Kenya Notebook: The Kenyan savannah from the sky

Boarding a helicopter to watch the first three special stages on Friday will be one of the unforgettable memories of this edition.

From the floor of… zebras, Kenya is already superb, but observed, admired even from the cockpit of a bird of this type, it becomes magical. To reach Chui Lodge, the first section (13,34 km) of the morning, the flight over the banks of Lake Naivasha is made absolutely magnificent by the light of the rising sun.

The noise of the aircraft as it lands causes antelopes, ostriches and warthogs to flee. The passage through the forest turns out to be very fast, but also very rough. The pilots Hyundai are visibly on the attack while the first two in the championship, Sébastien Ogier and Elfyn Evans seem to have it under their belt. The sign indicating post 7 in this chrono does not, however, resist the evolution of the Frenchman. (“ It bothered me to get a good grip on the rope ”, he joked later.)

It is not possible to linger too long. Kedong, the longest special of the weekend (32,68 km) will soon start. The short flight of a few minutes allows you to have another vision of the Great Rift Valley with cliffs, very deep troughs and some spectacular hills.

Unlike the first spot, that of this SS3 is frighteningly fast given the difficulty of the terrain. The Rally1s hurtle at 180 km/h, swallowing up bumps, holes and compressions as if they were traveling on a…motorway?

The last opportunity to observe the competitors during this first morning of the race takes place from a promontory in Oserian (18,87 km) which slightly overlooks an immense meadow where wild life is in full swing without worrying about the colorful machines backfiring. While Neuville and Kalle Rovanperä seem to be playing on sand and stones while competing for the lead, Ogier takes care of his Yaris injured by a shock absorber.

The celebrations are over, however, it is time to return to the service park to gather the drivers' first impressions. The final flight of the morning allows us to immerse ourselves one last time in the magic of these landscapes while measuring the luck of being there.