pushingthelimits.com

It can be hard to try and plan an adventurous holiday, you want to get out and explore but making sure you dont want to fly half way around the world only to be stuck at the bottom of a flight of stairs leading to your room. Maybe you just dont know what is available other than boring package deals to mundane resorts that dont cater to wheelchair other than putting a couple grab rails in the bathroom.

In the first of a series exploring destinations for the more adventurous traveller we take a look at what Africa has to offer. Obviously you can head off to Kilimanjaro with your off-road handcycle and just take things as they come, but if you are looking for something a bit more sedate and romantic then an african safari can be just the ticket.

Think of Africa and you think of safari’s, it’s what the vast majority of tourists visit the continent for. The tourism industry in Africa, and especially South Africa, has for years been focusing on safari’s as a huge draw for visitors. With professional and well established operators providing luxury accommodation in protected camp grounds withing sight of watering holes and heard of zebra. Dont think that by staying in a campground you will be roughing it though, these places are built for comfort. With the explosion in wheelchair travel over the last few year many operators have not just made adaptions to cater for disabled guest, but are offering custom tours specific to disabled peoples needs.

So often “wheelchair accessible accommodation” can mean little more than a flat floor and just enough space to get through the door, even in parts of America and Western Europe as there’s little understanding of the requirements for disabled people.

Tour operators in Africa though are among the first in the world to realize that disabled travelers are a relatively untouched pool of customers and revenue, and that catering to this market can be big business in an otherwise saturated tourism market. Far from simply modifying their original set-up to be accessible, many safari operators have re-built from the ground up to cater specifically to disabled travelers. 

Spacious, comfortable and modern, with a real understanding of their customers needs these new safari tour companies are raising the bar for wheelchair holidays and setting a standard we can only hope will be adopted in the rest of the world.

Specialist vehicles for safari tours mean that there’s room for even the largest electric wheelchairs, often four or five at a time. 

Access Africa - 12 day tours from Durban, South Africa.
Epic Enabled - 5, 8 and 12 day tours of the Kruger National Park and Garden Route to Cape Town.
Rolling SA - 4, 5, 9 and 12 day tours all over South Africa. 
2by2 Holidays - Grand tours of Africa. 17 day tour of Kruger National Park. 
Endeavor Safaris -  Specializing in safaris for wheelchair users in South Africa.
Go Africa - Wheelchair accessible Safaris in South Africa.