The Call of the Wild – back to Africa

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Press release

• HERO-ERA launches Classic Safari 2027
• Spellbinding driving extravaganza, Namibia – Botswana - South Africa, will captivate crews
• Exclusive rally will major on magical African Experience with limited competition

HERO-ERA are going back to the magical Continent of Africa for the first time since 2017 in what promises to be an exclusive and spellbinding rally trip from the dry desert of Namibia to Botswana, Eswatini and South Africa. Entrants will be immersed in a total African experience.

With limited competition, the 28-day 6,500-kilometre Classic Safari Rally in February 2027 will offer all the highlights the Continent has to offer. Fantastic driving roads, National Parks, Game Drives, Lions, Elephants, Whale watching, Deserts, Mountains, Waterfalls, Jungles and the Veldt. Teams will stay in Game Lodges and boutique hotels after a day of great driving, including competitive regularities, and at some venues they will take in both sunrise and early evening Game Drives to view the incredible wildlife.

The Continent of Africa produces a special magic that leaves you spellbound. To sip a sundowner as the orange glow over the Veldt fades, giving way to twilight and a chorus of wild animal calls, is guaranteed to send tingles down anyone’s spine. After driving some brilliant dirt roads with some competitive regularities, teams will be off again, this time on a Game Drive as the sun rises from some of the wonderful Game Lodges where they have been resting.

The 28-day 6,500kms route will encompass many African highlights, but at the same time follow the safest routes possible to enable competitors to share this unique and exclusive African experience as it comes to life. Crews in cars with their hoods down will breathe in the intoxicating mix that is Africa.

The event will start in the dry heat of Namibia, travelling from Swakopmund to the great sand dunes of Sossusvlei, secret Namibia, and then the capital Windhoek which leads to the first game park at Etosha before heading into Botswana and the Popa Falls on day seven.  

From Popa Falls, crews will have the chance to drive through the Chobe National Park, which has a huge elephant population before stopping at Kasane. Kasane is the gateway to the amazing game viewing experience of the Okavango Delta, unique even by African standards.

The highlights of Botswana continue with a visit to Nata and the opportunity to experience the African Salt Flats of Makgadikgadi Pans. 

Rally crews will have already enjoyed some competition over desert and dirt tracks and there will be more opportunities as the event heads into South Africa. The South African province of Natal offers more great driving after day 13, but the wonderful private reserves of Sabi Sands and Phinda offer tremendous game viewing and excellent lodges. Umhlanga and its rocks is a renowned coastal location for sights and hospitality, where Indian cuisine is a highlight in the Durban area.   

Staying coastal, the now eastern rally route will offer some spectacular roads with the chance to enjoy more fun behind the wheel on a few regularities before heading inland for the final game viewing experience at the beautiful Shamwari Private Game Reserve.

Heading further down the ocean there will be the chance of some whale watching at Hermanus before a visit to the beautiful vineyards of Stellenbosch on the penultimate night of day 27. 

The Classic Safari will finish in Cape Town along the V&A Waterfront, simply the best location for a celebratory finish of one of the best rally and topographical life experiences HERO-ERA offers.

Route Master for the rally, Kim Bannister, commented; “Game viewing in Africa is truly an experience that you will never forget. Watching a lioness as she walks past your jeep so close that you can reach out and stroke her, or stopping to watch elephants cross a river, are memories that you will carry forever. Africa gets into your soul.”

The Chairman of HERO-ERA, Tomas de Vargas Machuca expressed his pleasure with the fact that his Historic Motoring Events Company was returning to Africa for the first time in ten years in 2027. 

Tomas said: “This is one of the few motoring opportunities that allows us to explore authentic landscapes with the diversity of regions and geology. Namibia is very different to Botswana, Eswatini and Natal in South Africa, with cultural and geographical changes to enjoy in relatively safe areas of the African continent, which is important. Most of these regions have been aspirational locations for as long as we can remember but are still largely unexplored by the vast majority of people, and certainly not within the backdrop of our classic car passion.”

More information can be found here.

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