Easter time will always be a special period for many in Kenya. This is purely down to the Safari Rally and the spectacle it managed to create every year before it was taken out of the FIA Rally calendar in 2002. Nonetheless, it always produced some of the highest quality racing due to its sheer toughness.
The Flag Off
The East African Safari Rally was first held in 1953 as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Initially the event was called the East African Coronation Safari up until 1960 when it was renamed The East African Safari Rally. It was then changed to Kenya Safari Rally in 1974. The rally became famous for the perilous drive and the grueling conditions that saw the cars take a battering. Some say winning the Safari Rally was tougher than winning the entire World Rally Championship. It was an achievement to finish the race at all!
The Silver Jubilee
The 1977 edition marked the 25th year of the East African Safari Rally and it gave the citizens some of the best driving seen on Kenyan roads. Snaking through different provinces, the drivers were hard at racing for four days and three nights. Kenya’s very own three-time Safari rally winner Joginder Singh, popularly known as “The Flying Sikh”, participated in the event and completed in 5th place. Another one of Kenya’s representatives at the event was the legendary Shekhar Mehta with his Datsun 160J who unfortunately did not finish the race.
And so, for this special occasion, 4 postage stamps were released on the 5th of April, 1977. One featured a rally car fording through a river. This stamp retailed at 2 shillings. Another stamp had the first president, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at start/finish point flagging off car number 1 which went for 1 shilling. The third stamp had a car cruising through a village with excited on-lookers waving as it zoomed by and sold at 50 cents. The stamp coming in fourth had the rally car in between elephants, leaving a cloud of dust in its wake with Mt. Kenya in the background. This fourth stamp was the priciest of them all at 5 shillings.
Recent Years
After a 19-year absence from the World Rally Championships, the Safari Rally was reinstated in 2021, much to the delight of rally enthusiasts. The three-day event took spectators from Kasarani Stadium in Nairobi to Soysambu Conservancy and wound up in Naivasha town on 27th June. Kenya’s representative Rai Onkar did the country proud by placing 7th in his Volkswagen Polo GTI.
Do these Safari Rally stamps make you a tad nostalgic? Share your memories of the Safari Rally.
