Into the wild: Safari challenge edges closer

It’s an incredible moment. The wildlife you grew up watching on television or reading about in books is just the other side of the windscreen. And that epic adventure – Safari Rally Kenya – is right alongside it, just sitting in wait. There’s something special about every round of the FIA World Rally Championship, but next week’s Naivasha-based event just has something a little bit extra.

The sense of adventure starts at the car hire desk; you check and double check the spare wheel – this is not the place to be left stranded without a fully inflated response to a puncture. The sights and sounds here are like nowhere else. And it’s a collected sense of adventure, talk to everybody and there’s a story of something out of the ordinary, something different to the French Alps or Finland.

And then the rally starts and the madness begins. The Safari still has the ability to throw the curviest of curveballs at all involved. And it usually does. All of that before we mention the weather.

Welcome to March, to the rainy season. Anything can happen. And that’s all part of the appeal of this beautiful rally.