Planning – The Roof of Africa 2023

Planning

Border Crossing

Anyone can enter into Lesotho by having the following on your person when arriving at the borders:

A valid passport

*SA ID is not enough to enter Lesotho.

In addition to this: Make sure to check the times at which the ports of entry are open – not all of them are accessible 24 hours a day.

On that note, the Maseru Bridge Border Post is open 24 hours. Competitors and crews may opt to use an alternate border post to Maseru Bridge when leaving Lesotho on Sunday to avoid the long queues at the South African Border Post. Those traveling to the North and to Natal can make use of the Peka Bridge Gate Border Post, whilst those traveling in the East London / Port Elizabeth direction should make use of the Van Rooyen’s Gate Border Post. Make sure that you present your passport for stamping when you exit South Africa as well as when you enter Lesotho. Likewise, when leaving, make sure your passport is stamped at both the Lesotho and South African Border posts.

Lesotho has a number of Border control crossings but as the event is in the vicinity of Maseru there are only 4 options that really matter for travellers to the event:

Maseru Bridge – this is open 24/7 but it is the busiest crossing point and you could get significant delays
Ficksburg/Maputsoe Bridge – this is also open 24/7 and is the second busiest crossing point. It’s about 80 km north of Maseru but the road between the two is tarmac.
Peka Bridge – this is not a busy crossing. It’s about 60 km north of Maseru and is only open between 08:00 and 16:00 hrs. Most of the road to Maseru is tarmac but there is also 6 to 8 km of gravel near to the Border crossing.
Van Rooyens Nek – 90 km South of Maseru, generally not very busy and recommended for people travelling from P.E. East London.

Ensure that your trailers’ licenses are up to date as these are often checked at the border. The 21-day grace period for license expiry is not applicable in Lesotho.

Detailed Programme of Events

Documentation and Scrutineering	Documentation and Scrutineering are to be held on 29 November 2023 from 10:00 – 19:00. As far as possible all pre-event documentation will be done electronically. No in-person checking of competition licenses will be permitted. Competitors are to electronically forward a copy of their competition license (PDF) to the event organisers together with their entry form. Competitors can download copies of their competition licenses from the www.msaonline.co.za. Competitors will have to attend documentation and scrutineering to receive their information / goodie bag, download GPS tracks, undergo scrutineering of their motorcycles and helmets, get their Race Control tag scanned and to have tracking devices mounted to their motorcycles. Each rider will also have to pose for a “before” photo. Scrutineering requires that each rider visits a number of stations before ensuring that they have everything for the days to follow. Competitors need to have the Roof of Africa competition numbers and sponsor decals on their motorcycle (collected at Documentation), ball ended clutch and brake levers, kill switch, spokes, wheel bearings, tyres and rims, secure silencer / exhaust, electric or kick start, operating brakes for the front and rear wheels, self-closing throttle, adequate and secure mudguards, folding foot pegs and a secure fuel tank without leaks. Riders are also to bring their motocross full face helmet.
Round the Houses Maseru Prologue	Round the Houses Maseru Prologue(Thursday, 30 November 2023): Will be run from the Maseru Mall, which lays in the capital of Lesotho. All competitors entered into the Roof of Africa have to participate in this event. Specific times will be allocated for all categories and riders. What we can say that is this will not be your normal Round the Houses but more of a combination of Round the Houses and a prologue style route into a nearby Koppie. Road and dirt combined. For this section of the Roof of Africa all standard regulations relating to circuit type racing must be adhered to. Competitors are also only to use conventional enduro tyres. In order to ensure that riders do not spend too much time waiting around for their respective races we plan to have five races, Gold, Silver, 2 x Bronze and Iron.


Racing Section 2	Racing Section 2 will be staged on the 1st of December 2023, the Start area would probably bear near Thaba Bosiu and /Finish area at Bushmans. Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron riders will start based on their finish positions in the Round the Houses Maseru Prologue. Racing Section 2 will comprise of 100 – 160km of riding in the Mountain Kingdom. Fuel points, time bars and final distances will be announced and communicated closer to the event.
Racing Section 3	Racing Section 3 will be staged on the 2nd of December 2023, at the Start/Finish area at Bushmans. Competitors will start this section based on their combined overall times from the first two racing sections. The first 30min after the leader departs will be on actual time, thereafter competitors will be set off on corrected time at intervals determined by the COC. Racing Section 3 will comprise of 80 – 120km of riding in the Mountain Kingdom. Fuel points, time bars and final distances will be announced and communicated closer to the event