The 2026 Pangea Rally Route
7 Days and 7 Nights | 2100km | 750km off-road | 22 Mountain Passes |
Max altitude 1,500m
The Pangea Rally follows a carefully planned route through South Africa’s Western Cape, combining iconic tar passes, remote gravel tracks, and dramatic landscapes, supported by professionally managed logistics.
From the optional Prologue at Cape Point, to the high point of Swartberg Pass, to coastal roads along the Garden Route, across the vast Tankwa Karoo, and into the rugged Cederberg, this route is built to deliver variety, challenge, and reward.
Each of the six rally stages is designed to give you a distinct flavour of the Cape. Over a third of the route is off-road, with riders averaging ±350 km per day.
Not a tour. Not a race.
This is an immersive shared rally experience with 80 like-minded riders. Adventure with camaraderie, a good night’s rest, great food, and the kind of scenery that stays with you forever.
Quick Links
21 October - Optional Prologue | ±85 km
22 October - Stage 1 | ±360 km | ±50 km off-road
23 October - Stage 2 | ±360 km | ±145 km off-road
24 October - Stage 3 | ±370 km | ±185 km off-road
25 October - Stage 4 | ±420 km | ±90 km off-road
26 October - Stage 5 | ±300 km | ±130 km off-road
The Pangea Rally is SEA BERG KAROO. This map gives a high-level view of the journey you’ll be on: oceans, mountains, desert, bivouac nights under big African skies.
21 October - Optional Prologue | ±85 km
Cape Point and the edge of the map
A short hit to set the tone. Ride the peninsula through charming coastal towns with ocean on both sides, and end at Cape Point - the cornerstone of the Cape Fold Mountains and the most South-Western point of Africa. A quick funicular ride or walk up to the lighthouse puts you on the edge of cliffs that drop into the Atlantic. The Cape of Good Hope is steeped in history, shipwreck stories, and explorer legends. Then it’s deep blue ocean to the horizon.
The nearest landmass is Antarctica. Feel that cool breeze running up your arm? We’ve got goosebumps too.
The Prologue highlight has to be Cape Point Nature Reserve - fynbos, wildlife, and that end-of-the-continent feeling as you walk up to the lighthouse and look out over the Atlantic.
Riding feel: Easy, scenic, confidence-building. The perfect warm up to meet your people, shake down your kit, and settle into the rhythm before the first full rally stage.
22 October - Stage 1 | ±360 km | ±50 km off-road
City buzz to open roads
Start the rally with engines revving and that mix of excitement and nerves. Chapman’s Peak Drive delivers the first real wow moment before rolling out along the coast with Table Mountain shrinking behind you, then let the city noise fade as the road opens up. The mountain lines draw you inland. The only way is up and over. Vineyards give way to sandstone rocks, and green turns to wheat fields and grazing livestock in the Overberg. It’s now time to step up the relationship with your bike. Your first proper gravel riding hugs the mountains and pulls you into the countryside before you arrive at Swellendam - a green oasis and your first bivouac night. White canvas tents beneath tall pines, campfires crackling, and the kind of quiet that makes you realise you’ve stepped into something special.
Today’s highlight is Chapman’s Peak Drive - ocean on your left, cliff face on your right, and a road that is literally carved into the rock.
Riding feel : A classic opening stage. It feels like leaving normal life behind. As the city disappears in the mirrors, the weight comes off your shoulders and the adventure starts to unfold.
23 October - Stage 2 | ±360 km | ±145 km off-road
Into the Little Karoo
The Overberg gives way to the Little Karoo as you stitch together valleys that straddle the Langeberg mountain range. Gravel and tar trade places all day. You’ll want to keep your eyes open for wildlife on the verges - ostrich, antelope, giraffe, even the occasional tortoise crossing the road. As the sun drops, iron-rich mountains glow red, dust settles, and the most magnificent night sky emerges. Big stars and Karoo air. Zero light pollution.
Today’s highlight is a secret pass that begins with a rocky jeep track ascent before dropping into a quiet green valley where the only sound is nature. It’s the kind of place that makes you want to switch off the engine and just listen.
Riding feel: More remote. More real. This is where the rally starts to feel like an adventure.
24 October - Stage 3 | ±370 km | ±185 km off-road
Swartberg Pass to the Indian Ocean
You’ll wake up and see the Swartberg range in the distance. Yes, we’re climbing it. Swartberg Pass takes you to the highest point of the rally at roughly 1,500 m above sea level, then the descent begins and everything changes fast. The desert turns to lush coastal forest, dry air becomes warm and moist, and suddenly you’re running parallel to the Indian Ocean with white water, bridges over inlets, and the smell of the sea in your helmet. Our overnight camp is on the bluffs on a private estate with wildlife around you and the ocean in front of you. Fall asleep to the distant sound of waves.
Today’s highlight is the mighty Swartberg pass - the moment you crest the pass and realise you’ve just crossed into a completely different world but first you have a series of switch back passes to drop down into and feel the flow of the road.
Riding feel: Big day, big reward. Adventure in the morning, comfort by the sea at night. If your legs are sore, this is the night for a massage and a seafood feast.
25 October - Stage 4 | ±420 km | ±90 km dirt
Transitioning across the Karoo, long horizon riding
Wake up with a morning swim, then point the bikes inland. Today is about distance and landscape. Settle in and let your bike do what it was built to do. Leaving the coast, you climb a spectacular tarmac pass and watch the green vegetation disappear into the cloud bank as you reach the crest; from here the world opens up into the Great Karoo escarpment, the kind of landscape that makes you feel small in the best way. This is your liaison day, Dakar style. You cover ground, manage your energy, and fall into that steady rhythm where the kilometres stack up almost effortlessly, until a historic town appears in the middle of nowhere like a lost era, then fades again in your mirrors as the horizon draws you onward.
Today's highlight is Seweweekspoort. A ribbon of road carved through a canyon of tall, wavy rock walls. Layered stone forged hundreds of millions of years ago, towering above you as the poort winds and narrows and echoes with the sound of your bike.
Riding feel : Long, hypnotic, and deeply satisfying. This is the stage where wind protection matters and your big adventure bike comes into its own.
26 October - Stage 5 | ±300 km | ±130 km off-road
Cederberg dirt day
By now you and your bike are in perfect harmony. Don’t let the shorter distance fool you. Today we get properly dirty. Crisp morning temperatures warm quickly as the sun rises. Red rock formations, big open gravel, and sections that feel like stepping back in time. You’re in what was once home to the Khoi San people. With the emptiness, caves littered with ancient rock art, and boulders piled like a giant’s playground, you can’t help but feel like an early explorer. In the heat of the afternoon, we drop down to the Olifants River for a refreshing swim, before the route pulls you back into the dirt and deep into the Cederberg basin. A jeep track drops you into a valley where the bivouac sits in the middle of the Cederberg ridge, surrounded by mountains and fed by a stream that turns this rugged land into an oasis.
Today’s highlight is Pakhuis Pass - a spectacular climb that lifts you from valleys into the Cederberg wilderness and adventure bike riding heaven. Wide mountain views that make you stop just to take it in.
Riding feel: Raw, rugged, and rewarding. Remote riding by day, proper comfort by night. The kind of place where dinner somehow tastes better because of where you are.
27 October - Stage 6 | ±340 km | ±135 km off-road
The long way home
You can almost taste the first sip of celebration, but we are taking the long way back. With gravel under your tyres, you have your last dance with the Cederberg before dropping into the vast plains of the Tankwa Karoo, flat nothingness under big sky, a road as straight as it is long. Then tarmac arrives like a reward, pulling you toward civilisation via one of the most beautiful passes you will ever ride, before you roll down to the Atlantic with Table Mountain towering over the city, an ocean swim to rinse off the week, and the Cape Winelands waiting for a night of celebration that feels earned.
Today’s highlight is Bainskloof pass. A Cape classic and one of those rides you file away as ‘best ever’. In his 40 year career, Thomas Bain was the engineer of 900 kilometers of roads and mountain passes - this was the one he put his name on. We know why, and soon you will too.
Riding feel: Bittersweet. Relief and pride. The best kind of tired. A beer or glass of champagne has never tasted sweeter.
Frequently asked questions
The greatest motorcycle rally at the southern tip of Africa, through the wildest terrain of the Western Cape. Limited to 80 riders. Secure your place now.
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