From Mantshwabisi to world stage, local desert passes the test
Kabelo Boranabi | Monday October 5, 2026 06:00
The Toyota 1000 Desert Race, better known locally as Mantshwabisi, turned that terrain into a Southern African motorsport institution.
Now, more than three decades after the race moved to Botswana, the same desert is heading for the biggest stage yet.
In June 2027, the FIA-FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) will cross into Botswana as part of the South African Safari Rally, with stages two and three running through Kgatleng and Kweneng on June 16 and 17.
The provisional distance is 790km, split between a 430km stage and a 360km stage, with competitors spending a night in a marathon camp in the bush.
It is a remarkable destination for a world championship, but it is not a sudden discovery. The story goes back to 1981, when the race that would eventually become the Toyota 1000 Desert Race began in South Africa.
It moved to Botswana in 1992, and the local terrain would become one of the defining features of the event.
Mantshwabisi became more than a race. It became an annual migration. Spectators followed the action into the bush, competitors battled through sand and rough tracks, and communities around the route benefited from the sporting and commercial activity.
The event also became a breeding ground for local talent. Atang Makgekgenene won the race in 2004 and 2005, whilst Ross Branch would later become one of the country's most recognisable rally-raid competitors.
But the success also contained a weakness. The biggest desert race on local soil was ultimately not a locally controlled championship. Its connection to South African motorsport remained important.
When the race began moving between venues, and eventually away from Botswana, local motorsport was forced to confront an uncomfortable question: what happens when the race leaves?
The warning signs had been there as the event moved through places including Gaborone, Kumakwane, Selebi-Phikwe and Jwaneng.
Selebi-Phikwe hosted the 2019 edition as part of efforts to use the race to support the former mining town's economic revival. The COVID-19 disruption followed, and the race subsequently spent time in South Africa.
It returned to Jwaneng in 2023, but the comeback did not last. Following the fire that destroyed 49 spectator vehicles during the 2023 event, the race went back to South Africa.
At the time, local authorities had expected the race to remain in Botswana under a five-year agreement running from 2023 to 2027.
For local motorsport, losing Mantshwabisi was more than losing a race. It was losing an institution.
Then came the Morolong Rally idea. In 2019, Botswana Motor Sport (BMS) unveiled plans for Morolong 2020, an ambitious cross-country rally proposed to cover between 5,000km and 7,000km over at least seven days, starting and finishing in Goodhope.
The dream was enormous: to create a major locally conceived African cross-country rally capable of competing with international events. However, it never reached the start line.
The pandemic disrupted the plans and the project subsequently failed to materialise. But whilst the big dream stalled, something more important was happening underneath it. Local organisers were beginning to build their own race culture.
In 2024, Cryo Motorsport launched the Botswana Off-Road Racing Championship (BORRC) as the country's first competitive off-road racing championship for cars.
It was created partly in response to Mantshwabisi's departure, with the stated aim of reducing reliance on South Africa.
And the ambition was already there. Just two rounds into the inaugural championship, BORRC organisers were openly talking about taking local off-road racing onto the African and global stage.
The Mantshwabisi 300 attracted more than 10 South African competitors, including Dakar Rally driver Brian Baragwanath, giving the fledgling championship an early international flavour.
The significance was not simply the number of competitors, but it was ownership. For the first time, local motorsport had a structured off-road championship that it controlled.
The Sarona Kalahari 1000 became the first Botswana-owned 1,000km desert race, filling the gap left by the old Toyota Desert Race. Its 2025 edition attracted competitors from Botswana, South Africa, and Namibia and formed part of the BORRC.
That race offered something the local fraternity had been missing: proof that a major endurance race could be built locally. The Kalahari did not become any kinder.
The terrain still demanded mechanical sympathy, navigation, tyre management, and endurance. Competitors still had to manage the delicate balance between pushing for pace and preserving the machine.
That is the DNA of rally-raid, and gradually, the pieces began to fit. The local championship provided consistency. Locally-owned races provided independence. Regional competitors provided competition. Officials gained experience. Routes were developed across different terrain.
The ambition was no longer theory, as in 2024, when BORRC organisers believed the championship could position Botswana as a premium off-road racing destination and eventually attract a global event.
They also recognised that reaching that level would require investment and the development of local expertise, facilities and the wider sport.
That is precisely what makes the 2027 announcement so significant. The W2RC did not suddenly discover that Botswana has good desert terrain. Local racers have known that for decades. The world championship has now provided the external validation.
The 2027 South African Safari Rally will make Botswana the ninth country visited by the W2RC.
The competitors will cross the border during the marathon stage, race through Kgatleng and Kweneng, spend the night in the bush and continue back towards South Africa the following day.
That is not a demonstration run, but it is world championship racing. And the terrain will be expected to deliver what it has always delivered: a proper test.
There will be sand. There will be tight bush sections. There will be riverbeds. There will be long specials. And, in the marathon format, there will be no conventional overnight service safety net for crews.
The machines will have to survive and so will the competitors. For local motorsport, however, the real test is bigger than two stages.
The arrival of the W2RC creates an opportunity to show that the progress made through BORRC and locally owned events can translate into international-standard organisation, route preparation, safety, marshalling, communications, medical response, and spectator management.
That is the next step because the journey from Mantshwabisi was never simply about losing one race and replacing it with another. It was about discovering whether local motorsport could stand on its own.
Morolong 2020 showed the ambition, and its failure showed that ambition alone was not enough. BORRC provided structure and local ownership. And the W2RC has now provided the destination.
The irony is hard to miss, as for years, the biggest desert race came to Botswana because the terrain was good enough.
Then the race left, only for local organisers to respond by building their own championships and their own endurance races. Now the world championship is coming back across the border. This time, the local desert is not merely providing the backdrop.
From Mantshwabisi to the W2RC, it has taken more than three decades for the potential of the local desert to receive its biggest international test.