I am 41, have cerebral palsy and am an out-going person and go anywhere in my wheelchair. I am unable to talk, so communication takes time to get used to.

I am interested in animals and anything to do with nature, so when I saw the epic-enabled advert I thought: “Wow, yes please,” quite expecting to be told I was too disabled.

But I was accepted on Alfie's tour in August 2005 and had an absolutely brilliant time. I have to have a special loo seat when I travel and this means I have extra luggage. This was not a problem. I took my carer, Caroline, with me on safari to the Kruger Park.
We saw all of the animals you can imagine, including monkeys, lions, leopards, hippos, elephants and giraffes.

We even saw two giraffes in courtship! They were about 50 metres away from our safari truck. We couldn't believe our luck, it was awesome to see them flirting with each other. I think I will remember that forever. The food was lovely as well.

The only problem I had was when we got to the bush camp and had to get out of my wheelchair to go on a "normal" safari truck. I am very floppy and despite being supported by Caroline and Denise on the seat, I wasn't very comfortable so I had to miss some of the trips round the reserve. Although I did meet Simba, the six month old lion cub. He was really inquisitive of our wheelchairs and very playful toward the rangers and his playmate, a six-month-old Labrador.

Not being able to sit on the normal safari truck didn't spoil my holiday because I had done everything else and met lots of lovely people.

14 Clovelly Road, Fish Hoek, 7975, Cape Town; tel/fax: 27 (0)21 782 9575; www.epic-enabled.com; info@epic-enabled.com

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