The entire Crater Cruise route is in the middle of South Africa’s latest World Heritage Site. Here the remnants of a meteorite that struck the earth, 2 023 000 years ago, have formed what is now known as the Vredefort Dome Heritage Site. The result of this mighty impact is a mountainous area with a river flowing right through the middle, and these are the oldest mountains on earth.
Due to the obvious charms of this contrasting typography, the original landowners divided their land into narrow strips to give each of their many children a piece of river frontage and some mountain. Our route cuts across many of these farms, and to get land access, we have to get permission from 42 landowners. We can assure you that it is no easy task! These landowners are well aware of the fact that their land is in a Heritage Site and they are afraid that the Dome will be spoiled with cyclists illegally crossing their land throughout the year and dropping all sorts of rubble. To obtain access, we have had to promise to inform the participants in the Crater Cruise that permission to use these private roads has been granted ONLY for the Crater Cruise events. Cyclists must also take care not to drop even the smallest piece of plastic on the road or damage the area in any way. We beg you to adhere to all these requirements to ensure that each and every landowner will give us permission again next year. If even one owner denies us access, permission from the rest is meaningless and we will be forced to return to the corrugated provincial roads with our magnificent event. If you see anyone littering; ask them to clean it up, or report them to the organisers.
Please refrain from going onto private roads without permission from the landowners. Also note that some roads may not look like private roads. If you go through a gate, you must know you are on private property, even if the gate is open. If you ignore these requests, the future of cycling in our beautiful country may be in jeopardy.
