Run on the Wild Side of Mapungubwe

Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site as a Transfrontier park will be hosting its first ever Run on The Wild Side event.
Starting on Friday and ending at Mapungubwe on Sunday, the run comprises a 92 km, 3-day trail running safari experience through the culturally significant and bushveld rich with wildlife of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation area. The route comprises African bushveld, riverine forest, sandstone hills and elephant trials and will form a clover leaf from base camp in Marami, Zimbabwe and include routes into Sentinel Ranch in Zimbabwe, the Tuli Game Reserve in Botswana and Mapungubwe.
From the ancient Mapungubwe citadel to the rolling savannah of Botswana’s Tuli Block the route takes runners across the Limpopo River to the banks of the Shashe River, through the rural villages of Maramani, past huge Baobabs and along ancient elephant trails in Zimbabwe. The race is described as “the ultimate safari-on-the-run experience in one of Africa’s most sought-after big-game areas.”
“This is the first event of this nature in the park,” Divhani Maremba, Communications Manager, Northern region of SanParks said.”We don’t have a multitude of people participating, but people are invited to be a part of this and meet the runners at the Confluence in Mapungubwe on Sunday.”
Entries for the event closed on 31 March and registration takes place on 12 May. The run is limited to 30 runners only, and is described as a guided running experience. The daily distances are 30km, 34 km and 28 km and the entrance fees for this year was R16 950 per entry.
The race will be held annually.

NELIE ERASMUS
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