Safari Rally’s journey to global circuit gathers momentum

President Uhuru Kenyatta greets driver Drew Sturrock during the flagging off of the WRC Safari Rally Candidate Event last year at Kasarani.

Photo credit: Anwar Sidi | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Team behind rally pulls out all stops to lay ground for return to World Rally Championships

The World Rally Championship Safari Rally is a journey into the unknown. It is murally exhibited on a wall at a hotel in Kiambu town.

The artist proclaims: Safari ni shida (journeys have problems) under the image of a Datsun 1600 SSS rally car, driven by Harry Thuku in 1972.

The caption says: “For credit, you must be 80 years old accompanied by your mother.”

The mural, now 50 years old, is in reverence of Harry Thuku, a Safari Rally finisher in 1972. The stuff legends are made of.

About 100 kilometres south of Kiambu is Naivasha, a sleepy town from a roadside point of view, but bustling with activity inside.

President Uhuru Kenyatta greets driver Drew Sturrock during the flagging off of the WRC Safari Rally Candidate Event last year at Kasarani.

Photo credit: Anwar Sidi | Nation Media Group

The blockbuster movie Tomb Raider, the Cradle of Life was part-shot in the picturesque Hells Gate in Naivasha, and starred the world’s foremost motion picture mega stars, led by Angeline Jolie, an A-list Hollywood celebrity with a personal fortune estimated at Sh16 billion.

She and the crew stayed in the lovely, low cost Naivasha tourist resorts and mingled with locals who supply everything from oranges, bicycles, mandazi and even “support crew” services.

The movie was a resounding Hollywood box office success grossing over Sh16 billion, according to Mojo, the Hollywood movies monitoring stats company, all of which went back to the United States and the rest of the world.

WRC Safari Rally chief executive Phineas Kimathi (left), the rally's head of security Julius Kabiru (right) and members of the rally secretariat inspect the rally's Naivasha Service Park on July 31, 2020. 

Photo credit: Pool | Nation Media Group

But now, Kenya is preparing for a windfall of its own, with an estimated at Sh6 billion in revenues expected during the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally next year.

Kenya’s return to the global rallying circuit was scheduled for last month (July 16-19), but the WRC Safari Rally was postponed to next year owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

And when it does finally run next year, the Safari Rally, which will end at the majestic, infinitely eye pleasing Hells Gate, will be beamed across global television in a one-hour virtual reality show projected to bring Kenya Sh4 billion in free advertising, according to the FIA WRC commercial rights holder, WRC Promoter.

The 1,000-kilometre Safari Rally, returning to the global circuit after 18 years in the cold, will end with an 11-kilometre Hells Gate “Power Stage,” the quintessential stage which will be the theatre of attraction for the biggest car manufacturers, among them Ford, Hyundai, Toyota and Citroen in a race for engineering might.

WRC Safari Rally chief executive Phineas Kimathi explains operations issues to the WRC Safari Rally Headquarters staff at the rally's Naivasha Service Park on July 31, 2020.

The cars will be piloted by the best of the best, led by world champion Ott Tanak of Estonia.

The winner will proceed to the rest of the global circuit’s remaining WRC events with vital points stacked up from the Kenyan round.

The Safari Rally, as always, will remain one of the toughest WRC rounds for driver and manufacturer, a tradition celebrated since 1972 when Finnish superstar Hannu Mikola, navigated by Swede Gunnar Palm, became the first overseas crew to win the Safari.

However, the real winner will be the Kenya Tourism Board as the world will embrace the raw, virgin beauty that’s Hells Gate and augment the board’s marketing strategy.

For the uninitiated, the Safari Rally is an automobile competition started in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth of England who became the ruler of the British monarchy one year early upon the sudden death of her father King George while she was on holiday in Kenya.

Just over a week ago, a powerful WRC Safari Rally secretariat team, bringing together experts from the private sector and government officials, went on a familiarisation trip to Hells Gate to have a feel of the 2021 Safari Rally route.

A drone shot of construction going on at the WRC Safari Rally Service Park in Naivasha on July 31, 2020.

Photo credit: Pool | Nation Media Group

From an initial small group, the secretariat team now boasts of some of the best rally brains in Africa.

To actualise the Safari Rally dream, the competition’s chief executive officer Phineas Kimathi, winner of the 1999 WRC Safari Rally F2 category, brought on board a team of route planners comprising of Gurvir Bhabra, Anwar Sidi, Nazir Yakub and George Mwangi.

They started work in October, 2018, before the route was certified in January, 2020, by International Automobile Federation (FIA) experts Iain Campbell of Britain and Joao Passos of Portugal.

Before them, the 1983 Safari Rally third finisher Michelle Mouton, the first and only top-notch female World Rally Championship driver, had checked the route and affirmed Hells Gate would be the final “sting in the tail” destination of the Safari, as, traditionally, last lap sections kill giants.

WRC Safari Rally chief executive Phineas Kimathi explains operations issues to the WRC Safari Rally Headquarters staff at the rally's Naivasha Service Park on July 31, 2020.

Photo credit: Pool | Nationa Media Group

Kimathi explained that the Hells Gate stage will attract a guaranteed global television audience of 10 million as it will be beamed live by the WRC+ Television besides another 70 million on linear TV in 150 countries.

Kenyans will follow the action on local TV channels and they also have the choice of watching the action on location in the expansive Hells Gate valleys.

Equally important will be the fact that Hells Gate, a fragile ecosystem and public park, will define the natural beauty and economic might of Kenya.

“You will notice that the “Power Stage” will start outside the Olkaria V Geotherman Station, the definition of Kenya’s economic progress, and end up in the wild,’’ said Kimathi.

“Olkaria geothermal’s energy generation capacity is the first in Africa and second in the world,’’ said Kimathi. ‘

“At the Safari Rally, we will showcase our economic development at Olkaria as well as show the world our floral capacity and natural beauty.’’

Safari Rally Event Director Jim Kahumbura, a competent driver who sampled the revered Toyota Celica GT4 factory prepared cars at his prime, and who together with Patrick Njiru and late Jonathan Toroitich proved that, with resources, African drivers can hold their own against the best in the world, said the Safari journey started in 2013.

‘’We reached out to President Uhuru Kenyatta, together with Patrick Njiru, Maina Muturi and Mark Tilbury, and the President directed us to Mutea Iringo, the Principal Secretary in the Office of the President then, to return Kenya’s heritage event back in the world stage,’’ recalls Kahumbura.

“Rest assured, we shall deliver a world class event for we have the capacity from organising the Kenya National Rally Championship that’s rated as the best in Africa,’’ he said.

Another former rally ace Kimanthi Maingi is in charge of logistics.

He is also a director at the Kenya Railways Pension Scheme.

In his prime, Maingi drove for Mazda and Subaru, attracting the attention of Subaru Motor Sport Group for whom he flew the British American Tobacco (BAT) banner alongside Patrick Njiru.

His brief is to deliver the foreign teams’ cargo.

“We have no problem in shipping the 64 containers from whichever country to Mombasa and railing it to Suswa and back,’’ explains Maingi, renowned for his stunts in flipping cars and his mantra: “carry on, regardless.’’

Before the Safari Rally HQ team went to Hells Gate, they walked through various routes inside the expansive Kenya Wildlife Training Institute, home of the WRC Safari Service Park.

Here, they were taken round by the Service Park manager Anthony Gatei who was trained in Australia and Britain by the WRC Safari Rally Project.

Officials from the WRC Safari Rally headquarters inspect a bridge under construction at the WRC Safari Rally's Naivasha Service Park on July 31, 2020.

Photo credit: Pool | Nation Media Group

As always Police Commissioner Julius Kabiru, renowned for his operational acumen in trouble spots, took the team through the sublime operations manual, assuring that security for the rally is guaranteed.

A personable rugby player committed to the rally assignment, Gatei said the WRC Safari Rally will offer an opportunity for Kenyan officials to showcase their organizational acumen.

‘’We shall fuse our natural heritage with modernity,” he quips.

Gatei has relocated to Naivasha, working closely with resident engineers and confirms they will change the training institute into an ecosystem which will accommodate wildlife and human life.

The Safari Rally’s critical stage in the return to the WRC was last year when it was run as a candidate event, qualifying with flying colours for elevation into the main circuit.

And, of course, the key driver driver behind the Safari Rally’s World Rally Championship is the Patron, President Uhuru Kenyatta who declared, in his Jubilee pre-election manifesto, that his government would ensure the Safari Rally gets back onto the World Rally Championship circuit.

Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has since been hands-on in the preparations for 2020, and now, 2021, visiting the service park several times along with Sports Principal Secretary Joe Okudo.

After all, safari is a journey.