Margaret
Hides shares some of her experiences from the
safari trip of a lifetime, in her article in the
magazine “Disabled Motorist”, December
2004/January 2005 issue, no: 274
Remember you read about it here first: an African
safari fully accessible to disabled travellers.
In Disabled Motorist magazine a few months ago
an item mentioned this imaginative new venture
by a South African tour operator. It was enough
to tempt me (with my wheelchair) and a more
active friend to investigate first by email
and eventually to book.
The eight-day holiday turned out to be all
we could have wished for. We stayed in bush
tents, bungalows and traditional African roundawels
all with adapted toilet facilities and ramped
access. Our transport, the wayside refreshment
stops and daily game viewing drives had full
disabled access.
You move in an awesome world of close encounters
with the kingdom of wild animals. Watching them,
roaming free in the vastness of their natural
surroundings, it becomes an action-packed viewing
journey. From the safety of your sturdy safari
vehicle you never know which to grab first -
the camera or binoculars. Some creatures, however,
such as the enormous Nile crocodiles, are better
seen at a distance, deceptively resembling an
abandoned log on some sandy river bank. Clos¬er
inspection of the object reveals an inert, watchful
predator looking for all the world like the
prehistoric survivors they are.
Tours travel in the care of knowledgeable Alfie
Smith, who has been a safari tour guide and
operator for many years throughout Africa. Now,
believing that disabled people should have the
choice of sharing equal enjoyments of this adven¬ture
holiday, he has set up Epic-Enabled in South
Africa - the country offering the best infrastructure
with facilities that are important to us. The
vehicles he drives are adapted for wheel¬chair
access.
Alfie meets arrivals flying into Johannesburg.
With a time difference of only one or two hours
(summer or winter sched¬ule) we arrived
alert enough, even after an 11-hour flight,
to plunge into prospects ahead.
The drive into Kruger National Park begins
against the sweeping backdrop of the High Veldt.
An inevitable ribbon of shanty shacks which
fringe the edges of most big cities softens
wide horizons of terracotta earth and sunflower
crops. Here and there dark scars of opencast
mining are reminders of the industry which plays
some part in economics and livelihood. The less
harsh green undulations of the Low Veldt come
next, introducing you to seemingly endless boundaries
of the Kruger National Park. Road signs on river
bends change incongru¬ously to "Hippopotamus
crossing".
Even before you settle into your first-night
bush stop you might find yourself, as we did,
aiming your camera at spotted hyaena, formidable
looking rhino, elephants, warthog, baboon, impala,
elegant giraffes...
On early morning and late afternoon drives
into the sur¬rounding bush we came to accept
that there is an element of dice about game
viewing. You might drive slowly for a couple
of hours and see nothing, or your driver can
learn of a cheetah sighting and arrive at the
spot to find so many vehicles already there
ahead of you that you have no chance of getting
close enough for just a glimpse of the shy beauty.
Equally, with no other vehicle in sight on
the dirt road, you may find yourself halted
and quietly watching as many as 50 elephants
and their babies in single file, or a vast herd
of zebra moving leisurely across your path and
disappearing into the bush opposite; leaving
only silence and a feeling that you have been
part of the mystery of wilderness.
One afternoon we rounded a bend and a car with
four occu¬pants was swiftly backing towards
us. Alert Alfie, with split-second thinking,
slammed our vehicle into reverse and, along
with the car, we also set off zigzagging backwards
at a furi¬ous pace. Coming towards us in
the road was a VERY cross elephant in musk -
ears wide, dribbling constantly. He wasn't charging
but steadily advancing at a smart pace. He was
on an amorous quest and cars in his path were
certainly not what he was hoping to find.
Did Jumbo see us as a threat, I asked Alfie
afterwards.'? No way, apparently; our vehicle
was just a nuisance to him. If we had not backed
off smartly one swipe of his trunk could have
caused us an awful lot of damage.
I have been in South Africa before, but in
apartheid years. Much is unrecognisably buoyant
now. The flow of inter¬national investment
increases in an atmosphere of growing confidence.
So many lively schoolchildren, in their smart
uniforms, are part of mixed groups you meet
exploring in museums, studying their history.
Hearteningly, everyone you speak to, black or
white has nothing but unstinting admiration
for Nelson Mandela.
It came as a surprise to me to learn that Nelson
Mandela is an excellent artist. In art galleries
limited editions of his paintings, many of them
poignant views across the magnificent seascapes
towards Cape Town seen from behind his prison
bars on Robben Island, fetch thousands of South
African Rand. His originals are earmarked for
the national art gallery.
A sightseeing day in Johannesburg, included
in the Epic-Enabled tour, introduced the contrasts
of South Africa's com¬mercial centre with
expensive fashionable suburbia and the vast
spread of historic Soweto. Soweto, a major suburb
in its own right, has its churches, shopping
centres, and residential roads where homes range
from the simplicity of the original small permanent
single storey houses to the sophistication of
walled and gated classy dwellings of local doctors,
lawyers and Soweto's VIP residents such as Winnie
Mandela.
The cost of the eight-day safari is £650
including game drives, accommodation, breakfast
and barbecue bush sup¬pers and an absorbing
tour of historic Johannesburg. Nothing is stinted.
This is a new, still relatively unknown operation,
sometimes booked by a small group from some
disabled organisation. Epic-Enabled can take
up to six wheelchairs per tour. Well-run in
my experience, I found nothing to beat it on
a scale of fair value pricing and willing assistance.
From a wide choice of international airlines
you make your own flight arrangements leaving
you free to search out any advantage fares (although
these usually mean changing in a continental
airport). With my wheelchair and our luggage
my companion and I decided to book a direct
UK-Johannesburg flight at around £600.
Safari holidays in South Africa mean that you
will see most of the Big Five game animals -
only leopards eluded us. Per¬haps if we
had been there in September-October when grasses
are lowest and the animals at their most visible...
But what¬ever time of year, every new day
starts with the adventure of wondering what
wonderful animals you will encounter next.
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