International Automobile Federation (FIA) President Jean Todt launched the WRC Safari Rally Greening Legacy Project in Kenya with an aim of planting 19 million trees over the next three years.
The planting of 19 million trees symbolises the 19 years Safari has been out of the WRC calendar. Safari Rally Greening Legacy project joins the FIA/WRC family’s model of giving back to nature. The tree-planting initiative will start with planting of an initial one million trees.
The project targets creation of a Safari Forest at Kasarani and plant trees along the traditional safari routes in Kilifi, Mombasa, Kwale, Taita Taveta, Machakos and Makueni. Murang’a, Meru, Nyeri, Embu, Kirinyaga, Kiambu, Kajiado, Laikipia, Isiolo, Narok, Nakuru and Nairobi.
Todt, along with Amina, Macharia, WRC Safari Rally chief executive officer Phineas Kimathi, planted the Acacia Xanthophloea (Yellow Fever Tree) at the Safari Rally’s Kasarani headquarters, to signify the commence of the tree planting exercise.
During the event, Todt lauded Kenya’s WRC Safari Rally organisers for the efforts they have put in place to ensure the Safari’s return to World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar.
The 2021 WRC Safari Rally has since been confirmed to run from June 24 to 27. Todt was in Nairobi to assess the WRC Safari Rally’s preparations for the eagerly-awaited return to the global calendar in 2021.