VINTAGE AIR RALLY BRINGS SPOTLIGHT TO KENYA AND TANZANIA
(Posted 28th November 2016)
The highly publicized Vintage Air Rally from the Greek island of Crete to Cape Town, is presently in Kenya and will early in the week continue the flight south with stops in Tanzania. Key tourism stakeholders in Kenya joined hands with the Kenya Tourism Board and the Kenya Wildlife Service, Serena Hotels among them.
Following in the footsteps of the pioneering flights of the 1920s and 30 years after the epic movie “Out of Africa” was filmed in Kenya, will 14 vintage aircrafts built in the early 1900s take to the air for a truly unique, FIA recognized, rally across Africa. The aerial rally will visit 11 Countries over a 36 day period. 6 days of the rally will be spent in Kenya and 4 days in Tanzania. The international launch took place on 11th of October in the UK. The international media have since then been carrying the story covering each destination.Sadly did Ethiopia throw spanners in the works when they arrested over a dozen pilots and copilots who had touched down in Gambella before eventually releasing them after several embassies intervened, not exactly a credit to the country which is supposedly keen to promote tourism.
Next year, an eight series program will be produced by a Philadelphia based production company that will be available to broadcasters for global distribution and Destination Kenya and Destination Tanzania will receive about 15 minutes of coverage each. For more information, see the links below:
Event Details: http://www.vintageairrally.com/event
Website: http://www.vintageairrally.com/event
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VintageAirRally/?fref=ts
The teams from various nationalities (amongst others from the US, UK, Germany, Belgium, Chile, Israel South Africa and Botswana) with their vintage planes will be competing against each other in this endurance rally from Crete to the Cape. Even the original plane, G-AAMY, flown by Robert Redford in ‘Out of Africa’ will take part. Additionally, modern airplanes and helicopters will be functioning as support crew for the older planes.
(G-AAMY seen here over the Segera Retreat, arguably Kenya’s finest safari property)
The Vintage Air Rally have partnered with various organizations to give back to our planet:
· Fundraising initiatives are in place for UNICEF
· Under the slogan "Birds for Birds", they are supporting Bird Life International (BLI) specifically in their program to help save the African vultures from extinction. Although culturally unpopular, vultures fulfil a crucial role in the African eco-system. To maintain a healthy environment and healthy people, conserving vultures is critical, especially in Africa where the delivery of health care to local communities is highly limited.
· The earliest records of aerial reforestation dates back to the 1930s – the same vintage as their aircrafts. Aeroplanes were used to distribute seeds over certain inaccessible areas. They intend to follow this heritage during the Vintage Air Rally. Aerial reforestation is one of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization priorities and whilst they look into how to do it with drones, the Vintage Air Rally are going ‘back to basics’.
Serena Hotels have partnered with the Crete2Cape Vintage Air Rally and they will be staying at the Nairobi Serena Hotel while in Kenya and the Ngorongoro Serena Safari Lodge when in Tanzania.
The hashtags for the event are #Serenalovesvintage #Vintageairrallyke
Notably did the event not come to Uganda, another sign of how such massive marketing and showcasing opportunities are being squandered here by inept marketers who in the opinion of many private sector stakeholders have outlived their usefulness and ought to be urgently replaced.
