Are You Going To Naivasha? The Do’s And Don’ts During The Safari Rally

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 23- All roads lead to Naivasha for the 2021 World Rally Championship Safari Rally and Kenyans are an excited lot. Thousands city residents, including the ‘Subaru boys’ have already pitching camp in the town located North West of Nairobi.

More than 1,000 security officers will deployed in Naivasha, but the more than 30,000 expected attendants have a role to play, for their safety, the government has said.

The grand return of the Safari Rally to the 2021 World Rally Championship on Thursday is after a 19-year hiatus.

During the event, the government is “strongly” discouraging groups of more than twenty people at any of the designated spectating zones along the circuit.

Cabinet Secretary for Sports Amb. Amina Mohammed says everyone will be expected to observe all the COVID-19 containment measures, including, but not limited to, wearing masks and maintaining the recommended physical distance.

“All the COVID-19 protocols remain in place: nothing has been suspended. The rally takes place during the day, and We don’t expect multitudes of people congregating in Naivasha at night,” she said during a press conference in Nairobi.

Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai has assured that he has “put in place adequate measures to ensure safety and security of the spectators.”

This includes deployment of uniformed and plain-cloth police officers at strategic places along the circuit.

“We are happy that this multi-million-dollar event is going to boost our economy. The first thing we must do as Kenyans and WRC fans is to express our excitement in a reasonable way and behave well. We must observe all the safety measures and the COVID-19 protocols at all times,” the Interior Ministry said.

Motorists have been asked to comply with the gazette notice issued by the government, directing the closure Kericho–Nakuru highway (Friday), Nyahururu–Nakuru highway (Saturday), and Mombasa–Nairobi–Maai Mahiu–Naivasha and Narok–Maai Mahiu–Suswa highways (Sunday).

After the flag-off from the KICC at 11am, the cars will head to Kasarani for a side-by-side race on a purpose-built spectator grandstand from 2pm, which will set the pace for the race that will kick off on Friday from the main Service Park at the KWS Training Institute in Naivasha along the Nairobi–Nakuru highway.

Sports PS Joe Okudo, WRC Safari Rally Kenya CEO Phineas Kimathi, and PDU Secretary Andrew Wakahiu were among the officials present during the press briefing.