Even with changed format, there will always be Safari Rally stories to tell
International Automobile Federation President Jean Todt, in the company of Sports CS Amina Mohamed, PS Joe Okudo and WRC Safari Rally CEO Phineas Kimathi during a live NTV interview in Naivasha on November 26, 2020.
What you need to know:
- As he made these remarks, several hippopotami, giant semi-aquatic herbivores native to the area and owners of a fearsome reputation, were calmly and lazily grazing just a few metres away. So close were the pachyderms you could tell the colour of their beady eyes!
- Only in Africa. Only with the Safari Rally. I can’t wait for June 24 to 27 when the motorcar race will return as a WRC event.
Ethiopia is currently attracting the attention of the world for all the wrong reasons. The federal government last month declared war on the Tigray region that has led to hundreds of people being killed and thousands displaced in the armed conflict.
Just a year ago Ethiopians were proudly walking in the streets of Addis Ababa after their now famous son Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending the 20-year post-war territorial standoff between his country and Eritrea.
And there was another positive story from Ethiopia last year that caught the attention of the world – an ambitious reforestation campaign named “Green Legacy,” spearheaded by Abiy in which the country aimed to plant a mind-boggling four billion trees in three months.
If I got my mathematics right that would be an average of 66.67 million trees planted a day. Wow!
I don’t know if our neighbours hit this lofty target but I was envious of the interest their greening intent attracted globally, albeit with a healthy dose of incredulity, compared to the muted attention of the commendable World Rally Championship Safari Rally Greening Legacy Project that will see the planting of some 19 million trees to signify the 19 years that the event has not been part of the world series.
Federation Internationale De I’Automobile (FIA) President Jean Todt launched the legacy project at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in Nairobi on November 24 during his visit to Kenya.
The legacy project envisages the planting of 19 saplings over three years, that is an average of 17,351 trees a day.
This is a huge undertaking, but rather ingenious.
Considering global warming is one of the greatest challenges the world is facing and internal combustion engines are major contributors of rising world temperatures, trees massively help in removing carbon dioxide, from the air.
The powerful automobiles will come to the country and spew out carbon emissions as they race in our wilderness to our utter entertainment. But no problem, the trade-off will be in millions of trees being planted that will help reverse the effects of the fossil fuel burnt by the speed merchants.
In fact, it is because of this, yet, another interesting Safari Rally story in the midst of climate change, that saw me head to Naivasha last week, as a curious scribe to witness the launch of the Service Park for next year’s race.
The park, a freshly tarmacked section measuring 220 by 110 metres, is reportedly the largest in the WRC series.
It is a sight to behold.
It sits bang in the middle of a wooded section of the Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute (KWSTI), and you somehow get a feeling that some game will walk out of the bush into the new clearing – a not implausible thought considering the history of the rally and the well documented machine-wild animal encounters.
One of the wardens at the KWSTI told me there were several wild animals in the habitat including antelopes, zebras, warthogs and giraffes.
But the relaxed casual manner she relayed the information did not allow me to betray my fears by asking if their natural predators were also in the vicinity.
However, be assured that after closely studying the other people attending the function I was pretty relaxed about my survival chances were one of Savannah’s deadly hunters to make an appearance. I knew I could outrun many of the guests in attendance.
Thankfully, only the thunderous rumble of the excavator engine and the ear-shattering clang of the bucket as the construction truck poured its earth content on the ground when Todt ceremoniously broke ground for the building of the VVIP pavilion, raised adrenaline levels at the gathering.
The drive from KWSTI to the press conference at the designated rally official hotel revealed the startling contrast of life of Naivasha.
First you are confronted with the scruffy, congested and chaotic neighbourhoods of the inhabitants. But beyond the untidy roadsides, as you drive from town towards Mai Mahu, you cannot fail to catch glimpses of the natural habitat almost pristine and serene, and if lucky, a Rothschild’s giraffe will stare at you with a puzzled look or a plains zebra will glare at you insolently.
The grounds of the hotel are immaculate, the décor in the buildings splendid and the background of an advancing Lake Naivasha alluring, giving the place an African paradise look. A holiday here is a dream come true.
“The old rally was about 5,000km and traversed the whole country. Next year’s rally will be about 1,000km long raced around Naivasha. It will still be the toughest rally in the world. Wild animals will still be there,” said Phineas Kimathi, the WRC Safari Rally CEO and Kenya Motor Sports Federation chairman during the press conference at the hotel’s grounds.
As he made these remarks, several hippopotami, giant semi-aquatic herbivores native to the area and owners of a fearsome reputation, were calmly and lazily grazing just a few metres away. So close were the pachyderms you could tell the colour of their beady eyes!
Only in Africa. Only with the Safari Rally. I can’t wait for June 24 to 27 when the motorcar race will return as a WRC event.
