News from Malawi Travel
The Africa Rally 2024 Heads for Malawi!
This July the Warm Heart of Africa plays host to Africa’s Biggest Charity Road Trip!
After setting off from South Africa in late June, a variety of vehicles from old Land Rovers, to VW Beetles, Mercedes, Volvos, and even a Kugelwagon will have made their way across Botswana, Zambia, and will finally cross the border into Malawi at Chipata. Here they will head for Senga Bay, where, for the first time routes will diverge with a number of teams heading north to Kenya, while others head south back through Mozambique to South Africa.
What makes the Africa Rally special?
Well, in this unique three-week, 4,500km event, each team selects a charity close to their heart which they opt to fundraise for, competing to be the team who raises the most, and ultimately takes home The Africa Rally Trophy. Any registered charity can be represented, with teams this year fundraising for causes that include Water Aid (https://www.givengain.com/project/tony-raising-funds-for-wateraid-77686), The Charity Stores (https://www.givengain.com/project/darrell-raising-funds-for-the-charity-stores-71611), Farm Africa (https://www.givengain.com/project/kevin-raising-funds-for-farm-africa-75612), The Rottweiler Rescue & Rehome (https://www.givengain.com/project/frank-raising-funds-for-friend-of-the-rottweiler-rescue-and-re-home-south-africa-75480), as well as smaller local causes such as With Change in Mind (https://www.givengain.com/project/kevin-raising-funds-for-with-change-in-mind-75614) in Malawi.
We as The Africa Rally HQ Team provide the infrastructure to host such an event, the advice from veteran overlanders who have driven this route many times, and the recommendations for places where teams might want to stop. We also operate an emergency line, and do what we can to ensure all teams successfully make it to the Finish Line three weeks later, to claim their Africa Rally Finishers Medals.
So if you happen to be in Malawi during the first or two in July, keep your eyes on the road, as our Africa Rally Teams, along of course with our HQ Team, will be passing through undoubtably one of our favourite countries. Furthermore, if you are keen to interview any of the team, or help raise the exposure of our event to assist with team’s fundraising activities, then please get in touch on as we would love your assistance!
Finally, this event runs each year, always bigger and better than the previous edition, and always in July. Therefore if you want to enter a team in a future edition, simply go to www.africarally.com to find out more and get yourself on our mailing list for advanced early bird entry for next year!
When are we in Malawi
Malawi is the half way point for both routes, so teams are expected to enter the country from the Chipata border with Zambia on approximately 7th July, then head for Wheelhouse Marina, Senga Bay, where our Half Way Party is hosted on the evening of 9th July.
From there, our Challenger Route teams head north along the lake road aiming for Nkhotakota Town on 10th, then onwards towards the Songwe Border with Tanzania in the proceeding days. At the same time, our Discovery Route teams head south towards Monkey Bay on 10th, then onwards either via the Golomoti pass and the Dedza Border to Mozambique, or down towards Blantyre and the Mwanza border in the proceeding days.
