President William Ruto was right: The Safari Rally should consider going back to its old format of a lengthy endurance event. He made the proposal while flagging off the cars on Thursday, and the world was properly enthused by four days of exhilarating motorsport action that came to a close on Sunday with Finn speedstar Kalle Rovanperä emerging deserving winner of the 72nd edition of the Kenya Safari Rally.
The Safari has rightfully regained its status as the toughest event on the calendar since readmittance into the World Rally Championship (WRC) series in 2021 after a 19-year hiatus.
Return to the once-traditional Easter holidays schedule was an additional boost this year, creating room for thousands of enthusiasts to take in the action to the along the rally circuit in Naivasha.
‘Vasha manenos’ are not just for motorsports enthusiasts but also for revellers who turn the viewing arena into one big party, many more interested in the booze and merrymaking than in the cars smashing their way through mud, rocks and dust.
The rally is certainly a welcome distraction from stultifying politics and our self-inflicted economic and social woes. It also offers unlimited mileage for Kenya on the global stage with international media coverage that no amount of money can buy promoting our varied landscape, wildlife, people, culture flora and fauna.
We can be grateful that this one event the Ruto regime, on assumption of office, did not move to dismiss as an elitist pastime associated with ‘dynasties’ of the former government. The modest government investment in the rally is repaid tenfold.
The Safari is widely lauded by the WRC contenders and the motorsport media as the toughest and most challenging event in its category. However, purists with a sense of history will recognise that it is a lame successor to the old East African Safari, which, no doubt, was the toughest test of man and machine on the rallying calendar.
A series of time-trial loops around the same general area cannot compete with a marathon day-and-night racing event covering upwards of 5,000 kilometres across vast swathes of varied terrain.
The old Safari was not confined to those who can afford the excursion to Naivasha but came knocking on doors across the country. From flag-off in Nairobi, it traversed the length and breadth of Kenya, motoring down on open roads to the coast, back again to Nairobi and them on to the Mount Kenya region and westwards to the Rift Valley and western Kenya.
Elfyn Evans navigated by Scott Martin racing in a Toyota Yaris compete in the Sleeping the Warrior stage of the 2024 WRC Safari Rally on March 30, 2024.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
Kenyans in their millions turned out in their own small towns and villages to await the roar of cars speeding by. Before politics intruded, it was a truly East African event crossing the borders into Uganda and Tanzania, where the stunning backdrops the Usambara Mountains and Mt Elgon often made mincemeat of the world's top drivers and works teams.
That is the real Safari we need to bring back to the international motorsports calenda—a true endurance marathon, rather than just a series of short sprints.
It is unlikely, however, that Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) mandarins will agree to anything that substantially changes the WRC events template. In that case, the Kenya Safari Rally organisers would have two other options. One is to pull the event out of the WRC and transform it into something closer to its roots.
The other is to retain the Kenya Safari Rally in the WRC as is but revive the old East African Safari Rally as a separate event.
A bunch of purists and enthusiasts already run what they call the East African Classic Safari in rough approximation of the iconic old event. The Classic, however, is not the real thing; it is an expensive fun event rather than a real competition.
Fans cheer WRC Safari Rally Kenya 2024 winner Kalle Rovanpera and his navigator Jonne Halttunen in their Toyota Gr Yaris at Hell's Gate in Naivasha on March 31, 2024.
Photo credit: Boniface Mwangi | Nation Media Group
What we need is an event that can earn global recognition in its own right alongside World Rally Raid Championships events such as the former Paris-Dakar rally now staged in Saudi Arabia, the BP Ultimate Rally Raid in Portugal, the Rallye du Maroc in Morocco and, of course, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and the Desafío Ruta 40 in Argentina.
It can be done. It can tap into beauty, romance and history of the old East African Safari to attract top drivers and manufacturers from around the world who crave challenges beyond the narrow restrictions of WRC events. It can attract movie stars, musicians, Silicon Valley investors and other celebrities from across the world who will want to be part of the action and adventure.
