Naivasha can’t wait to throw a welcome party complete with a bouquet of freshly cut red roses for the June 24-27 World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally fans and competitors.
Roses from the famed flower farms in Naivasha, a sleepy town located along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway, are part of the much-loved flowers sold in almost every European country.
Naivasha, a sleepy town located along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway is a scenic area teeming with wildlife. The freshwater Lake Naivasha supplies fish to the neighbouring Nakuru, Laikipia, and Nairobi counties. The lake is also popular for the sport of boat sailing.
Visitors to Naivasha for the WRC Safari Rally should expect a treat from the lakefront hotels that have a vibrant and an ever-expanding hospitality industry.
“The local business community is eager to spread out a red and white carpet of roses to the world,” the County Government of Nakuru’s Naivasha Municipal Board Chairman Sam Weru said.
Weru said since the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world, roses from Naivasha have been one of the most important gifts, including at funerals in the unfortunate situations where people have lost their loved ones.
Mwangi Mariku, who represents the business and social community in Naivasha, concurred with Weru. He said Naivasha will be the biggest beneficiary of the Safari’s legacy.
The officials assured that they will educate local entrepreneurs so that they do not exploit visitors. They said that with a guaranteed WRC presence in Naivasha there will be booming business.
Besides flowers and fish, Naivasha is also a major producer of fresh farm produce. The expected Sh6 billion windfall from the WRC team and both local and foreign tourists will be a big shot in the arm for the Naivasha economy. This is good news for mama mboga’s, fruit growers and poultry farmers and are feeling the pinch of tough economic times as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Weru said the Safari is godsend. Aside from the hospitality industry, visitors can hike the extinct Mount Longonot which will offer a majestic background overlooking the Kedong and Hell's Gate competitive sections which will be beamed on global television. This is a strong selling point of Naivasha as an ideal tourism destination.
For fun lovers, there is no other better place in Kenya than Naivasha to go for a bike riding as you explore the breathtaking Hell's Gate, the KenGen geothermal plants spa sulfur-rich waters which remove impurities and cleanse the skin naturally.
Naivasha is a buffalo, zebra, and giraffe haven. Humans and the animals mingle freely.
Weru and his colleagues thanked the WRC Safari Rally Patron President Uhuru Kenyatta for his government’s efforts of returning the Safari Rally back to the high-profile FIA WRC calendar.
The Naivasha Level Five Board chairman Simon Kanyingi said the Naivasha medical professionals’ fraternity will join hands with the WRC Safari Rally medical team to peer review existing medical facilities.
He said that the construction of the High Dependency Unit wing and other facilities, including a possible helipad, will be completed before the WRC Safari. The facility will be capable of handling trauma and emergency cases.
Weru supported the WRC Safari Rally Greening Legacy Project of planting 19 million trees in Naivasha and suggested that the same be extended to the Lake Naivasha water catchment area of the Aberdares ranges.
Naivasha residents and the political class should join hands for the common good of Naivasha and for posterity and the Safari.
