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Africa’s Hidden Places Belong To Them Too

Vivienne Gunning – Senior Expedition Leader | Accessible Travel Specialist. Thirty years in the field. Thirty-four African countries.

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They told her Africa was impossible. Too remote. Too rough. Too unpredictable. Yet over thirty years and thirty-four African countries, I have watched travellers arrive carrying not only luggage, but doubt. Sometimes it is their own.

More often it belongs to somebody else. And time and again, Africa proves them wrong—not because it becomes easier, but because somebody took the time to ask better questions.

The Wrong Question

Most conversations around accessible travel begin with infrastructure. Is there a ramp? Is the room accessible? Is there a wheelchair-friendly vehicle? Important questions, yes. But not always the most important ones.

Should travellers with accessibility needs only experience destinations designed for accessibility, or do they have the same right to stand in the white dunes of the Sahara, drift through the Okavango Delta, or sit beneath the stars in the Namib?

My answer is simple: they should. Not always. Not without preparation. But yes.

Accessibility Is Not Always What You Think

Years ago, leading an expedition through Niger to a Tuareg camp near Timia Oasis, one solo-traveller, an elderly guest arrived with no obvious accessibility requirements. Only once we were deep into the journey did we realise she was experiencing significant short-term memory loss.

Suddenly accessibility had nothing to do with ramps or vehicles. It became about supervision, communication, safety and responsibility. Nighttime was challenging but she never became lost in the darkness of the Ténére Desert.

We never left her behind. The lesson stayed with me: accessibility is not simply about physical access. It is about understanding human vulnerability in all its forms.

Adventure Versus Risk

Would I take a traveller with accessibility needs somewhere that is technically inaccessible? Yes. With conditions. And with the understanding that even the conditions will never cover everything.

The question is not ‘Can they get there?’ The question is ‘What happens if something goes wrong?’

After thirty years in the field I have developed a personal rule: any destination where evacuation by air takes longer than four hours and there is no reliable communication deserves a very different conversation.

Often that is the line. Not age. Not mobility. The evacuation window.

Africa's Hidden Places Belong To Them Too

The Places That Demand Respect

The Danakil Depression, the Simien Mountains, the Ennedi Plateau, Nyiragongo Volcano and Congo River expeditions all demand honest conversations. None are impossible. All require preparation, support and a realistic understanding of risk. I have not been to all of them but will do thorough reach before I go.

The Forest Teaches A Different Lesson

Gorilla tracking is not accessible by any conventional definition. Yet many of the guests I have taken into those forests have been well into their sixties and beyond. Every one of them made it—not because the terrain became easier, but because the preparation was right, the expectations were honest and the goal was worth the effort.

Not every story ends that way. On one Bwindi trek our group was fit, healthy and capable. The walk down into the forest was manageable and we found the gorillas quickly. The real challenge came afterwards. The climb out was steep and relentless. One guest simply had nothing left. No injury. No illness. Just complete exhaustion.

The trackers eventually carried him out on a stretcher. It was handled with professionalism and dignity, but it reinforced a lesson I have never forgotten: the challenge was not finding the gorillas. The challenge was getting back out of the forest. Good briefings are not there to discourage people. They are there to protect them. Do not create unrealistic expectations – for yourselves and for others.

Africa's Hidden Places Belong To Them Too
Africa's Hidden Places Belong To Them Too

Emergency Planning Is A Shared Responsibility

Successful accessible travel in remote Africa is a partnership. Operators consider airstrip access, medical facilities, evacuation options, communication systems and contingency plans. Travellers have an equal responsibility to communicate honestly about mobility, medication, fatigue, medical conditions and support requirements. The best journeys happen when information flows both ways, assumptions disappear, and reality replaces marketing.

My Personal View

I do not believe travellers with accessibility needs should automatically be directed towards the safest and most predictable experiences. People are often far more capable than the industry gives them credit for. Our responsibility is not to limit dreams. Our responsibility is to explain the realities honestly, discuss the risks, identify the support required, and then allow informed decisions to be made.

Conclusion

Thirty years in the field has taught me one thing above all else: there will always be surprises. The question is never whether something will go wrong. The question is whether you are prepared enough—and accompanied well enough—to meet it.

Africa is not always easy. But some places change us so profoundly that the effort required to reach them becomes part of the story itself. Africa’s hidden places do not belong only to the young, the strong or the able-bodied. They belong to dreamers. And sometimes, inaccessible is not a fixed state. Sometimes it is simply a question of who is walking beside you.

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