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TAMPA, Fla.: Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will redefine real adventure in spring 2001 with Rhino Rally, an off-road safari river adventure through the wilds of Africa. Rhino Rally will blend up-close animal encounters with an unpredictable off-road safari competition that ends with a raging river thrill ride. Busch Garden's guests braving Rhino Rally will be recruited from mere spectators into 17-member team ralliers to challenge Africa's Serengeti region and compete for the world's ultimate off-road trophy. While traversing a rugged, sparsely-marked course in free-driving Land Rover vehicles, rally teams will stray into encounters with elephants, white rhinos, antelope, alligators, cape buffalo, warthogs and other exotic African species.
As competitors trek across the 16-acre attraction's hazardous regions, the adventure abruptly shifts from splashing through a washed-out riverbed to facing a terrifying flash flood. Clinging to the edges of a washed-out pontoon bridge section, the vehicles and crews spiral down a turbulent river.
"Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is crossing a new frontier in entertainment with Rhino Rally which will combine the many adventures our park offers into one unforgettable off-road safari competition," said Robin Carson, executive vice president and general manager of Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. "We have designed this totally unique attraction to incorporate up-close animal encounters and a raging river thrill ride in a way guests have never seen or experienced.
Before boarding their off-road Land Rover vehicles, adorned with sponsorship graphics, drivers choose guest navigators assigned to keep ralliers on course. Teams then plunge into the wilds of the Serengeti in their vehicles, unaware of the thrills that await them. Seconds into the eight-minute rally, any thoughts of finishing quickly suddenly shift to finishing at all. An unexplored route steers teams directly into a majestic group of Asian elephants, seen from above and below, as the herd circles around vehicles passing by on the undulating course. Drivers press on, maneuvering over a massive plain traversed by gazelle, zebra, antelope and hundreds of other hoofed animals. As the terrain intensifies, vehicles grind through watering holes and mud wallows. Ralliers then cross dry riverbeds inhabited by endangered white rhinos, carefully maneuvering around the 2-ton inhabitants while struggling to follow the sporadic course. Before escaping the area, competitors discover an imposing group of alligators wading in a large watering hole which the vehicles must cross.
Safe haven of the finish line awaits down one side of a fork in the road which team drivers fail to choose in lieu of an alleged short cut. Instead, an unmarked course and teeming rain blurs the route until ralliers spot a small pontoon bridge. Driver hesitation on the bridge proves catastrophic as a thunderous flash flood catapults down the river, ripping the bridge from its moorings. What began as an off-road adventure ends as a fight for survival aboard an out-of-control slab of bridge hurtling down a river. While still in their vehicles, teams are shot through a narrow canyon and doused by a waterfall before the tattered pontoon structure snags on a collapsed bridge. A fleeting window of escape allows drivers to regain control long enough to flee the raging river. Ralliers safely cross yet another suspicious bridge, the final obstacle to their finish line triumph.
The Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks include Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Williamsburg, Va.; Sea World marine life parks in Orlando, San Diego, San Antonio and Cleveland; Adventure Island in Tampa Bay; Water Country USA in Williamsburg; and Sesame Place near Philadelphia. Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks employ more than 15,000 people.
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