The Time Freight Heia Safari 1000 – leg 2 is a 1 km, 7.5 km, and 10 km marathon swim held at Heia Safari Ranch in December. It is not only one of the seeding events of the Midmar Mile (Ashley Twichell shown on left), but also one of a growing number of marathon swims (i.e., open water swims at least 10 km in distance) held around the world’s lakes, reservoirs, seas, rivers and oceans.

Heia Safari Ranch is a game lodge and hotel nestled near the Swartkop Mountain Range next to the Cradle of Humankind. It is 30 minutes away from Johannesburg and Pretoria set within the tranquil indigenous South African Bushveld.

It is not often that open water swimmers can see giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, blesbok, impala and springbok freely roaming their hotel grounds as well as Zonky (a zebra + donkey cross breed).

An incomplete list of marathon swims around the globe is posted here.

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