The wildest edge
In April 2026, the MadWay Rally set off on a new route — from Cape Town into the Tankwa Karoo desert, cutting straight through the wildest edge of the African continent.
The journey carried drivers from the ocean cliffs of the Cape, through the vineyard valleys of Franschhoek, and along the coastline near Gansbaai. From there, the route pushed into the dry scrubland of Worcester, before ending inside AfrikaBurn — a temporary city that rises from the sand and disappears just as fast.
Engines traded for horses
Along the way, the rally left its cars behind more than once. Drivers traded engines for horses, riding through the fynbos-covered hills of the Cape with mountains rising in the haze on the horizon.
Near Gansbaai, they swapped saddles for a boat, sailing out under a pirate flag — and came face to face with a great white shark surfacing right beside the hull.
Donuts on a clay pan
Just outside Gansbaai, the route dropped into a vast clay pan — a stretch of blinding white ground built for one thing: spinning cars in tight circles.
Tires carved huge white loops into the earth, visible from above like patterns drawn by hand.
Neon over the desert
By the time the rally reached AfrikaBurn, night had taken over the desert. Neon light cut through the dark, a towering red skeletal sculpture rose against the stars, and a glowing figure of a deer wandered the far edge of camp.
Somewhere in the crowd, a dancer moved under a diamond of light, and the machines that had crossed hundreds of kilometers of desert stood parked among the art — rusted, battle-worn, finally at rest.
