'Vasha' Notebook- Day 7

Travelling fans have mastered rally route

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The travelling fans who follow the Safari Rally has become something of a moving carnival.

The crowds are becoming maturer, more sophisticated and well conversant with the routes. They showed up in Naivasha with posh cars such as Mercedes Benz, BMW, Range Rovers and VX models.

They dwarfed the Subaru boys in Vasha. Safari Rally merchandise such as caps retailed at Sh500, while t-shirts sold for between Sh5,000 and Sh18,000 online.

Fans on the lookout for petty thieves roaming

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It has been very easy for one to fall a victim of robbery in Naivasha.  One dangerous lot has been a group of scantily dressed ladies hawking alcohol from car to car, as my colleague Fred Muiyo who was on night duty found out.

"It was scary," he noted after venturing out and returning to the safety of his hotel on Saturday. But the CEO of Actel Cleaning solutions Joe Wachira and his team was on the prowl, collecting garbage all night.

With Koroga Festival on,  parking spaces were few

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Koroga Festival's 10-hectare parking bay was full to capacity by 5pm last night, and a crisis was looming, effectively meaning that many people would park by the roadside, especially those who were still at Hell’s Gate.

Bars at the Gardens, Safari Boma, and RTG Radio which were still open were equally full, so ‘‘muratina’’ or traditional brew came in handy for revellers, especially youth who were imbibing the drink using cattle horns like their ancestors. The booming music could be heard as far as 5km away.

Watch out for your phone and cash

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As noted on Sunday, stealing reached a crescendo on Saturday and was expected even more last night along Moi South road where local robbers must have alerted their ruthless counterparts from Nairobi how business was booming.

It was free for all,  with many young people reportedly losing cash and mobile phones. Those who tried to resist received fast and furious slaps right on the eyes, blinding them.