Livin' It Up November Tour

The lion cubs Shingwe & Timba (named after the Shingwedze & Timbavati rivers) at Tshukudu are doing well, and treated us to some rough-and-tumbles
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Our 8 day Kruger Tour from 6-13 November saw the return of Jon Bunnig (The Netherlands), the smiling face of Epic Enabled's logo. Jon was on a tour with us in January 2002. This year Jon brought his girlfriend Eelke Kelderman with him on tour!

Hmmm...this traveller looks nice....I wonder what she tastes like....

Eelke escaped unscathed from Akila's curious cat-nibble, and thoroughly enjoyed her tour! So did the other travellers:

From left: Eelke, Joan & Suzanne Peck (UK), Jon, and Nancy Thomas (USA)

Jon, Eelke, Joan, Suzanne and Nancy went to meet Savannah, who - luckily for the group - was having a very lazy morning! The 5 travellers managed to get in behind her for a group shot!

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Happenings on tour:

- spotting of Big 5 on the first day of tour

- rare leopard spotting on a game drive

- we were able to donate wheelchairs to 2 members of the Mafunyani Cultural Village on this tour - to Polani Florah Ndlovu and Makhengu Anna Khosa, who have been without wheelchairs since 1986 and 1996 respectively.

Thank you!

A very big thank you to all those who helped with donations for this wonderful gift!!

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After the Kruger tour Jon & Eelke joined us at the Blue Tangerine in Cape Town for day tours and some relaxation after their tour.

Eelke & Jon at a winefarm in Stellenbosch

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The November tour was another successful sight-seeing and interactive trip, thanks to our spirited group! We hope to meet you again in the future...

EXPEDITION UNLIMITED Dutch TV Series

Hi everyone - just a short notice to inform you that the Dutch TV reality series "Expedition Unlimited" - for which Epic Enabled provided the transport for the filming here in March this year - is due to be broadcast from Monday 10 November on public channel Nederland 3's LLink. The series is 10 episodes long and should not be missed!

The contestants of "Expedition Unlimited" in front of Impi, our safari truck

ROcktober happenings on tour

Hello again travellers & travellers-to-be! Welcome to the October edition of our blog - what a tour this month, what happenings!
On tour:
Audrey Wicks - UK
Sam Challenger & Adele Sandison - UK & Zimbabwe
Marja Gelderman & Ans Heykoop - Netherlands
Pierre & Yvonne van den Boomen - Netherlands
This was also Kate's first taste of an Epic journey - she joined Alfie on tour to find out what real hard work is all about!

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Our 8 day Kruger tour from 23 - 30 October was full of surprises, something special happening every day, with gorgeous weather and beautiful summer sunsets...it was a true adventure...

- rare sighting of a male leopard, father of Amanza (see our April 2nd blog)

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- Becky the elephant's 1st daughter awaits the arrival of her new sibling!
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- a female white rhino & her calf approach our vehicle close enough to get a good smell...

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- 3 male lions feeding on a rare black rhino

- a large male lion leading us to a female and cubs on 2 consecutive days. Upon closer inspection on the 2nd day we saw 7 cubs which led us to believe there was another female nearby. Indeed there was - further up along the river bank came another female with a small cub following close behind!
- 2 female & 1 male lion feeding on a giraffe, also on 2 other consecutive days

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Other happenings:
- 4 large hyenas on the prowl at dusk
- a crocodile taking a vervet monkey
- an elephant pushing a tree over
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Classic moments on tour:

Sam realises how hard it is to pound meal for 2-3 hours straight...

Mafunyani Cultural Village

Tshukudu Game Reserve
...and finds that it's only a little bit easier talking to a lion cub...

...as does Marja the cat lover...

..it seems they loved her too!

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Akila & Prince show Pierre & the group where the good game viewing is...

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Jessica is doing well, as is Savannah who came to meet us & then promptly strutted off to find herself some lunch...

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Thank you all for the good times

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After the Kruger tour Audrey, Marja & Ans joined us for tours of Cape Town, staying in style with us at The Blue Tangerine.

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It was great to meet you all - we really hope you can visit us and our beautiful country again...
-Kate, Sabine & Alfie

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This month also saw the return of Jan & Keith Parsley who came on our 8 day Kruger tour in May last year. This year they have joined us in Cape Town for a tour of our city while letting us pamper them at The Blue Tangerine, as well as taking a tour of the magnificent Garden Route with us. Stay tuned for their stories & photos!...

Action-packed September

Baboons on the moove!!

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Early September saw the return of the Stichting Gehandicaptenreizen from the Netherlands. The 14-strong group arrived in stormy Cape Town where we entertained them at our new guesthouseThe Blue Tangerine over tea & coffee. We also showed them the wonders of our Mother City, and then departed from Cape Town for yet another glorious Kruger Tour for 8 days.

Savannah poses with the Stichting Gehandicaptenreizen group

"It was indeed great to meet you in Cape Town. I really love South Africa and I was all happy with how you and Alfie accomplished the trip. Again thank you for your dedication. With full trust I am looking forward to offering this trip in 2009 again." -Barbara van Eck, group leader Gehandicaptenreizen

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A new Gehandicaptenreizen group will be back for another tour in April 2009 lead yet again by Barbara!

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This month also saw Moira Lipshaw returning for another holiday with us, this time with Anne Larkin (who is, apparently, still on a high from her trip…). They toured the Kruger Park with us and then flew down to Cape Town to be pampered at The Blue Tangerine for a week while they enjoyed the sights of our city (please see the "Into The Wild" tour blog from 29 September!)

Moira with a furry friend

"Just wanted to thank you all for making the trip really great - I had a nice relaxing time and Anne thought everything was absolutely amazing!!! And is already working out how to come back again!" - Moira Lipshaw

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Thank you Anne, Moira, Drew, Mary, and Anna for all the fun!

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But that wasn’t all…September also marked the return of the Procap group from Switzerland. The 14 members of the group took in the sights & sounds of the Kruger Park for 8 sunny days before heading south to the Cape for more tours with Epic!

Procap Group from Switzerland at Cape of Good Hope

It was truly good to meet so many of you on tour this month - you have been a great inspiration to us!

- Sabine & Alfie

Into The Wild

What do you get when you cross 5 travellers from the 4 corners of the world with a safari in the wild?

-->Best mates!





On tour this month were Anne Larkin (pictured, left) & support worker Moira Lipshaw (repeat offender Sept. 2005 tour), who are both from New Zealand, Anna Jackson from the UK (pictured, right), and Drew & Mary Arnold from the US.

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Happenings on tour:

This tour provided hundreds of photo opportunities with our travellers hardly able to put their cameras down! We spotted and got up-close to leopard, buffalo, lion, as well as bushbuck, dassies which ate out of Anne's hand, warthog, zebra, elephant, giraffe and hundreds more. We also got to see our beloved Jessica the hippo and Savannah the cheetah once again.

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Zebra and wildebeest drinking together, watchful of a large but lazy pride of lions resting with their cubs under a marula tree...

...suddenly a large herd of buffalo move in
and scare away the lions:

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Drew & Mary Arnold from Wyoming, US,
are avid "twitchers" and managed to see
over 100 different bird species!

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We also got to watch some elephants enjoy a soothing mud bath:


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Anna & the group went to meet the caracal in the rehabilitation program:



"It is difficult to describe the feeling it brings for someone who had only dreamed of going to Africa. The smiles just got bigger and bigger.” - Moira
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Anne and Moira continued on to Cape Town where they were treated to luxury accommodation at The Blue Tangerine while they enjoyed day tours with Epic Enabled and did a few excursions of their own...

It was a pleasure to meet you all and trust that you had a marvellous time! We know we will see you again...

Welcome on tour family Van't Sant!

Jessica meets Roan

Paul, Roan & Gea with Savannah

“It’s been a week now since we left South Africa. Roan’s back to school and we’re working again. We would like to thank you for making it possible for us to do this great trip. The Kruger tour was absolutely fantastic and we enjoyed every minute of it. We miss the morning game drive’s, breakfast outside, spotting the game (oink, oink) and the fun we had. The help and care from you and your sister was just great, it made the trip a real vacation for us all. Walking with Aquila, touching Savannah and feeding Jessica was an unforgettable experience. You picked the right places to stay and the best spots to go to.”

– Paul van’t Sant

8 Day Kruger tour 16 -23 August: this time it was Sabine’s turn to go on tour - she took Paul, Gea and their son Roan (The Netherlands) through the KrugerPark accompanied by her sister from Switzerland who was also visiting. They make a good team! :)

Paul, Gea & Roan then joined us in Cape Town for the Cape Town highlights leg of their tour.

Thank you Paul, Gea & Roan for such a lovely time...
-Sabine