‘Sleeping warrior’ ready to wake up
With roughly 25 days to go to the ceremonial start ramp at the Uhuru Park in Nairobi, route preparations are at an advanced stage with final checks of the road conditions, road books, the media safety guide and the all-important safety guide – to ensure no detail has been overlooked or indeed missed in the acres of paperwork generated for this year’s World Rally Championships (WRC) Safari Rally.
The recent rains that are currently blessing the floor of the Rift Valley – and quenching an area that has come through a severe cycle of droughts, has naturally come with its own unique challenges – blessings notwithstanding. Dry riverbeds are now torrential streams, not yet the class of a river but steadily gaining in volume and traction.
Roads that were tracks through dust bowls are now sloshy, puddled and edged with verdant lush growth, making the roads look much narrower than they are, while conveniently masking a hazard or two lurking along the shoulders.
A dedicated roadworks team of Engineers, heavy machinery, and pure gusto are currently hard at work undoing the damage to road surfaces as visited upon by what may well turn out to be a really wet May.
The landscape through which the Rally storms has been transformed into possibly the most picturesque backdrop of recent years – reminiscent of the Easter Safari Rally of old. This feature of the Safari Rally which always provides spectacular images has this year added another layer of beauty to the thrill of a racing car through our savannahs and wooded hills – the factor of the unknown, in terms of road surface behaviour and the unpredictability of the weather!!
Absolute best ingredients to another spectacular Safari full of drama and surprises.
This spectacle and beauty have to be showcased to the World – in all it’s majesty and splendour by the FIA Accredited Media Teams-experts with an expert eye for catching the best fleeting moment that an ordinary eye would miss.
Naturally, these erstwhile individuals need to be guided to the best possible location so that they can portray the event as the World demands. A 125-page Media Safety Guide by Anwar Sidi will serve as the roadmap and guide for these Media experts – so that they may be in the best possible location with the best possible light and backdrop to capture the best possible shot of an adrenaline inducing Rally car in all its menacing beauty.
With one eye on the weather map and another on existing route directions, risk factors affecting the running of a stage have to be planned for with the creation of options that would skirt any un motorable section and ensure the Rally does not stop. This means searching for and mapping out route options that ensure the action does not come to a grinding halt, at for example a swollen river that could well drown a Rally 1 car and all its incredible technology in a deeply silted stream bed.
Anwar and Nazir have just done over 150km in the Soysambu Conservancy – scouting, mapping, deleting and re-scouting sections that could pull an unwanted surprise during the Rally. Fortunately, the area in question and the options it provides play well into the grand scheme of things and as of today – the flooding risk on Soysambu has been mitigated.
Dedication, hard graft and a single-minded focus is what drives this Sporting Team to ensure come hell or high water – the show must go on!!
