Accessible Travel - Pioneered with Sophie Morgan
In November 2024, we were lucky enough to plan, organise and deliver a trip for tireless accessibility advocate Sophie Morgan. For us, this was a chance to keep walking our talk about being there for everyone and understand this style of travel better. As anyone in this space realises, the learning curve was quite steep and we quickly understood what in New Zealand was truly accessible as well as those guides and properties who were also exceptional.
Our planning process started by understanding what was truly accessible in New Zealand and what was marketing window dressing. And by truly accessible, we mean those special people who were motivated by making as much as possible available to a sector of the marketplace marginalised by lip service.
What we found was quite surprising - people who we thought would be good didn't have a clue, others didn't really care, and an exceptional few impressed to the point of shedding tears. For people in tourism who often deal with people who seem to think complaining makes them discerning, we found delivering in this space extremely rewarding. We worked out that people in the accessible sector are so often excluded, they actually notice all the little touches we and our partners work away at to make the time exceptional, and they are thankful. And for us, that's a very big thing.
The main thing we learnt through this trip was how to notice. Not having been in wheelchairs we didn't understand how important a little step up is. We didn't understand the difference between fine gravel and rough gravel. We developed a new appreciation of scheduling toilet stops. We understood what a lifesaver an attentive guide could be - allowing the traveller to actually be on holiday by being the interface between client and obstacle.
It turned out that our approach of treating each of our clients as unique had a good bit of cross-over with understanding unique physical or mental requirements. But there was still a lot to learn - mainly about little things which people with no barriers to enjoyment don't even notice. The main take away for us though was that this is a sector we want to support and enjoy supporting, and we have a better idea now of the issues involved.
The most important factor which allowed us to put Sophie in such a variety of wilderness activities was the work of another tireless individual, Jezza Williams of Making Trax. See his bio and website here.
(ps. See Sophie Morgan's website here.)
Jezza - a talented guide in his life before spinal injury - has single handedly invested in making adventure travel in New Zealand accessible. He has developed unique harnesses, imported latest-technology e-bikes, and mentored and trained his generation of guides (now senior people in NZ's adventure travel sector) in how to look after people with access requirements and how to help them enjoy the outdoors to the max. Jezza, thank you, thank you, thank you.
An itinerary of course also includes the right accommodation, food, and non-adrenaline activities which are tailored to the individual or individual group. You can see the itinerary we put together for Sophie here.
If you or someone travelling with you has any access requirements, we are happy to roll our sleeves up, understand those issues, and deliver New Zealand as seamlessly as possible while giving every person travelling a fun, rewarding and inspiring, inclusive experience. Let us know how we can assist you best!.
“Ahipara understand that meaningful travel must include all types of traveller and that, disabled or not, New Zealand is an environment that should be accessible to all! Thank you for the most accessible, inclusive and transformative trip of my life”
Sophie