Rogo Manduli's Safari rally legacy lives on

Orie Rogo Manduli might just have rested, but her legacy in Kenya's sporting world and specifically in the rally sector lives.

Apart from her unique and massive head wraps that she was famous for, Manduli was the first African woman rally driver to grace the Safari Rally when she took part in the 1974 edition, then known as the East African Safari Rally, with Sylvia Owino as her co-driver.

The duo christened, “rally girls", was flagged off by Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in their brand new Mitsubishi Colt Gallant, amidst cheering from hundreds of supporters.

When questioned on why she chose to delve into the rallying world in an interview with KBC in 2014, the vocal woman said that the anger of missing a local woman representative in an event that was being held at home pushed her.

"I was angry that we were hosting the Safari Rally annually and the few women who were participating were all foreigners. I wanted to prove that Kenyan women, too, could participate in car racing. I do not like to be put in a box or to be stereotyped," she said.

She was born Mary Orie Rogo but changed her name to Mary Orie Rogo Ondieki after her marriage, and used Mary Ondieki when she raced.

She would later drop the two names, Mary and Ondieki and stuck to Orie Rogo, before adapting Manduli after getting married to her second husband, Misheck Norman Manduli from Zambia.