I Have Become a Rally Fanatic

By lute wa lutengano

I have suddenly developed some serious interest in motor rallying. The whole thing began by accident. You see the other weekend I had driven to Lake Manyara National Park to enjoy some game viewing. As usual the trip was quite interesting.

My first item of interest was the newly constructed road from Makuyuni to Manyara. Konoike, the Japanese engineering company, has done quite a commendable job on that stretch. The smooth road is straddled by a magnificent service road for pedestrians, cyclists and of course the Maasai cattle.

At the Lake Manyara Hotel I was pleasantly surprised by the presence of hundreds of tourists, actually black African tourists from South Africa. They were accompanied by children who had a wonderful time playing table tennis and swimming at the hotel.

The park was as usual quite charming with its abundant stocks of colobus monkeys, birdlife and hippos. The majestic herds of giraffes, pelicans and flamingoes were also in plenty.

After a night's stay at the hotel it was again back to Arusha. The panoramic Mount Meru was soon in view when I came across thousands of people standing all the way from Monduli junction to Arusha on both sides of the road. They were seriously cheering me as I drove past.

I was on the verge of thinking that I had perhaps been appointed Prime Minister when I realized they were actually confusing my car for those of the rally drivers, who on that day were on their first leg of 400 kilometre plus journey. I actually enjoyed the cheering all the way to Arusha town.

You could have seen me gleefully waving to the hordes of people who were cheering me into town.

The next day I was again taken by surprise when the General Manager of General Tyre EA Ltd. Mr Deven Lohani requested me to officiate the award presentation ceremony to the winners of the rally. The General Tyre company and Tanzania Tea Blenders were the official sponsors of the rally.

I enjoyed the whole event, thanks to the enthusiastic crowd which turned up to honor the winners. The cosmopolitan crowd was quite appreciative of the event.

Having been part and parcel of the rally, first through confusion and secondly through my officiating the event, I have now decided to become not only a rally enthusiast, but a serious rally driver. The only snag is I do not have a rally car. My ramshackle machine, a contraption which fails even to smoothly ply the Arusha urban roads, cannot go far during a rally. Is there someone out there who is willing to sponsor me? You Toyota, Subaru, Mitsubishi and Honda companies, come to my rescue please. Please!

lutengano@hotmail.com

Last modified: August 22, 2003.
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