Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has announced its co-sponsorship for the biennial Kenya Airways East African Safari Classic Rally 2017 which will start and end at Sarova Whitesands in Mombasa later in the year.
As a longstanding co-sponsor, the organization has declared its commitment to assist in the cooperation and planning of all logistics at Amboseli National Park which is earmarked as part of the route course for this year’s edition of the rally.
KWS has been working with EASCR over the past editions of the prestigious event and played a distinctive role in enhancing sports tourism as part of Kenyan heritage through the event.
KWS Deputy Director Strategy and Change, Edwin Wanyonyi, while making the announcement remarked: “One of the facets that have been of great significance for KWS is that all proceeds from the East Africa Safari Classic Rally goes into our sustainability fund ostensibly to ensure that wildlife is not endangered. As such, we are overly proud to be associated with this iconic event. It is our ultimate goal to work with other players to conserve, protect and sustainably manage wildlife resources.”
East African Safari Classic General Manager Pipi Renu hinted that Amboseli will host two night stops for this year’s event slated for Kenya and Tanzania from November 23-December 1.
“KWS has continued being a key co-sponsors of the Safari Classic Rally. The organization has hosted us severally at the world-famous Amboseli National Park. Recently, Safaricom announced its sponsorship package at Nairobi National Park which was quite a great experience to competitors, officials and the media who attended the event. This year, we shall run two of our night-stops at Amboseli National Park which is synonymous with ‘the big five’ game animals namely the lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and rhinoceros,” said Pipi.
Besides competition, Pipi added that team crews from both local and international will savor the fauna and flora in the vicinity prior to crossing over to Tanzania through the Namanga border.
“Few experiences compare to exploring the wilds of Kenya by following the legendary event through some of our planet’s most famous wildlife reserves and ecological wonders. We sincerely thank our co-sponsors Kenya Wildlife Service for their unswerving support and indeed offering us this wonderful wild experience,” Pipi added.
KWS is a state corporation that conserves and manages Kenya’s wildlife for the Kenyan people and the world. It was established by an Act of Parliament (Cap 376), now repealed by WCMA (2013), with the mandate to conserve and manage wildlife in Kenya, and to enforce related laws and regulations.
What’s more, KWS duly undertakes conservation and management of wildlife resources across all protected ecosystems in collaboration with stakeholders.
This year’s edition of East African Safari Classic is sponsored by Kenya Airways and co-sponsored by Safaricom, KWS, Copy Cat Group, Internet Solutions, Vipingo Ridge and Dodhia Packaging Limited.