Baringo Senator Gideon Moi flags off 32nd edition of Rhino Charge in Sabor, Kimalel

Senator Gideon Moi was at Sabor in Kimalel to officially launch the 32nd edition of Rhino Charge. [Caroline Chebet, Standard]

Baringo Senator Gideon Moi on Saturday, July 17 flagged off the 32nd edition of Rhino Charge, an annual off-road motorsport, at Sabor in Kimalel, Baringo County.

The Senator officially opened the race at 7am. Rhino Charge is organised yearly to raise funds for environmental conservation.

The 2021 competition has attracted 65 entrants, who will have to go through 13 checkpoints, to reach the final destination.

Senator Gideon Moi signed the vistors' book at Sabor in Kimalel shortly before 7am. [Caroline Chebet, Standard]

The Rhino Charge is an off-road 4×4 contest held in Kenya that raises funds to support the activities of the Rhino Ark Kenya Charitable Trust, an NGO which works towards the conservation and protection of Kenya’s mountain range ecosystems popularly known as “water towers”.

Entries for the 2021 event opened on October 1, 2020.  Ian Duncan is one of the participants in the charge. Manee Choda, Eddy Verbeek, Priten Patel, Ravi Patel, Peter Kinyua, Nikhil Vishram, John Kanyali, Andrew Ndolo, Stanley Kinyanjui, Saqib Fazal, among others, are also taking part in the competition.

Rhino Charge, unlike other competitions that reward the quickest participant, crowns the winner based on coverage of all checkpoints within the shortest distance. It is the world’s toughest off-road motorsport listed in the Guinness Book of Records.

Car Number 16 passing through one of the guard posts, Aquamist. [Caroline Chebet, Standard]

‘Why We Charge’

Through Rhino Charge, Rhino Ark Kenya has raised more than Sh1.6 billion for vital projects managed by the NGO that seeks to create a win-win equilibrium that balances the needs of local communities with the goal of protecting nature.

The event did not take place in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis.

To date, Rhino Ark has built 650 km of electric fences and through the fencing programmes, over 80,000 families are being protected from the dangers of human-wildlife conflicts.

Rhino Ark’s electric fences protect critical mountain forests that are the “water towers” of Kenya.  These mountain forests are vital ecosystems that support the country’s economic development and the well-being of most Kenyans.

Together, the Aberdares, Mt. Kenya and the Mau Forest – the three mountain ecosystems where Rhino Ark operates – provide yearly ecological services to Kenya worth Sh412 billion.