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2008 Event Location Revealed

Always shrouded in mystery, the exact whereabouts of the BMW GS Challenge have always been withheld from the entrants until the event is imminent.

In 2008 BMW Motorrad is breaking that tradition.


Due to word of mouth most prospective entrants already know that the 2008 event will be taking place somewhere in the Limpopo Province. Historically, the GS Challenge venue is typically a remote location seldom travelled or explored. And this year's Challenge is no exception. It's also a region steeped in history.

Travelling from the west the last fuel stop before the Challenge Camp site is at Letsitele, "Valley of the Dead" in Sotho.

Riding up from Ohrigstad in Mpumalanga the last fuel stop is Ofcalaco, a rather exotic African sounding name. It is actually an acronym for Officers Colonial Land Company, and was a region settled by retired army officers in the late 19th century.

The final destination was once the second largest town in the old Transvaal, was actually proclaimed a city, and the capital of the Lowveld.

In it's heyday it boasted a population of 5000. Originally settled around 1870, when gold was first discovered in the Murchison mountain range, it was another 20 years before significant deposits were found and miners swarmed to the area.

The town soon developed into a busy mining settlement with a police station, hospital, post office, hotel, bars, trading stores and an odd assortment of miners' cottages. The town even had its own newspaper, the Leydsdorp Leader.

Leydsdorp's prosperity, however, was short-lived, though; many miners died of fever and the village suffered from a shortage of water.

So, when gold was discovered in the Sutherland range many miners drifted further north and Leydsdorp gradually became a ghost town. In 1950, the last residents left and the village was abandoned.

On September 24th, Leydsdorp will once again, become the temporary home of a group of South African's who have a spirit for adventure, and a common cause - BMW GS adventure travel.

Tents will be pitched amongst abandoned gold diggings, a long-forgotten corrugated iron police station standing sentinel on a distant koppie.

Some of the streets, though recently marked with signposts are nothing more than dirt tracks carved through dense bush.

See you there...