Safari Rally’s famed ‘Sleeping Warrior’ poised to awaken

The “Sleeping Warrior” will be re-awakened from his slumber by rumbling sound of rally car engines and foot-thumping of spectators in their thousands on Wednesday and Friday next week in the show-stopper Camp Moran competitive stage, the longest, and easily most spectator-friendly and tele-visually attractive stage of the 2025 WRC Safari Rally.

The Clerk-of-Course George Mwangi led a high-powered delegation of top officials who included his deputies George Gathurima, Nazir Yakub and Chief Scrutineer Musa Locho and Mahesh Saleh and Jagjeet Patter, the Clerk-of-Course of the KNRC category in an inspection tour of the Camp Moran stage where the shakedown on Wednesday and Friday’s first stage will run.

The management of Camp Moran unveiled three specially levelled spectator stages on high grounds which can accommodate over 50,000 spectators who will catch glimpses of speeding rally cars moving at about 200km/h, 20 feet below the cliff on a 1.7km stretch with hairpin bends followed by another 5km bird-eye view of the action. 
The cars will do this loop twice on Saturday.

About 31km long, this is the longest stage in the WRC Safari where action starts with Shakedown on Wednesday.
The 2025 WRC Safari is expected to be  watched by about 120 million on live TV across the globe.

“He is a Sleeping Warrior, but his majestic slumber completes the image of the true WRC Safari Rally.  

It is as a curtain raiser for the 2025 Safari,” said Mwangi who returns to the location today for another inspection tour with the FIA and WRC Promoter.

The “Sleeping Warrior,” a small hill near Gilgil which resembles an image of a sleeping Masai, overlooks Gilgil town, some 7km away.

It is accessible from Kikopeye shopping centre from Gilgil. 

Legend has it that the hill originally known as "Elngiragata Olmorani", was a subject of land dispute. So it was decided that Lord Delamere take the “head’’ in the west and locals the ‘torso’’  in the east.

“Delamere claimed the head and the Masai took the body,” said Elijah Mbirua, the manager of Kambi Moran Lodge, now part of the Nakuru Special Economic Zone.

“We have levelled three high grounds with enough parking areas, added tents and a clubhouse where fans can come on Wednesday and leave on Saturday. We have swimming pools filled with hot water from a sunk borehole which pumps heated  water at about 42 degrees.

“Hot steam from the borehole will also act as natural air conditioning at night at the clubhouse specifically for the Safari under construction, the amphitheatre, tented camps in which we have fitted electric heated beds and mattresses also.

Around the clock security will offer the fans services they require. Additionally we will provide our own home made bathing gels, soaps.”

He said they have carved new escape routes and gravelled the flying finish with ballast in anticipation of a high influx of spectators.

“There will be one entry and one exit. We have created walking paths and stocked everything.

This stage will also be the opening stage of competition proper on Friday after the 4km and 8km spectator stages at Kasarani, Nairobi and Mzabibu, Naivasha on Thursday.

The first car is expected at Camp Moran I at 7:28 am. The cars will do Loldia 1 (19:11km) followed by KenGen Geothermal 1 (13:18km) and Kedong 1 (15:10km). The first car returns to Camp Moran 2 at 1:45pm for the second final loop.

There will be remote refuelling at Oserien Twin Lake between Loldia 1 and KenGen Geothermal 1. The total distance of the day will be 453.26km of which 157.58km will be competitive.

“We have three special spectator zones, the 1.7km long straight sections where you see the cars flashing by and a flying finish on a tarmacked section.”

The old Sleeping Warrior stage not far from Camp Moran will host Saturday’s stages of Sleeping Warrior, Elementaita and Soysambu. 

Mbirua said they have other lined up activities besides food, drinks like hiking and quad bikes riding.