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Kruger Tourism
Kruger Park Adventures Tours
An African Adventure with Epic Enabled
Mention Africa as a travel destination and the first word that springs to mind
is “safari”. It conjures up images of the grand visits to the Dark
Continent at the turn of the 20th century by Theodore Rooseveldt and the then
Prince of Wales.
Visions of khaki tented camps in the bush, fireside meals, bushveld sunsets,
gins and tonic, and an abundance of wildlife. At this point most disabled
travellers, however minimal or severe their impairments may be, begin to tune
out. It is an experience few can imagine themselves doing. Wheelchairs, or
crutches, and the bush do not mingle. Well, that has all changed.
Epic Enabled, a Cape Town - South Africa based company, have developed an
African adventure package for all, from the most able-bodied tourist, to those
of us who use a motorised wheelchair.
Epic Enabled’s overland tour is not for the pampered and spoiled. To
try and experience Africa’s bushveld in sanitised conditions is to miss
the point. Africa is not “Disney”. To travel into the African bush
and live in a deep-pile carpeted, air-conditioned hotel is crazy!
You need to feel the perspiration trickle down your back as you peer into
the thick bush for a glimpse of the elusive leopard, to see the dust of thousands
of wildebeest hooves hanging in the trees, and to smell the campfire breakfasts
as you emerge from your tent in the morning.
It is an adventure. It brings people from all over the world together in
an overland vehicle, sharing sightings of African game, helping out at the
campsite kitchen, and learning about one another around the crackling logs
after sunset. It provides us with a firsthand, close-up experience of the
African bush and its fauna and flora.
What Epic Enabled have succeeded in doing is to bring all these senses to
us, but still provide a level of comfort, convenience and enjoyment for those
with special needs. It may be an adventure, but it is not an endurance! Accommodation
consists of either pre-erected tented camps, or bungalows.
Regardless, one gets a solid bed to ensure a good night’s rest before
the early morning game drives. Each stop provides accessable ablution facilities.
I find the aspect of travelling with Epic Enabled that impresses me the most
is that their tour provides for “all”, both disabled and able-bodied
sit side-by-side in the overlander. For those of us who require caregivers,
they are fully integrated into the tour group. We all share the experience
together on equal terms.
Three whole days are devoted to touring through the 2-million hectare Kruger
National Park, one of the world’s truly great parks, and home to Africa’s
Big-5. The tall Mercedes-Benz 1617 truck provides a perfect viewing platform
over the grasslands.
Game viewing in a motorcar can be a frustrating exercise as there is always
the sense that the animals are only yards away, but hidden behind the roadside
grass. The tall truck eliminates that problem with ease, as does the hydraulic
passenger lift in getting wheelchairs in and out, and all wheelchairs are
securely tied down whilst driving.
Although the tour might bring you face to face with the Big-Five (elephant,
black rhino, Cape buffalo, lion, and leopard) it will also provide one with
personal memories of unique encounters with honey badgers and warthogs around
the campsite, and dung beetles and hyena’s on the road.
A further two days allows one  to
take in the Hoedspruit Breeding Centre for Endangered Species, the Nyani Tribal
Village where one can return to our “roots” and savour the local food
and culture, and the Tshukudu Lodge for close encounters with cheetah, leopard
and elephant.
Perhaps one of the most amazing encounters will be experienced here when
a fully grown African elephant will often place his trunk into the vehicles
viewing area to “touch and feel” these strange humans who visit
“his” lodge.
En-route home a full day is devoted to the spectacular Blyde River Canyon,
the historical gold mining village of Pilgrims Rest, and the highland village
of Dullstroom, famous for the trout fishing to be had in its icy fast flowing
streams.
So what do fellow adventurers have to say about their Epic Enabled African
Adventure? Comments such as “It made me stronger”, “One great
adventure”, “An awe inspiring safari”, and “I have a strong
sense of achievement” pop up easily in conversation as we return to the
Johannesburg International Airport for our departure flight, as does one of
“I’m going to do it again!”.
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