Rhino Charge If you’re made of stern stuff, a stern challenge awaits

Adventurous off-roaders sought for UK team to enter 2023 Rhino Charge in Kenya

The Rhino Charge is one of the world’s best-known and longest-running off-road events. Held every year in Kenya, it pits teams against the terrain with a unique format requiring them to visit a set of checkpoints while covering the shortest possible distance, and over the years it has come to be dominated by portal-axled monsters capable of straddling massive rocks.

Best of all, the event is run entirely for a very good cause. The Rhino Ark is a wildlife charity which aids conservation in East Africa by helping animals and humans live alongside each other in harmony. Its programme of funding electric fences has been hugely effective in keeping wildlife out of villages, allowing people to live without fear of incursions and animals to exist peacefully in their own territory. This helps conserve the mountain ecosystems known as the Water Towers of East Africa, preventing confl icts which can only ever end badly.

The fi rst Charge was held in 1989, and this year alone the event raised £1.1 million towards Rhino Ark’s important work. Now, attention turns towards next year – and you could be part of it!

That’s because Kit Kaberry, a long-time off-roading friend of ours who is a Trustee of Rhino Ark (UK), is looking to put together a British team to compete in Kenya. Having taken part in three previous Rhino Charges, as well as numerous runnings of the currently mothballed UK Rhino Charge (a spin-off event which Rhino Ark (UK) is hoping to restart in the near future), he’s now in his late seventies and won’t be competing. But he intends to be in Kenya to support the team – which is likely to be navigated by his son Angus, himself also a veteran of three Charges.

Shipping a Land Rover to Kenya is not easy, and it’s certainly not cheap, so Kit has worked hard to secure a suitable local vehicle. He has been in discussion with a Nairobi 4x4 specialist which is currently preparing a Land Rover 110 to the specifi cations needed to take part in the Charge, which will be held on 3 June 2023.

Needless to say, being part of the team won’t come cheap. Hiring the Defender will cost £12,500, which will be shared between all the team members – six of them, made up of a driver, navigator and four runners whose job, crucial to the success of any team, is to scout out a route across the terrain.

In addition to this, Kit estimates that your air fare, plus the cost of a stay in Nairobi and four nights in the camp at the Charge venue, will bring the likely price to around £5000 per person. And then there’s the fundraising side of it, with each team member expected to raise a minimum of £2000 to go into the Rhino Ark’s coffers.

‘All this for a week off work – but an exhilarating journey!’ says Kit. ‘Though if you have the time and the funds, you can of course add on a full safari in Kenya during your stay.’

Sounds like a good way to make the most of your air fare – and, as if you needed an excuse, to see for yourself the animals whose habitat you’ll be protecting. It certainly won’t be for everyone – but if it’s for you, you can contact Kit direct by emailing him at kit@rhinoark.org.