Happy festive season

We wish you all a merry and peaceful Christmas and a great start in 2012!
Thank you for all your support and we look forward to welcoming you back in South Africa next year :D

International November 2011

Our international group had Switzerland, Germany, USA & Belgium represented :) If your country is missing join one of our tours so we can add your country :D

We had the pleasure of meeting Mourad (french/swiss), Hubert (german),Betty & Fred (USA) and Freddy, Freddy & Francine (belgium) on this tour. Yes, it got confusing with all the "Fred's" :)

-Alfie and Sabine

Amarula Kids on tour

On our October tour we had the 'Amarula Kids' from Switzerland, Lindsay & Sheryl from NZ (well done with the rugby world cup!) and Emma, Robin & Suzanne from the UK.

Rebecca came back for a second safari and brought her friends Daniel, Claudia, Pascal & Miriam with her.


Highlights of the tour: just everything!

 Stooop! inspection!...

...

...can I eat you?????

The cheetah's love attention and pure like a big cat when you stroke them!

Jessica the hippo ALWAYS love our visit and not just because she gets sweet potatoes and tea!

 

 No it is not a frog Miriam!

It is a hippo, and it will not turn into a Prince! :)

NZ family on holiday

Katie & Jordan came out to South Africa to celebrate one of their friends wedding on a Private Game Reserve near the Kruger National Park. What a great opportunity to add an 'African Safari'.
Mother Jenni with partner Chris joined son Jordan with partner Katie for an unforgettable Kruger Safari thereafter.

2 of the highlights were the squabbles between 3 Ground Hornbills and a troop of Vervet Monkeys to test their strengths!

Another amazing sighting was a pride of ~20 lions with 7 cubs!

Ozmate on tour with Epic Enabled

The Ozmate 'family' what a great group. NO WORRIES :)

Peter & Sharon with their kids Ben, Adam & Matilda
John & Coral Clements, Carol Clarke, Christopher Sach, Peter Mackay, Bruce Gardiner, Colin Davis, Ken Walters, Daniel Ellis & Brendan O'Meara

-Alfie and Sabine

French Group - APF Evasion

Our largest group yet :)

16 Frenchmen & women arrived on the 22 July in Cape Town with not really knowing what to expect.
Our Epic Guest House was admired by all and we enjoyed the 1^st evening here getting to know each other. Our translator Michel did a great job communicating.

Table Mountain was unfortunately closed due to renovations, but Cape Point and the Penguin colony was a wonderful day. 

The Waterfront was another liked destination with lots of shopping :)

The Kruger safari was a great success with lots of animal interactions and special memories.

Elizabeth's 4th tour with Epic!

What a great time to travel to the Kruger National Park. Wildlife everywhere!

We had another great tour with a great mix of people and nationalities, which guaranteed new and interesting friendships.

 Lena, Elizabeth, Rick, Brett, Adam, Samuel & Glen

Lena (Grandmother) and Samuel (Grandson) from the UK

Elizabeth from the UK

Rick & Brett (brothers) with friend Glen from New Zealand

Adam from the UK

Elizabeth enjoyed her 4th tour with us and it was great seeing her again! We look forward to seeing you next year again :)

Brett & Jessica the Hippo

Adam with caracal

Glen with Lion cub

Rick with cheetah

 It was great meeting you all!

Stunning Winter day in Cape Town

Today is one of those absolutely amazing winter days in Cape Town!  23°C and the sun is shining. What else can one want :)

 

Judith Geppert's 60th Birthday present

In February 2011, I left Australia on a holiday to celebrate my 60th birthday with two friends Davina and Brian. I had always wanted to visit this part of the world.

My reason for going to South Africa was, not only to see the famous Big-Five, but I wanted to see and experience the many interesting creatures, trees and plants with something unique to offer, stunning birds, lovely scenery and an original breathtaking African sunset.

We travelled to Kruger National Park, South Africa’s largest wildlife reserve which is one of its most unspoilt wildernesses and at the same time one of the most developed and accessible eco-tourism destinations in the country. I managed to get up close to many of the wildlife.

 
After Kruger we stayed at Tshukudu Game Reserve. Here I experienced things I’ll never forget. Walking with cheetahs and sitting on the ground patting one. Cuddling a lion cub, and observing animals in there natural habitant.

Jessica the hippo, I was able to give her a bottle of cold tea, which is one of her favourite foods.

We then travelled onto Cape Town where we stayed in the Epic Guest House, which is situated in Noordhoek – one of Cape Town’s treasures’ – with its rural atmosphere.

On this leg of our trip we visited; Cape of Good Hope, Cable Mountain, Boulders Beach, Robben Island and Stellenbosch district. Just to name a few.

My stay in South Africa will live in my memories forever!

Thank you,

Judith

Happy Mother's Day!

To all you fantastic moms out there - have a relaxing day on Sunday and let yourself get spoilt - you deserve it!

-Alfie and Sabine

Happy Easter

We wish you all a happy Easter weekend!
Enjoy the time off to relax and rejuvenate!

-Alfie and Sabine

Australian Friends

Paralympic Wheelchair Rugby team member Craig Parson was part of the ‘Force’ (Western Australia) team which won the Silver Medal in 2000. That is quite an achievement not many of us can claim! Wow!

We had the great pleasure of welcoming Craig, Eileen and their stunning daughter Ciara to South Africa on our 8 Day Kruger Safari.

They planed their holiday with us already almost 2 years ago, then some unexpected health issues delayed the tour, fantastic recovery with tremendous positive attitude and now in April 2011 it was eventuality time! I felt like I already knew them before I met them after the Safari at our Epic Guest House in Cape Town after all the e-mail communications we had back and forth :)

They are well travelled and have seen a couple more places then I have (I might add a little jealously :) and are truly amazing people. This is Craig on his Quadbike trip across Australia to visit the scene of his accident.

Now their trip leads them to Paris - Disney world and then on to Ireland where Eileen is originally from.

Some of their highlights and comments will follow shortly.

So where to are you travelling next?

Epic Enabled's 10 year anniversary!

We have had an incredible first 10 years running Epic Enabled and we look forward to many more to come! In January 2001 we started our first accessible tour to the Kruger - and what a learning experience.

We have met so many incredible people during the past years and thank you all for your support!

We hope we will meet you soon again and welcome any new faces!

To celebrate our 10 year anniversary, we offer you a great special in September 2011.

Save R2000

Book now - only limited seats available

Wildlife is at its best in their natural surroundings!

This March we had the pleasure of meeting Gillian & Steven Watt from the UK.

Gillian said her highlight on the safari was to see elephants in their natural habitat carrying on with their cruising through the bush and enjoying the feast as they move along! Seeing the elephants in the wild was a whole new experience!

I absolutely agree with Gillian. I am fortunate enough to join a tour every now and then and escape the office duties :). The feeling you get being in nature with the animals in THEIR territory, just gives you a whole new outlook to life!

Nature is incredible, but also incredibly harsh! Unfortunately the night before we went on our morning lion walk, one of the lion cubs was presumably bitten by a snake and did not survive the night. The sister lion cub enjoyed the company of people and the distraction of missing her brother.

Even in the wild we have to deal with strikes! One of the 3 cheetah siblings was on strike and wanted a day off to rest at the lodge, rather then going for a morning walk! So we enjoyed the interaction with 2 of the cheetah sisters. Meeting and feeding Jessica the hippo was again the ‘Cheery on top of the icing’.

Our autumn is slowly approaching; the days are getting shorter and the evening/nights cooler. So you don’t have to get up so early anymore for the morning game drives :)

New lion & caracal cubs

On our last tour we had the pleasure of meeting Judith, Davina & Brian from Australia; Gunmai, Kent & Magnus from Sweden and Ivan & Lucille from USA. This was Judith's ‘Birthday present holiday’ to herself and she said she will never forget the Elephants enjoying a ‘mud-bath’ while we were on a game drive. See pictures below and you might understand why!

Are you sure mom???

Let me see...

 ...ups...

...this is nice

Can we stay here??? 

In addition we had the pleasure of walking with 2 new lion cubs, 1 teenager caracal & 4 almost grown up cheetahs. One of the lion cubs especially enjoyed Judith’s wheelchair. She confided in me that the night before she spilt some wine on her armrest and that the lion cub started purring after the tasteful encounter :)

Jessica is now casually walking out of 'her river' and drinking her tea on land where you can see her full 'might'! How often can you study a hippo so close up!

Gunmai, Kent & Magnus said they will be back and hopefully enjoy our Garden Route tour the second time around :)

So join us for your adventure of a lifetime!

-Alfie and Sabine

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town

Wheechair access at the fantastic Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on video, by Jan & Hanneke:

Jessica the famous hippo on our Kruger Safaris!

Now this is something you can't do every day!

When I visited Jessica for the first time, I was rather wary. I know that the hippo is one of the biggest killers in Africa and they don't even want to eat you! They are vegetarians, but defend their 'home' fiercely!

But Jessica is truly amazing. She is also featured on the National Geographic channel every now and then, so keep an eye out for her.

She is completely free to come and go as she pleases, but she seems to like visitors and Rooibos tea!

Don’t miss this opportunity to ‘kiss’ Jessica on our Kruger safaris!



Join us on a Kruger Safari and experice it for yourself!

Kruger Safari video from Jan & Hanneke

Enjoy :)

Holiday of a Lifetime, by Julia Gower - UK

My husband & I have just returned from South Africa fulfilling my wildest dream! I am 54 years’ old, and have had MS for 33 years but it is only during the last 6 years that the condition has advanced to secondary progressive, affecting my walking. I walk with the aid of two crutches, using a wheelchair at times.

For a long time I had wanted to go to South Africa but thought that such an idea was impossible, that is until I found the tour operator – Epic Enabled and what a find! Epic Enabled (http://www.epic-enabled.com/) is a company aimed at people with mobility problems. Therefore, at the beginning of October my husband and I set out on our African adventure!

We flew to Johannesburg and from there went in a specially adapted truck to the Kruger National Park for a week. The truck has a hydraulic lift making it easy access on and off and wheelchairs could be secured to the floor with straps. Our group comprised of a Yorkshire girl (MS) and her mother, a New Zealand girl (MS), a Swedish girl (MS), a Dutch man (MS) and his wife another Dutch man who had a stroke and his wife.  We stayed in three different camps in the Park and in one Private Camp. The accommodation was good comprising of bungalows each with a walk-in shower. We went on day and evening drives and saw so many animals (very close at times), even managing the Big Five one evening.

Following the safari we went to Cape Town where we stayed a few days, visiting Robben Island which was rather sobering, Cape Point, the Penguin colony, Table Mountain and the Winelands. Then for the remaining five days we travelled along the beautiful Garden Route, spending some time whale watching en-route to the first camp. The dense, indigenous vegetation was quite spectacular. During our stay on the Garden Route we managed to visit an Ostrich farm and an Elephant sanctuary where one can walk or wheel “hand in trunk” ! For the last two nights we stayed on the coast’s edge and to see and hear 20ft waves crashing just a few metres from our cabin was truly amazing and a lovely end to our South African adventure. 

We did have a wonderful holiday and I say to everyone reading this that it is possible to go on a Safari even if you have mobility problems.

Julia & Andy Gower, UK

Happy New Year

Christmas Festive Season 2010 is over, New Year and 2011 has arrived!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hopefully everyone has had a Happy Festive time and now it is time to embrace the New Year. 

Epic Guest House has been & is still a hive of lovely people and activity. It has been so gratifying to have a wide range of different people staying with us – the Jeftha family from Gaborone in Botswana – Daphne & Basil and Liza and her great, young son Matthew.
Gerald and Monica from the UK, Gerald originally from Zambia and Scots descent with Monica from Chile, but lived many years in London.
Then Karen & Rory with their 2 gorgeous little daughters, from Scotland but now living in Paarl, SA.
Cordi & his 2 beautiful Girls, and Heather all from Johannesburg,SA. The Peters family managed to get themselves to Cape Town, having been held up by the abominable snow & bad weather in Europe with Brussels airport totally closed! Happily they did get here after all.

By the middle of January 2011, the year-end holiday visitors will be back in their usual lives, hopefully refreshed after being in gentle Noordhoek at Epic Guest House.

Epic Enabled is preparing for our 1^st Kruger & Cape Highlights tour of 2011 – Alfie took a break after a busy and hard year, of touring and building and creating the wonderful guest house with Sabine.  

While there have been devastating floods and snow in Europe, UK and Australia, South Africa is HOT !!!!!  a mere 35 degrees in Cape Town yesterday, so the holiday makers are whooping it up at the beaches.

Have a great 2011 !!!!