourist destination to which visitors return again and again. Additional plus points are the friendliness and cultural diversity of its people, a well-developed infrastructure and an extensive choice of parks, resorts and accommodation. The latter range from five-star luxury hotels to upmarket guest lodges in the quiet seclusion of the bush.

The Makgadikgadi Pans

The Makgadikgadi Pan is a large salt pan in the middle of the dry savannah of north-eastern Botswana. It is one of the largest salt flats in the world. The pan is all that remains of a formerly enormous lake which once covered an area larger than Switzerland, but dried up several thousand years ago. Weather permitting, we may sleep on the pan for the most romantic night of your life.

Victoria Falls

Victoria Falls, so named by the 19th century (Scottish!) explorer Dr David Livingstone, is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. He saw the falls for the first time in 1855 and said, “scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight”. The falls are one of the main reasons why tourists come to Zimbabwe.
The spray rising above the falls has given them its local name, “The Smoke that Thunders”. The falls are almost too beautiful to paint.
There are five different falls within this natural wonder. The Devil’s Cataract, The Main Falls, The Horseshoe Falls, The Rainbow Falls and The Eastern Cataract. The width is 1.6 kilometres and the height up to 108 metres, twice the size of The Niagara Falls. A truly magnificent marvel of nature.

Pilanesberg

The Pilanesberg National Park rises up spectacularly from the great plains of Africa. A flagship reserve and tremendous success illustrating how man’s negative effects on the environment can be returned to conservation, the spin-off being supporting local communities, protecting wildlife, and restoring biodiversity and ecosystems.
Located less than 200 km from Johannesburg, closer to Pretoria, and then Rustenburg and with thrice weekly flights from Cape Town, Pilanesberg National Park is one of South Africa’s ultimate adventure tour and wildlife safari destinations.
A protected game reserve, over 550 km2 , the Pilanesberg Alkali Ring Complex is the remnants of vast volcano, around 1.3 billion years old. This enormous structure stood over 7000 m above sea level. Now greatly reduced and an approximate diameter of approximately 24 km. The Pilanesberg is a rare type of volcano, categorized as an Alkali Ring Complex due to the mineral content of the fascinating geography.

A vast road network of over 200km provides ample area and opportunity to explore this truly unique game reserve.

Cape town

Visit Table Mountain overlooking Cape town.
Eye to eye with the ocean’s gentle giants. South Africa prides itself on the best land-based whale-watching in the world. Watching whales in their natural environment is an overwhelming experience of nature at its most glorious, making a memory to last a lifetime.

Whether you visit South Africa’s whale-watching capital Hermanus or choose a scenic spot along the Garden Route or Wild Coast, seeing these marine giants in their natural environment is an experience that you won’t want to miss.

The Route

The 9,000 kilometre route has been carefully selected and will take you over great asphalt roads as well as smooth gravel, to places where the tourists never go. Our motto “the best available” also goes for the carefully selected hotels, lodges and guest houses, but bear in mind that we also seek the best available routes, which are not always where the fairy-tale hotels can be found. As capacity is limited, we can only take 25 crews for this adventure.

Service

An experienced service crew will follow the rally to make sure that nobody gets stranded. But be warned; They are there to get you going again when you are stuck, not to do your daily maintenance.

Entries

The Safari Trial is by invitation only. With the entrée form you find on the downloads page above, you may apply to compete. Note that there is a limit on the number of crews that we can invite. Within four weeks of receipt of your application form, you will be notified if you are invited.
For information contact: info@classicevents.nl + 31578 561115