Event History

• The Safari Rally was first held in 1953, as the East African Coronation Safari in Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika as a celebration of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
• In 1960 it was renamed the East African Safari Rally and kept that name until 1974, when it became the Kenya Safari Rally.
• Held on roads still open to the public, it became notorious as the toughest round of the WRC. Arduous conditions and constantly changing weather and more than 5000 competitive kilometres made simply finishing an achievement.
• The event adopted a special stage format in 1996 and from then until 2002, it featured over 1000km of timed tests. The rally left the WRC in 2002 and returned in 2021.
• Kenya’s Shekhar Mehta tops the Safari’s WRC roll of honour with five wins.