Safety & trust
Ride with permission — and know everyone’s accounted for.
You’re paying to ride on someone’s working farm. Here is exactly what we do to keep that safe and accountable — and, just as plainly, what we don’t.
Everyone is who they say they are
Real names and government photo ID plus a selfie for every account — and every rider on a permit, not just the person who paid. Riders on a bike or in a vehicle add their licence disc and plate.
The farmer knows you're coming
Before you arrive, the farmer sees the manifest: who's in your group, what each of you is riding — make, model and plate — and when. No surprises at the gate — for you or for them.
Access is released with your paid permit
Your gate code — or the name and number to phone on arrival — is revealed once you've paid, and shown when your riding window opens. Never before.
Contact details stay private
Your mobile goes only to the farm you've booked, so they can reach you on the day — never onto a public page or to another rider.
You're responsible for everyone you bring
Bringing riders who aren't verified suspends your account, and unmanifested riders carry a penalty. We keep it plain so no one's tempted.
What we don’t cover — please read
Routekeepers is not an insurance product. You and the farmer are each responsible for your own cover — check your bike, vehicle and personal insurance before you ride. You’re riding on working farmland: livestock, gates, weather and terrain change, and you ride at your own risk. We verify identities and share the manifest; we don’t run background checks or vouch for anyone’s skill or conduct beyond that.
Route guides are different again. A guide is another rider’s account of a public road — not a permit, not access to anything, and not a ride we have any part in. Roads change: a gate that stood open in March is locked in September, and a drift washes out. Every guide shows the date it was last confirmed and carries a link to report it, but neither the author nor we can promise it is still correct. Ride on the conditions in front of you rather than on the file, and tell us when one is wrong — a report takes a guide down while we look at it, which is the whole mechanism.
Your ID, and what we do with it
Farmers open their gates to people they've never met, so every rider on Routekeepers is someone we've identified. That trust is what gets private land opened to riders at all.
| What we ask for | Why | Who sees it | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo IDSA ID, driver's licence or passport | To confirm your real name — the one on the farm's list for the day. | Us. The farm sees only your name. | While your account is open |
| Selfie holding it | To show the ID is yours. | Us only. | While your account is open |
| Licence disc + plateregistered vehicles | To identify the machine coming onto the farm. | The farm sees make, model and plate — not the photos. | Until you remove the vehicle |
| Four vehicle photosdirt bike, quad, MTB, e-bike | It has no disc, so the photos identify it. | Us. The farm sees make and model. | Until you remove the vehicle |
| Your mobile | So the farm can reach you on the day. | The farm you've booked. | While your account is open |
- Who checks it?
- An automated check reads your photos once. It can clear a straightforward one, and anything it isn't sure of goes to a person on our team. It never turns anyone down — the most it can do on its own is ask you to re-take a photo it can't read. The check runs on Anthropic's Claude, in the United States, under an agreement that it keeps nothing and never learns from what we send.
- What do you keep from the photo?
- Only your name. We don't copy your ID number, date of birth or address, and we never make a template of your face or compare it with anyone else's.
- Where is it stored?
- Encrypted, in South Africa (Cape Town), in storage only our team can reach.
- Is this checking my licence?
- No. We identify who you are and what you're riding — not whether you're licensed to drive it, and not whether the disc is current. The disc doesn't need to be in your name either: a borrowed or hired machine is fine.
- What can I do without verifying?
- Create an account, browse and save farms, download and publish route guides, and join a group. You verify when you buy your first permit — once, and it covers every farm.
- How long do you keep it, and how do I get it deleted?
- Your documents are what keep you verified, so they stay on file while your account is open — you never do this twice. Delete your account under Settings and they're erased; remove a vehicle and its photos go with it. The law makes us keep a record that we verified you, and when — not the photos — for up to seven years. Copies in our backups roll off within eight weeks.
- My name has changed since my ID was issued.
- Email hello@routekeepers.co.za and we'll take you through verifying with your new ID, so farms see the right name.
- Anything else?
- Email legal@routekeepers.co.za and we'll answer within 30 days, free of charge.
The full detail is in our privacy policy.
In an emergency
Your permit card carries the Routekeepers support line — 076 535 4644 — along with the farm’s GPS coordinates and map links, so you and anyone helping you know exactly where you are.
Your data
You can download or delete your data from your account settings any time. How we handle your ID is above; everything else is in our privacy policy (POPIA).
Listing your farm? Identity-verified riders, a manifest before they arrive, and every rule yours to set.
How we protect you →