Ecstatic fans within Uganda and from neighbouring countries made the 2023 Pearl of Africa Rally special.
The three days of the spectacle, and legendary race started with a shakedown section on Friday to decide who starts in pole position.
Ugandan driver Yassin Nasser navigated by Ali Katumba won it, giving fans who traveled early a teaser of what to expect for the next two days.
Saturday and Sunday had fans drive to various designated viewing points but with the big crowds, obstruction was inevitable.
With sugarcane plantations, people holding umbrellas, fans improvised by climbing trees, standing on the top of cars, and so on.
However, the winners of this particular race were those who comfortably sat at the top of an abandoned toilet at the Bujagali Falls stage.
There only competition was the fans who climbed up the electricity pylons to enjoy an aerial view of the cars raving through the sugar cane plantations.
The party in the sugar cane plantations
Despite being in the wild for hours, the party didn’t stop. Fans had multiple fully charged mobile speakers playing music.
For every interval, separating cars in the route, it was party time as fans danced like possessed fellows.
One might wonder how they kept the energy levels up from morning to evening for three straight days.
Well, just like cars had a service park, even fans had drinks points to recharge their batteries while others had theirs in private coolers.
The clear weather throughout also helped matters as fans had one enemy to deal with, the heat, and this had some shelter themselves with tree leaves.
The only low from the fans was the over-excitement that had many ignore the safety rules hence delaying the start of several sections.
By: Julius Senyimba
