Soon after our arrival we heard about the Safari Rally, one of the yearly attractions that Kenya had to offer and that had been going since 1953 as the East African Safari Rally and as the Safari Rally from 1974, a few years before the breaking up of the East African Community.

Although we could not watch the race on our arrival in 1981 we learnt that the Kenyans Shekhar Mehta and Mike Doughty won it. The pair seemed unbeatable, as they had already won in 1979 and 1980.

By 1982 we had our car and we decided to follow the rally with daily trips to a couple of places near Nairobi as well as watch the cars arrive in Nairobi at the end of the rally. We studied the route of the three stages and selected areas near Kajiado and in the Kinangop plateau.

Without experience on watching races of this kind, we thought it wise to leave early to find a good and safe spot. We also carried our safari chairs and food and water to last us for the whole day. The rally was held when the long rains were meant to begin so you either had a dry or a wet rally. It was dry that year so our concern with potential mud traps did not came up until in later editions!

We learned a few things about the rally that first time. Seeking some excitement we searched for a place where we could see the cars coming from far and that, close by, would offer a bend or a culvert that they needed to do some exciting turning or a nice jump.

As we were in the selected area early, we had sufficient time to drive for a while until we perched on a high slope that offered a great view where we set up our camp and waited. Gradually the place started to fill up with other visitors in cars but also of people on foot coming from the surrounding areas. The latter really enjoyed seeing and hearing the powerful cars driving past as, in those areas there was no much traffic otherwise. I was also amazed that there were no accidents as people, unaware of the danger, placed themselves in large numbers in exposed spots, very close to the cars!

We waited for a couple of hours and then the crowd -quite a sizeable one by then- started to stir and soon we could also see the dust plume far away. The first car was coming so I prepared myself to take my first “speed priority” shot at a fast moving car from a good spot, near the road.

As the dust got close we could actually see the numerous and very strong lights that they carried and I had no doubt that the car coming was from the rally so I shot and got covered in dust at the same time! To add insult to injury, after the event I realized that it was a support car! Another lesson learnt: support cars look just like the real ones minus a number on the door!

Eventually we watched the “real thing” or rather the first one of the race because, after the first car drove past, a succession followed in hot pursuit and the dust cloud got fed by each one of them and spectators’ visibility was severely reduced. I could not believe how the drivers could see the road, leaving alone trying to overtake! I took some poor pictures. Luckily, once the aces past, gaps between cars increased while speed decreased so we could actually see some of the cars!

Once most of the cars passed we could initiate our return home. We thought we had breathed and eaten dust but there was much more to come while driving home among a convoy of motorists doing the same. There were still some of the slowest cars coming and this added an extra touch of adventure to our trip.

Finally, the duo Mehta-Doughty won for a fourth time that year but our hearts were with Robert Collinge and Mike Fraser that were racing in a “normal” Range Rover! After a gallant race where they had all sorts of problems (I believe they hit a cow and lost their bonnet) but still they managed to arrive in 6th. place, a great achievement, still remembered in rally circles.

Apart from the big rally teams, individual entries were also present and they relied on friends for repairs and to bring fuel and spares to strategic places in order to continue with the race! For those private participants just to arrive was a great achievement and we witnessed scenes charged with emotion when the crew of a private participant embraced celebrating their arrival at the end of the third stage, regardless of the position, with true sport spirit.

We did follow the rally in subsequent years but nothing compared to the first one in 1982 and we eventually stopped but not before having a test of a wet rally in 1985 where things dramatically changed as cars did not cover you in dust but in mud and water! A video below illustrates the point.

Credit: vipersan1 from Youtube.

During that rally we also learnt that it was one thing to drive through a muddy road before the cars passed and another very different and frustrating to try and return home with our kombi VW. We got stuck a few times! Things were not made any easier when some clever Kenyans started to “improve” existing potholes both lengthwise and in depth so that, once you fell in “their” mud trap, they would push you out for a small fee! African entrepreneurship at its best!