Spirit of Africa

11/06/2026

5 Years ago - "Chappy", our Spirit scorer doing his thing! Always shadowed by contestants wanting to know what their times are!

08/05/2026

2025 Spirit of Africa Team - really missing these hard working characters with the absence of this year's Spirit.

10/02/2026

Sarel van der Merwe, director of the Spirit of Africa Trophy, made this announcement last night.

"It is with regret that we have to announce that the Spirit of Africa will not take place this year. Nissan South Africa decided not to renew their contract for the 2026 season. However, we are hopeful that the Spirit will take place during 2027 with a new vehicle manufacturer."

03/02/2026

10/01/2026

While going through some of the Spirit of Africa archive files, I came across some photos of the Polaris African Star event which was held on the dunes outside the picturesque fishing village of Lamberts Bay.

In explanation, the Spirit ran a quad-bike event in tandem with the Spirit of Africa, utilizing Polaris 650 4x4 Sport bikes. We were supplied with 52 units, 40 for competitors and 12 for marshalling. There were various age categories, ie, women, children (16 years and older, men and veterans.

Competitors were divided into two groups of 20 each, competing on two separate stages, which were swapped over after lunch.

The event was very popular at the time, only to be scuppered by environmental authorities, who viewed the use of quad bikes as a detriment to the ecology. It was later discontinued. Such a pity as I recall this as being one of the most exciting competitions ever held. 😢

24/08/2025

2025 Spirit of Africa Trophy Final - Goerapan, Kalahari

18/08/2025

18/08/2025

The Spirit of Africa Trophy crowned defending champions, Christiaan and De Wet Otto, as the 2025 South African 4x4 Amateur Champions. Here are some photos of the prizegiving ceremony on Saturday night, 16 August 2025, at Goerapan

14/08/2025

Day 1 of the Spirit of Africa 2025 final is done and dusted! It was back to the salt pans of the Kalahari where some awesome duels took place today. No scores will be announced until prizegiving on Saturday night.

12/08/2025

Testing the sand climbs in readiness for the 2025 Spirit of Africa final was not without mishaps! Here, Navara No. 22 had to be recovered after digging into the sand on a crest