INCENTIVE FEATURE

The Destination Rally — a once-in -a-lifetime experience

The Destination Rally is a 29-day programme travelling to seven countries and 24 different locations. The Destination Rally took place in April 2024, after being delayed due to Covid and lockdowns.

By Lara Wiid, senior account manager

The Destination Rally comprised of 25 privately owned vintage cars and a crew of 10 organisers, mechanics and medical support staff, embarking on a 7,666km journey across Southern Africa. We anticipated that this would be quite the adventure, but that was an understatement, to say the least!

The cars were shipped to South Africa in mid-February, from Europe and even as far as New Zealand, but there were some delays due to a shipping re-route, custom issues and bad weather. The cars only arrived at the Table Bay Hotel on 27 April, ready to be dressed in their rally stickers, checked by the mechanics and greeted by their owners.

After a night in Cape Town, the rally officially began with a scenic drive from the city, along the Cape Peninsula, over Sir Lowry’s Pass and the Franschhoek Pass into Franschhoek for the night. Despite being given specific start times each day, many of the drivers decided on their own departure times, based on the speed of their cars or their interests along the way, causing havoc for the lead logistics vehicle that I was in, whose role it was to advance all lunch events, accommodation and dinners along the way, to ensure that all was setup according to the renowned five-star service level that Destination Rally provides.

From Franschhoek, we headed Northwest through the country to Springbok for a night before our first border crossing into Namibia. All went smoothly at the Namibian border, with the local officials enjoying the cars and Destination Rally merchandise which was handed out along the way. This was the day that we turned off the tarred road for the first time, onto gravel, and one vehicle learned the hard way to adjust their tyre pressure, as well as their speed, after annihilating one of their tires on a perfectly graded road. From Fish River Canyon, the journey continued north into Sossusvlei, where a couple of the cars really struggled with the roads and needed nightly repairs by the team of four mechanics who worked in the heat, dust, by torchlight and with limited supplies in these remote areas, and somehow managed to keep all vehicles up and running and ready to depart each morning.

From Sossusvlei, the route took us into Swakopmund for a night, where everyone had a bit of a breather, being back in civilisation, as it were.

Continuing North took us through Damaraland and into the Etosha region, where we had the first two night stay-over. Laundry and spa treatments were the order of the day. Most guests took the opportunity to do a game drive in the reserve and to enjoy some time for relaxation after nine solid days of driving. Before we knew it, it was time to hit the road again as we journeyed into the Caprivi Strip, spending a night on the banks of the Okavango River before an early departure the following day to cover enough ground to get to the border and into Botswana, having arranged for all vehicles to park safely at Kasane Airport while guests were collected for their Chobe safari adventure in 4x4s. A sunset cruise on the Chobe River, traditional boma dinner at the lodge and morning game drive in the park were the calm before the storm as the following morning we

were taking an ambitious route from Kasane to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe to have lunch at the Grand Dame, The Victoria Falls Hotel, before continuing on through yet another border crossing into Zambia, home for the next two nights.

Having done the borders in this region many times with groups being transferred, I can now fully understand the process behind vehicle changes from one country to the next when going by coach. Getting the people through is easy in comparison to getting the cars through, and this day made our previous border crossings look like a blessing. With only one working computer at the Zambian side, and all vehicle details needing to be registered for their temp import permit, it took close to nine hours for all documentation to be completed. Luckily, after the first four cars got stuck in this process for an hour and a half each, our local agent managed to convince customs to allow the cars to go through, but keep their paperwork there while he continued with the processing.

After two days of respite, with many vehicle repairs in the parking lot and a range of activities, from helicopter flights to white water rafting, to spa treatments, we hit the road again for the long drive from Livingstone to Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe. It was a relatively easy border crossing right on the lake, with one of the officials stationed outside and under a tree to stamp paperwork in his ‘office with a view’, and from there it was just two kilometres to the two lodges that we were staying at that evening before boarding the house boats for a night on the lake. After inspection of the two boats that we had confirmed, it was decided to do a complete rooming list overhaul due to the different levels of standard, and we managed to accommodate the full group on the newly refurbished Trader Houseboat. Unfortunately, due to the tight timeline that we had on Kariba, we were not able to go too far before finding a mooring for the afternoon and evening. Several of the guests went out on a safari cruise in the late afternoon as well as a fishing expedition on the lake before dinner, followed by a pop quiz. The following morning, it was all systems go at first light to get the group back to mainland and on the road as soon as possible, due to reports of the drive from Kariba to Harare being tricky with truck traffic and poor road conditions.

It was a long drive indeed and the potholes did a fair amount of damage to some of the vehicle rims, but all were changed and sorted out in Harare that evening and the following day. An optional lunch stop at Lions Den, with a roadside burger from Saucy Sue’s was a fantastic break in the monotony of the road, and we managed to stock up our depleted supply of biltong in the lead car before reaching the city and hitting traffic for the first time on the trip.

From Harare, we headed east towards the Mozambican border, stopping for lunch at La Rochelle Country House along the way. This was a last-minute booking as our previous lunch location had been so spectacularly poor in communications that they received a vote of no confidence. While taking out some of the scenery from the route at the new lunch spot, we also managed to reduce the kilometres for the day, which was a blessing in disguise to get through a busy, yet efficient border post and onwards to Chimoio before nightfall. Our sweep vehicle pulling the trailer had a late departure from Harare due to technical issues with the trailer, and one of the rally vehicles also had to spend a while in Harare doing a wheel replacement due to damage from the potholes, but overall, everyone made it to Castelo Branco for the night. This was the pit stop before the toughest day of the drive, and while language, service and catering were a challenge in the evening, we were optimally located to make the journey down to Vilanculos the next day, and staying in Chimoio was certainly preferrable to basing ourselves in Zimbabwe and having to do the border crossing and the long drive in one go.

It was an early start, with all expectations that several of the cars would not make it all the way to Vilanculos, and a backup accommodation plan was confirmed for mid-way along the route in case of breakdowns. The quality of the roads are terrible on this stretch, and we had been warned that even the hardiest 4x4’s struggle with the routing. Well, these rally drivers sure demonstrated their skills, with the first vehicles arriving at the mid-way point with an hour to spare before lunch! Slow and careful driving was the order of the day, and every vehicle, including the pre-war models, made it down to Vilanculos before sunset, to enjoy dinner with a view of the Indian Ocean. What a feeling to have crossed the continent from the Atlantic to Indian Ocean with all drivers and most vehicles still in one piece (by then we had lost three vehicles which had needed to be repatriated and replaced by 4x4 rental cars, and those were the only drivers who didn’t manage to cross the finish line in their classic cars).

A two-night island holiday on Bazaruto was in order after the tough roads that we had left behind, and the group enjoyed a variety of relaxing activities, from sunset cruises, fishing, snorkelling and spa treatments, along with a local flavoured dinner on the beach on the second night.

On returning to the mainland, the cars were packed, and we hit the road again for the drive down to Inhambane for a night, and onwards to Maputo. An evening cocktail function at the Serena Polana gave everyone an excuse to dress in their best and meet some of the local government representatives who came to congratulate them for making it all the way through Mozambique.

Exiting Mozambique into Swaziland was one of our easiest border crossings yet, with friendly officials and no queues at all. From there, it was a scenic drive to our hotel for the night, overlooking the plantation forests, with a BBQ dinner and a slightly strange property that looked as if it had gotten stuck somewhere in the 70s.

Crossing over from Swaziland back into South Africa was another ‘Eurika’ moment as we made it back into our starting country. Another easy border post to get through and then onwards to the bush! Getting to Phinda Private Game Reserve offered everyone an opportunity to submit mountains of laundry again and enjoy some fantastic sightings on safari. One of the Porsches had broken down in Maputo with a clutch issue, and while I thought that this would take them out of the running disappointingly close to the finish line, the mechanics had other ideas and a part was shipped from Johannesburg while the car was trucked from Mozambique. In true bush mechanic style, the team managed to get the vehicle up and running again with a late-night repair in the Phinda workshop and, like magic, it was fit to do the final drive from Phinda down to Durban!

Arriving at the Oyster Box Hotel saw the drivers rewarded with cocktails at the finish line flag, and a mass car wash, and vehicle clean out ensued to prepare the cars for collection the following day so that they could be taken to the port for shipping out. The final dinner was a lively affair, with everyone in a celebratory mood, plenty of wine flowing (including Destination by Journey’s End, an appropriately named local Chardonnay from Cape Town), live entertainment, an awards ceremony for the drivers and singing and dancing until the close of the evening, with departures starting early the following day.

Overall, an incredibly successful rally, with an opportunity for both rally guests and crew to experience the amazing contrasts of southern Africa, bucket list activities, best and worst roads, discombobulating border procedures and spectacular landscapes over 29 days. One for the books, and certainly a programme that I look forward to being a part of again, when they return in 2026!

Contact info

Email: info@dragonfly.co.za

Tel: +27 (0)11 219 5600

Website: www.dragonfly.co.za