RTG Southern Cross Daily Dispatch low-res - Flipbook - Page 8
15 February to 5 March 2020
Day 3
Kilaguni to Amboseli Ol Tukai (113.8 km)
18 February 2020
Glorious mud
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Flanders and Swan might not appear on many
playlists in this, the early part of the 21st century.
However, this unlikely music hall duo hit the nail
right on the head when they extolled the virtues of
wallowing in glorious mud.
Whilst yesterday was a game of two halves, today was, in
endurance rally terms, almost half a day. The distance we
travelled wasn’t great at only 113 km, but every metre of
this was hard won with only around 3 km on tarmac.
Just as we left it last night, the scenery was stunning
and the decision was taken early in the planning process
to give the crews every chance to enjoy it, along with the
impressive views of Mt Kilimanjaro. The roads are rough,
but this merely adds to the enjoyment.
It was a simple, short day, with no competitive timing and
only two passage controls to keep the rally together. The
first of these was at the Amboseli Sopa Lodge at around 80
km in, where there was tea and coffee on offer, as well as
Jamie Turner and Sarah Ormerod stamping timecards.
The road to this oasis had been hard and some of the
drivers were overheard muttering that some of their nuts
had been well and truly rattled loose. Keith Ashworth had
something far more serious to deal with though. He’d
discovered that the Bentley had a bent steering arm, leading
Jamie Turner to drop his clocks and grab his spanners to
effect a repair.
From here the route headed straight to Kimana Gate,
where we entered the Amboseli National Park. The days
end was close now. So close, in fact, that some crews may
have felt they were home and dry. They were mistaken.
The rain in this area has been quite extensive lately and,
given that this low lying land is a lake for some of the year,
it wasn’t surprising that the conditions underfoot were a
little damp. There were some big sinkholes along the road
and, despite the best re-routing efforts of the 48 hour car,
in the last 16 km there was nothing to do other than blast
through some 200m of deep liquified mud.
Jim Smith, along with ‘trainee marshal’ Ian Milne, set
up camp at the beginning of this section to give a little
Lars and Annette Rolner, 1974 Porsche 911
www.rallytheglobe.com
