Terms of Service

Routekeepers (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/707131/07, a private company incorporated in South Africa and trading as Routekeepers (the “Platform”, “we”), connects identity-verified riders, drivers and hikers with private South African farms offering paid day access to curated routes — on adventure motorbikes and enduro bikes, on quads, in 4×4 vehicles, on mountain bikes and e-bikes, and on foot — and, on some farms, wild camping or built accommodation. By creating an account and using the Platform you agree to these Terms. They call you “the Rider” whichever way you travel.

We also run a marketplace where riders sell each other route guides to public-road rides. A guide is one rider’s written work about a road anyone may already ride — never access to anything — and section 15 covers it. Nearly everything else in these Terms is about farm access.

These aren’t boilerplate. The whole thing works because farmers trust that the people we send will close the gates, stay on the routes, and respect the rules. Please read them — especially the risk and indemnity section (8), which applies to every way of travelling a farm route: on two wheels, on four, or on your own two feet.

You must be at least 18, have a valid SA ID, driver’s licence, or passport, and a working email address. You complete identity verification before you can buy anything (see 3).

You must also hold whatever licence the law requires for the way you’re travelling, and be fit enough for the route you book. A road-registered vehicle needs one: a motorcycle licence for a motorbike, a valid driver’s licence for a 4×4. An enduro bike, a quad, a mountain bike or an e-bike ridden only on private farmland needs no licence, and going on foot needs none — but the farm’s own conditions still apply, and every route has a difficulty you are responsible for matching to your own ability. A route guide is information rather than access and no vehicle is being booked, so it needs neither identity verification nor a licence — only an account.

You may not use the Platform under a false identity, on someone else’s behalf, or after we’ve closed your account.

Before you buy a permit you agree to upload a photo of your SA ID, driver’s licence, or passport, plus a selfie holding it, so we can confirm who you are. Farms open their gates to people they have never met; knowing every rider’s real name is what lets them. Each submission is checked — by an automated first look and, where it needs one, by our team — before you can book.

Your documents stay on file while your account is open, so you verify once. They are what keep you verified, so you cannot delete them and stay verified: deleting your account erases them. We keep a record of our decision — not the documents — for up to 7 years (POPIA). The Privacy Policy says exactly who sees what.

What we keep on file depends on what you bring. For a road-registered vehicle — a 4×4 or an adventure motorbike — you keep its licence disc and number plate photographed and on file. The disc identifies the vehicle — it need not be in your name, and we don’t check whether it is current.

For a vehicle that isn’t road-registered — an enduro bike, a quad, a mountain bike or an e-bike — you upload photographs of it from the front, the rear and both sides instead, so the farm knows what came through its gate. On foot there is no vehicle, and your ID is all we need.

You ride or drive only what is on your permit. Arriving on something else is a breach (see 7), and it is not a technicality: farms grant access by vehicle type, and a route that is safe on one is not necessarily safe on another.

A permit is the right to access a route on a farm for a defined daytime window (06:00–18:00). On a motorbike, an enduro bike, a quad or a mountain bike, and on foot, a permit is for one named, verified person — each books their own; there is no “one permit, a few mates through the gate”. In a 4×4, a permit is priced per vehicle and covers one verified driver plus the passengers they bring in that vehicle, up to the farm’s cap. On some farms, mountain-bike and on-foot access is sold as a per-person day fee covering the farm’s routes rather than one route. Group caps and the farm’s pricing apply.

You are responsible for everyone you bring with you — passengers, invitees, everyone in your group, and anyone acting for you. You must make sure they understand and accept the risks and the farm’s rules, and you indemnify the Platform and the farm against any claim brought by or on behalf of a passenger or invitee. They take part entirely at their own risk.

If anyone in your party is under 18 they are there in your care, and you accept these risks on their behalf as their parent or guardian. South African law does not let an adult sign away a child’s own claim, so what you give us here is your undertaking rather than theirs — bring a child onto a farm only if you’re willing to carry that.

Groups can be coordinated via the group-booking feature: an organiser invites the others by email, each invitee verifies their own ID, and each pays for their own permit.

Organiser free permit: where a group reaches six riders including the organiser, the organiser's own permit is free. It is comped only once five other riders in the group have paid — the organiser pays last, or rides free. Once the free permit is claimed it stays the organiser's even if a rider later cancels and the group drops below six. The free permit applies to the day permit only; any wild camping, accommodation or provisions the organiser adds are charged as normal.

Where a farm offers it, you can add wild camping or book built accommodation with your permit (people × nights). Accommodation is provided, priced, and run by the farm under its own house rules and cancellation policy. You are responsible for any damage you or your party cause, and the farm may refuse or end a stay for a breach of its rules.

Once you’ve paid, your gate code and route GPX are shown on your permit card and emailed to you. The gate code is valid only for your window; sharing it outside your group is a serious breach (see 7).

When you ride or drive a Routekeepers farm you agree to: stay on the marked route (off-route is trespass); close every gate you pass through; observe the farm’s speed limit; obey all signage and instructions from the landowner or their representatives; ride or drive only within your permit window; never bring vehicles or people who aren’t on a valid permit; report any incident (damage, a lost rider, livestock, mechanical) as soon as you can; and respect the farmer — they’re opening their land to you.

A farm may deny or withdraw access at any time — including on the day — for safety, weather, or at its own discretion, and may direct you to leave. Where access is withdrawn for reasons that aren’t your fault, the refund policy (10) applies; where it’s withdrawn because of your conduct or a breach of these Terms, no refund is due.

We run a graded penalty ladder — coaching note, formal warning, suspension, indefinite ban, permanent ban (and, at the top, a report to authorities) — with a 7-day appeal window.

Bringing riders who aren’t on a valid permit, or sharing your gate code outside your group, are serious breaches that can lead to suspension or a ban. These are contractual terms you accept by booking.

You’re responsible for your own insurance — the Platform provides none. Check your cover before you book rather than after: medical schemes, life policies and vehicle insurance commonly exclude off-road riding, and some exclude it entirely.

Wear the right protective gear for what you’re doing. A helmet is non-negotiable on a motorbike, an enduro bike, a quad and a mountain bike; seatbelts are non-negotiable in a 4×4. On foot, wear proper footwear and carry enough water for the distance and the heat. Make sure your vehicle is sound and suited to the route, and that you are fit enough for it. We may decline a booking where the vehicle on file, or your experience, is clearly unsuited to the route’s difficulty.

Prices are in ZAR including platform fees, shown at checkout. Payment is by card or instant EFT through Paystack, our payment processor. You enter your card or banking details on Paystack’s secure checkout — we never see or store them.

Refunds on permits, camping and accommodation follow our published refund policy: full refund up to 48 hours before your window, partial 24–48 hours before, none inside 24 hours, and a full refund if the farm or Platform cancels. Starting a chargeback on a completed booking may get your account suspended pending review.

Route guides are free, so no refund arises on one. Section 15 and the refund policy both say so.

You can close your account anytime; we retain verification, booking, and incident records as required (POPIA / financial / safety). You may not re-register to dodge a closed account.

We may suspend or close your account for a serious penalty, a material breach of these Terms, suspected fraud or impersonation, non-payment of an accepted penalty, or a court/regulatory order.

Our Privacy Policy governs how we handle your personal information; by accepting these Terms you also accept it. We share a permit holder’s necessary details with the farm so they know who is on their land: the verified name, mobile number, and the vehicle’s make, model and plate — never an identity document.

By creating an account you agree to receive transactional email (booking confirmation, gate code, account events) — these are required for the service. Anything marketing is opt-in and separately controllable.

The GPX route file delivered with your permit is for your personal use during and after your ride. You may not re-publish, sell, or share it with people who could use it to access the farm without a permit. The Platform’s name, maps, photos, and software remain ours; you get a personal licence to use the Platform for its intended purpose.

A route guide’s file is a different thing and section 15 governs it.

A route guide is not a permit, and the difference is the point. A permit buys you onto someone’s farm. A route guide is another rider’s guide to a public-road ride — their recorded line, the grade, the warnings and their written notes. Those roads are public and anyone may ride them: a guide grants you no access, permission or entry to anything, and you do not need one to ride the route.

Guides are free, and they are written by other riders rather than by us. You sign in and download one; there is nothing to pay, and the author is not paid either. We read guides and take down ones that are wrong, but the route, the warnings and the notes are the author’s work, not ours.

Accuracy, and what you’re relying on. Roads change — a gate that stood open in March is locked in September, a drift washes out, a section closes after rain. A guide describes what its author found when they rode it. Neither the author nor we warrant that it is complete, current or correct, and you ride on your own judgement and on the conditions in front of you rather than on the file. Every guide shows the date it was last confirmed, and there is a report link on every one: if you find it wrong, tell us. A report takes a guide down, which is how this stays honest.

Where you are when you ride it. You ride a route guide on public roads, as any member of the public may. You are not on a Routekeepers permit, you are not our guest, and we are neither present nor responsible for the road. Section 8 covers your presence on a farm and does not apply to riding a public road; the ordinary law of the road and your own responsibility for how you ride do.

What you may do with it. A guide you download is yours to keep, including every update its author makes, and it is for your own riding. Free to take is not free to republish: you may not re-publish it, sell or pass it on, or use it to build a competing guide over the same route. Every file we deliver is marked so a copy that turns up elsewhere can be traced to the account that took it. Breaking this is a serious breach (see 7).

There is nothing to refund. A guide costs nothing, so no refund arises and none is owed. Where a guide is reported and taken down you keep the one you have, with a warning shown on it, and we will tell you what was reported.

Publishing your own. Downloading a guide needs only a Routekeepers account. So does publishing one, which is a separate agreement — the Route Author Terms — which you accept each time you publish a guide.

Riders from outside South Africa may use the Platform on the same terms; we accept international passports for verification. Pricing stays in ZAR, and these Terms are governed by SA law. For safety, we may decline bookings on routes that need local evacuation knowledge.

We may update these Terms; material changes require your re-acceptance before they apply, and we’ll tell you by email + in-app. If a clause is unenforceable, the rest stand.

Disputes: we try good-faith resolution first (legal@routekeepers.co.za); failing that, the South African courts. Governing law is the Republic of South Africa.

Who you are contracting with: Routekeepers (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/707131/07, a private company incorporated in the Republic of South Africa. Written notice reaches us at legal@routekeepers.co.za.

The version of these Terms you accept is recorded with the date and time.