Fans will enjoy an improved experience at this edition of the Safari Rally.
With this edition of the World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally set to mark 70 years since its inception, Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has announced the introduction of hustler's bazaars.
The 2023 edition of the Safari Rally is slated from Thursday 22nd to Sunday 25th of June with Ababu conducting a reconnaissance mission at the Uhuru Park Gardens flag-off point and the Rally Service Area in Naivasha County on Thursday 2 March.
Ababu explained what the hustler’s bazaars will entail as it is set to improve the fan experience of the World’s toughest rally in the WRC calendar and also hand a chance to Kenyans to profit from the event.
“We want this very international event to have a very strong Kenyan flavour and in sync with the government's bottom-up economic agenda, this rally is going to have a very strong hustler feel and people flavour and one of the things we are introducing is the hustler bazaars.
These will be customary spaces for ordinary Kenyans to interact with the rally in the sense of viewing the rally, and being part of the thrills and spills that the Safari Rally is associated with. We are also giving you an opportunity to make money in the rally ecosystem, we want traders to be in this ecosystem whether you are selling ushanga or chondos or mutura, we are providing space for you in the hustler bazaars,
We are telling Kenyans to please get ready to be part of this fun, if you are a musician, painter, comedian or visual artist, we are going to provide space for you to be part of this sherehe,” said Namwamba.
The Safari Rally which is the seventh round in the calendar was first held in 1953, as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Uganda, and the then Tanganyika, now Tanzania as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
The former Ministry of Foreign Affairs CAS also reiterated Kenya’s preparedness to host the international event after a number of hitches including delay of funds and the initial cancellation of the FIA ARC Equator Rally that has been used as a dry run for the Safari Rally.