Desert Race makes shock return to Gaborone
Kabelo Boranabi | Monday May 18, 2026 06:00
After years of turning Botswana’s mining town into the heartbeat of off-road motorsport, the race is making a dramatic return to Gaborone. Relocating to the capital signals the beginning of what organisers hope will be a bigger, louder, and more commercially powerful era for the country’s most iconic endurance race. The move ends Jwaneng’s long run as the modern home of the desert spectacle, a relationship that helped revive Botswana’s famous 1,000km racing tradition and turned the event into one of the country’s biggest annual sporting attractions.
The race has been held in Gaborone, Kumakwane and Selebi-Phikwe, amongst other venues, before 'permanent' residence in Jwaneng.
Now the National Agriculture Showgrounds will host the race, bringing the roar of desert machines back to the capital for the first time in years.
The race moves from the Kgale side of the capital city, where the Game City Shopping mall was the start/finish point, to the Sebele/Block 10 side.
The relocation is more than just a venue change as it represents a strategic shift. The Sarona 1000km itself was born out of crisis after the collapse of the Toyota-backed Botswana Desert Race structure.
Local entity, Cyro Motorsport Group, responded by launching a fully Botswana-owned replacement, the Sarona Kalahari 1000, with Jwaneng hosting the successful rebirth of the event in 2024 with a 500km race, whilst 2025 saw the return of the 1,000km race.
The debut local 1,000km long edition reminded many why the race had earned legendary status over the decades. Drivers from Botswana, South Africa and Namibia tackled brutal terrain, deep sand and punishing conditions in a race where survival mattered just as much as speed.
Nearly half the field failed to finish, restoring the unforgiving reputation that once made the old 'Mantshwabisi' desert race feared across Southern African motorsport circles. But whilst Jwaneng gave the event stability and identity, Gaborone appears set to offer scale.
The move to the capital city is expected to improve accessibility for fans, attract larger sponsorship opportunities and create a broader entertainment experience around the race itself. Organisers are already promising bigger activations, motor dealer exhibitions and enhanced fan engagement around the event.
For traditionalists, however, the relocation may feel almost as disrespecting the sacred as Jwaneng did not just host the race but embraced it.
The hotels in the area filled up, roadside camps multiplied, and businesses benefited from the annual economic injection brought by thousands of visitors descending on the town. Over time, the desert race became woven into the town’s sporting culture.
That emotional connection means the move will inevitably divide opinion. Some will argue that the Sarona 1000 needed the commercial muscle of the capital to evolve further. Others will insist the race risks losing part of its soul by leaving behind the harsh mining-town backdrop that helped shape its modern identity.
Still, the history of Botswana’s desert race has always been one of movement and reinvention.