Beyond Boundaries: an expedition of disabled people creates history in crossing extreme, untamed Namibia

It was in mid January 2006 that a specially selected team of eleven disabled contributors, all of whom had volunteered to take part in the most daunting of expeditions across the very breadth of Namibia, joined their guides and mentors at the Victoria Falls near Livingstone, just across our country's border in southern Zambia. They had flown from Windhoek's Hosea Kutako International Airport in Cessna light aircraft, the same day as they had arrived from the UK on Air Namibia's newly scheduled thrice weekly direct flight from London Gatwick.

Awaiting them were Ken Hames, the practised expedition leader and catalyst for motivating this group of both physically and mentally challenged individuals in their extreme trek across some of the wildest places that Namibia has to offer. Ken's experienced team had already thoroughly reconnoitred and established the route, first in November last year and then once again at the start of this New Year. The massive and wonderful rains already received, even before the rainy season has peaked here in Namibia, necessitated a change to the original route that was planned to take the expedition through the more westerly reaches of the country towards their goal on the Atlantic coastline; the ephemeral Hoarusib river had already run, making it extremely difficult for the vital medical and logistical support vehicles, mainly Land Rovers, to keep close to the intrepid trekkers. For this reason, it was decided to cross through the Kaokoveld, northern Damaraland and the proclaimed Skeleton Coast Park area further south, where the medical and supply contacts so essential to the team could stay in much closer proximity. The advance party had furthermore assembled all the necessary infrastructure and equipment, and organised indigenous guides and trackers - including Caprivian tribesmen and Himbas - for each leg of this extraordinary mission. Moreover the disabled group would be supported and protected by armed rangers wherever necessary on some of the planned route sections on such a dangerous journey through Namibia's untamed nature.

Diverse Bristol Ltd, a highly regarded TV production company based in the south west of England have been commissioned by the BBC to film and chronicle the entire expedition, thus compiling 'a landmark documentary series - Beyond Boundaries - that aims to challenge preconceptions about what disabled people can and can't do'; these the words of Richard Klein, Commissioning Editor of the BBC's Documentaries and Contemporary Factual Department. The choice of Namibia, perhaps the harshest but most evocative and awesome land in sub-Saharan Africa, dovetails perfectly with the recent directive of the Cabinet of the Namibian Government to ensure that awareness of all the disabled in Namibia is very much highlighted during 2006. Selected from an original 4000 applicants, and having undergone medical and psychological examinations, the final eleven have of course both personal and wider challenges to meet. Rob MacIver, the executive producer of Beyond Boundaries, sees the filming of this expedition as a platform 'whereby honesty will lead to drama, drama to entertainment, and that entertainment will create mainstream awareness of what the disabled are capable of'. The documentary will be screened in the autumn in the UK as four one hour long weekly slots with an anticipated audience of several million people for each programme. The series will also then be distributed widely to overseas markets.

Twenty three days and nights will see participants, cohorts, camera, sound and production crews, logistics teams and local guides follow an incredibly demanding schedule that will lead these bold volunteers, all handicapped in some way or another, through white water rapids, hippo and crocodile infested rivers, treacherous flood plains and swampland, remote bushveld occupied by abundant and fearsome predators, until finally, in sweltering heat, they traverse the plains, mountains and colossal sand dunes of the Namib Desert before reaching the Atlantic. Some 2000 kilometres, from the Zambezi to the Skeleton Coast, lie ahead of them. So it was that three cameras rolled for the first time on the opening, preparatory day of this awesome expedition close to the world famous Victoria Falls in Livingstone, Zambia. A day for the this team of eleven people with a disability to receive instruction from Ken Hames and his team, to relate to their new African surroundings and to begin the all important bonding process, which surely would provide support for each other when the going got tough and as the temperatures rose. The team had only met together once for a weekend's training in the UK prior to their departure. The outline route will first see the disabled forge a passage along the banks of the Zambezi to Mambova. From there the team of intrepid, yet challenged explorers will thence be ferried, checking out through a makeshift customs and immigration post erected by Zambian officials on the river bank, across the mighty Zambezi itself to enter Namibia at the Impalila Island border post. After making camp at Kasika, they will be continuing their hazardous journey by paddling for a day in canoes up the Chobe river, home of course to many hippos and crocodiles. Great care will need to be taken on this section, since hippopotami can act very belligerently if they feel their territory is being encroached upon, or if they sense any threat to the well-being of their young. Unsurprisingly, time on this opening day also needed to be spent on the final health and safety reminders and risk assessment details particular to a mission which, by dint of its extreme nature, will doubtless provide perilous moments for the participants. Expedition leader Ken Hames, aged 47 and until recently a long serving, high ranking and extremely experienced member of the British Army's elite operative unit - the SAS 22 Battalion - has led several previous expeditions, involving both the disadvantaged and the disabled, in various parts of the world, including Kenya, Brunei, Nicaragua and indeed the remote Kaokoveld area of north western Namibia. He sees this expedition across Namibia from east to west as the most challenging and extreme yet, taking into account the dangers that may be encountered in terms of terrain, climate, distance, possible disease and wildlife. Backed by a large, dedicated logistics team and top flight medical care in the shape of the attendant, highly experienced expedition doctor and specialist disabled and sports injury practitioner, Dr Mukul Agarwal, the eleven contributors will also benefit by being accompanied by a highly experienced Okahandja based professional guide, Brian Bartlett.

The group were at the outset officially handed 'ownership' of the expedition by leader Ken, who asked them to work together as a team, to help one another in times of exhaustion or distress and to consider failure not to be an option. Team bonding and camaraderie were both further strengthened by two wonderfully pure African experiences : first meeting with and trekking atop a group of African elephants, trained and marshalled by local 'fixer' Tony King - the manager of the ubiquitous Safari Par Excellence organisation in Livingstone - and his team, and secondly by a visit to the astounding Victoria Falls themselves. But tomorrow the bush would await, following a sensational surprise opening exercise planned for the team, which would launch the expedition proper. So the Beyond Boundaries documentary series should therefore ensure that society does better understand and appreciate the resources and abilities that the disabled possess, that people are made more aware of their capabilities and become better informed of the full and vital role that these challenged people can fulfil in the world today. Series producer Mike Warner explained his vision: 'We want to highlight the disabled without patronizing them or being overt. To make a programme about the disabled which isn't just about their disabilities. And we will make a great TV programme!' And Namibia will surely provide both a great welcome and all the support needed.

Indeed it's on the second day of this amazing mission, that we see a simply sensational start for the group, all planned by the production team from Diverse TV. The first real action of the expedition is, to the complete astonishment of every participant, to attend a briefing on white water rafting. The group's first task of the day is thus to attend a briefing on white water rafting. Yes, the expedition, following that opening day of general training, acclimatisation, advice and team bonding, is kicking off from Livingstone by shooting the Zambezi Gorge on some of the fiercest rapids in the world, classified grade 5. Intensive morning instruction is followed by the steep and difficult 630 metre descent to water level in the gorge; no easy task, bearing in mind that taking part in this expedition are two leg amputees, two paraplegics who are both in wheelchairs, a sufferer from turret syndrome, an arm amputee, another with no arms, two completely deaf people, a dwarf and the last suffering from cerebral palsy. It's great to see this group of people, with all manner of disabilities and medical disorders between them, showing the world that they are simply no different, and given the opportunity, just as capable as anyone else. Remember, that's the purpose of the whole trip and the subsequent documentary series featuring four one hour long programmes: to challenge the preconceptions that people have about the disabled, and about what they can and cannot do.

So the intrepid volunteers finally reach the water, and embark onto the rafts supplied by the Safpar group. Everyone is most appreciative of the rigorous safety procedures always maintained on the Zambezi and listen intently as final instructions are given by the professional boat crews who will guide the rafts through the rapids. Five rafts will be used, carrying between them the contributors, expedition leader Ken Hames and his experienced team, and of course the camera and sound crews. Extra safety kayaks will be positioned at each rapid to ensure the swift recovery of anyone who is pitched into the water. A helicopter will provide aerial pictures, though it is also possible to take some great camera shots by perching, albeit precariously, high above the rapids atop the sheer sides of the gorge. Tension is high, nerves very apparent and adrenalin pumping all the while for this is indeed an extreme challenge, the like of which none of the disabled participants has ever experienced before. One by one, the rafts shoot the first rapid and foaming torrents twist the craft in all directions, spinning them through this white maelstrom, tossing them up and down in the heaving waters. Rapid one - 'The Boiling Pot' is perhaps the fiercest of all, an awesome beginning to this waterborne fury. All the rafts traverse the next two rapids intact, but on rapid 4 - known as 'Morning Glory' - one boat, containing some of the participants themselves, is suddenly flipped right over, spilling everyone into the roaring, swirling currents. Bobbing like corks, ever grateful to be kitted out with such superb life jackets, all are swiftly recovered back onto the raft. Four rafts then negotiate the next three rapids successfully reaching the planned disembarkation point following rapid 7. But the water is to have the last word; for the camera crew, having filmed each of the rafts shooting this longest of all the rapids, are suddenly themselves hurled into the water as the Zambezi tosses their raft over. Once again all manage to reach the upturned craft and safety, all their waterproofed camera equipment remaining safely lashed down.

And so exit some excited but exhausted contributors from their Grade 5 baptism, faced now with the very steep ascent out of the gorge. Spine boards are used to carry some of the most weary up the cliffs whilst at the summit very real tears of pain are somewhat assuaged by a great glow of achievement. A triumph for each and every volunteer, and a statement to the world: respect our ability!

Our overnight halt is at nearby but rural tiny village of Mandia, where camp is set up in the school grounds. Horst Tischer and his colleagues, all honorary, but voluntary, rangers with the Zambia Wildlife Authority, introduce us to the two armed full time ZWA Wildlife Police Officers who will accompany our further land-based adventures whilst on Zambian territory. To acknowledge their hospitality in accommodating our entire crew, the community head man is presented with a goat and a huge sack of maize meal whilst the school, mindful that any cash payment might possibly be viewed as corruption, are grateful to rather receive exercise books and pens for their pupils. The real walking in earnest will begin tomorrow.

24 hours on, and with the kind permission of Headmaster Chris Simulunda, I'm sitting using my laptop in teacher Stanley Mweengwe's classroom at the extremely rural Namukaba Basic School in Katombora in southern Zambia. Chris and his charming wife Grace are our hosts for tonight's camping stopover on our march towards Namibia's Skeleton Coast.. The intrepid team of eleven challenged contributors - as the BBC refers to them - have, on this third day, trekked some 15 kms through dense bushveld close to the banks of the mighty Zambezi, an early taste of the extraordinarily tough schedule that lies ahead. Indeed the stultifying humidity and heat of the rainy season here claimed its first casualty, when Pamela Hearne, totally deaf and at 64 the oldest participant chosen, passed out as a result of heatstroke caused by the simmering sun and a failure to take on enough fluids, as expedition doctor Mukul explained. He quickly set up a saline drip and after a sensible rest, whilst the others ate their lunch packs, Pam was able to carry on, albeit as a passenger in a donkey cart guided by the locals. Once evening camp was set, a local sangoma (medicine man) by name of Chrispine Mutanuka Mwanda, visited the contributors' campsite and displayed his various talents, be they construed as medicinal, magical or mystical.

Danny Cane, expedition leader Ken's right hand man, officially 1st assistant director, had some extra problems to solve in the morning when the support vehicles were halted by some incredibly thick mud, caused by the recent heavy, prolonged rains; but detours were quickly put into place and kept the whole show on the road, no mean feat considering that there are altogether 50 people and 11 support vehicles on the expedition. Both these southern regions of Zambia and the Caprivi area of north eastern Namibia have already enjoyed very plentiful rains since the beginning of the summer rainy season, with many places recording over 600 mm since early November. Indeed local Zambians are already saying that the rains so far received are the best for twenty years. The Chobe flood plains thus look set to severely test every single participant. Indeed the 24 km hike scheduled for today certainly put incredible pressure on every participant, by way of the harsh albeit beautiful terrain, the extreme physical exertion exacerbated by their diver's disabilities and the constant vigilance needed in respect of wildlife in this remote African bush. Would team bonding and the collective will to succeed be jeopardised by the need for the more mobile to assist those in wheelchairs or on crutches? Certainly some tears and harsh words were evident during this long day before camp was reached at Kazungula. But tomorrow the group will enter Namibia.

First a further hard rural trek before departing Zambia at the temporary border post on the banks of the Zambezi, then onwards along the river in small craft to check into Namibia at the Impalila Island immigration point before making camp out in the bush on the very banks of the Chobe River in the Kasika Conservancy. The next morning, prior to boarding the small skiffs provided, brings very necessary instruction on both the optimum method of paddling together with safety training regarding the very real threat the team faces from the hippos and crocodiles that frequent the local waters. And sadly too for the first time, the group loses one of its members, for Doc Mukul has now decided that Pam Hearne, the 64 year old who is totally deaf, must not - for the sake of her health - continue. So as a result of her debilitating heatstroke, which struck her down first two days earlier, the logistics team must now transport her across the flood plains to safety and civilisation. Flights with Air Namibia, firstly from Katima Mulilo to the capital Windhoek and then back on the direct UK flight will complete her evacuation. The documentary makers have an obvious duty of care to all the participants, and no major risk to a person's health and future well-being can or indeed will be tolerated over the coming weeks. The sweltering heat that these people with a disability at first encounter on the river is fortunately reduced by some welcome cloud cover. Almost at once though another very real threat materialises for a hippopotamus takes exception to the craft invading what it considers to be its territorial waters. A charge ensues and the hippo ducks under the water. Dangerous this, since now no sighting is possible. The two cohorts armed with rifles are at the ready, but happily the hippo is then seen to resurface some distance away. Crisis averted. The rest of the day passes without further alarming incident, but with wonderful sightings of local elephant and crocodile, albeit at a safe distance.

So it's reveille at 5 o'clock as usual, as week two begins. The team of disabled volunteers must wash, dress, prepare and eat breakfast, break down their camp and be ready to walk by 7 a.m. A gruelling day on the Chobe flood plains lies ahead, a hike of around 20 kms from the overnight camp on the banks of the Chobe river bank moving further inland within the Kasika conservancy. First stop Mbalasinte village, where it's not only pension day but also the local clinic day too. A huge storm doesn't dampen the interaction twixt walkers and the villagers. Peter McIver, who suffers from Turret Syndrome, soon has the ladies dancing; Kate and Heidi, both in wheelchairs, chat with a local guy who has lost both legs. Choleton Senior, a leg amputee himself, who has overcome his disability to work as a personal trainer, simply stands in the rain, arms aloft and all determination. Over the next few days, the team moves on further into the Caprivi passing through or near to the villages of Sionzo, Invilivisi, Ihaha, Nankalelwa, Kubula, Masikili and Ngoma - putting up campsites at the end of each day - during this unforgiving trek across the albeit spectacularly scenic flood plains, flanked on the southern side by the Chobe river and Botswana. The indigenous Caprivians, who will soon have to move themselves and any livestock to higher ground as the water levels increase, courtesy of the continuing rains both locally and in the Zambian catchment areas, are happy - on receipt of a little much needed income - provide the expedition team with competent local guides and even an oxen sled to carry some of their equipment along these soggy routes. Indeed the expedition has now to battle through some atrocious conditions, heavy rain and thick, cloying mud making any progress extremely difficult. Moreover, a large herd of buffalo, more elephant, and even the distant call of Chobe lions underline the need for constant vigilance and the permanent presence of Brian Bartlett, the expedition's own armed guide. Awareness of the capabilities of the disabled is surely reaching across Namibia now, raising their profile in line with the recent Cabinet directive that urges people in 2006 to be conscious of all their disabled counterparts.

At the halfway point of this mammoth trans Namibia expedition, the disabled team themselves, the production crew and the logistics guys all enjoyed a rest day in the Namutoni area of Etosha. An opportunity to charge batteries both physically and metaphorically, to clean bodies, clothes and equipment and to rest in preparation for first this pioneering, history making visit to Etosha and then for the arduous days that lie ahead in the mountains, river beds, plains and dunes of the Namib Desert and the Skeleton Coast. The team did unfortunately suffer a further casualty just two days ago, when Richie Bell-Bates was forced to quit the expedition and return home. Richie was born with no arms and has adapted brilliantly to lead a full and reasonably normal life. In his own words 'my feet have become my hands and I need to constantly both protect and look after them'; and so it was that the relentless pounding of the daily treks and more so the continually wet sand and mud encountered on the Chobe flood plains began to generate possible hygiene and longer term hazards to his feet and consequently to his well-being.

For the remaining nine contributors, their visit to Etosha has represented a landmark step. It seems that never before have a group been allowed to walk inside the national park; but this team of disabled volunteers, the very heartbeat of the Beyond Boundaries documentary series being filmed here with the intention of 'challenging preconceptions about what disabled people can and can't do', have now trekked for two consecutive days in the eastern part of the park, at times close to the famous salt pans. Certainly the Director of Parks and Wildlife, Mr Ben Beytell, and his Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) staff based at Etosha should certainly take huge credit for coordinating this pioneering and innovative event, which is most unlikely to be repeated. As Wolfgang Knoepfler, Line Producer for the Beyond Boundaries series, explains : 'I feel that the exceptional content of the documentary and its goal of both increasing awareness of disabled people and raising their profile in the public domain dovetailed perfectly with the recent Namibian cabinet directive to focus attention on the disabled sector in 2006, did most to convince senior officials in both the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and the Government that they should grant us permission to go ahead with this ground breaking walk.'

And so history was made. Immanuel Kapofi, the Namutoni area warden accompanied the team on both days together with five armed rangers and, of course the expedition leader, Ken Hames and the necessary camera and sound crews. Etosha, like nearly all the country, has profited from the recent good rains, and has the appearance of a veritably verdant pasture. With virtually every depression in the ground becoming a waterhole too, the wildlife viewed from the public roads in the park is presently less prolific than in the dry season, but the disabled walkers - by way of their route which at times followed private park tracks only used by game rangers - happily encountered some wonderful game on their walk. Besides springbok, wildebeest, zebra, kudu, ostrich, the expedition team walked alongside a huge herd of oryz near the off limits Mushara waterhole and then later came within a safe distance of some magnificent elephants. Heidi Thomas, a paraplegic who has needed to make use of a wheelchair since breaking her back in an accident three years ago, perhaps sums it up best: 'I felt privileged in the first place to be chosen for this expedition from a total of over 4000 applicants, but now to be able to become one of the first people ever to walk through this incredible park makes me feel even more honoured and fortunate. I have been so, so impressed by the whole of this awesome land, Namibia that I cannot wait to return here again'. It is to be hoped that this brave collection of people with a disability and the magnanimous gesture on the part of the Namibian authorities will together combine to bring the abilities of disabled folk very much more into the public domain.

This expedition of such epic proportions has now reached and must traverse the incredible Namib Desert. This desert is, according to many sources, the oldest tract of sand in the world and has been in existence for some eighty million years or so. Much of its remarkable biodiversity, which the expedition will encounter, is sustained by the advective fog that rolls in from the Atlantic, bringing moisture and sustenance to both flora and fauna in this hyper arid region. A flow of cold water, known as the Benguela current, hugs this western coastline and is responsible for the formation of these life giving advective fogs so important to the character of the desert that the disabled must now trek across ; the fog is formed when the air travelling over the warmer waters further offshore, with it's inherently higher evaporation rate, meets the cooler air above this chillier Benguela current, and these two air masses then rise where they meet the elevation of the land. This dry paradise is home to some extraordinary species, such as the Welwitschia Mirabilis fossil plant. A distant member of the pine family, it is endemic to this eco-region and can survive for over1500 years. Each plant has only two leaves but these can grow to measure several metres across. The male and female plants are pollinated by both wind and beetles that live in the same environment. Colourful examples of the extraordinary foliose and crustose lichens will be regularly spotted throughout the area too. On the dunes will be tok-tokkies, a type of tenebrionid beetle which has developed a fascinating method of obtaining water. They climb to the crest of a dune in the early morning and then turn towards the wind, letting the fog condense on their bodies. Then by literally doing a headstand, using their rear legs as support, they let these airborne droplets run down their backs and finally into a channel towards their mouths, which allows them to drink the water they need. Other beetles of this family are coloured white and yellow, research proving that their body temperatures are reduced by up to five degrees Celsius, another useful desert adaptation. There are some eight lizards and geckos endemic to the region, and several scorpions too, all of whom have adapted to their life in this harsh environment. Something the disabled must do now too, although all these wonders of nature will doubtless provide members of the team with opportunities to take their minds off the relentless and undoubted pain they will suffer during their monumental struggle through the Namib.

So the original eleven now number only nine, and now the team must first battle along the Hoanib and Mudorib river beds to access the gravel plains that will lead them to the Skeleton Coast, and the mighty sand dunes they must somehow cross to reach their goal, the Atlantic Ocean itself. Desert dwelling elephant, similarly adapted giraffe, oryx and springbok are all spotted in good numbers, but the one mammal in particular that is worrying expedition leader Ken Hames is the black rhino. He and professional guide Brian Bartlett have seen several fresh tracks very close to the route the disabled are following; by definition the black rhino, with its poor eyesight and reliance on excellent sensations of smell and hearing can be inclined to charge at any territorial disturbance that it senses. This very real threat of rhino in their path is causing Ken and Brian much concern. But with us now are four Himba tribes people, two men and two women; the team managed to hire them some days ago with the help of Jaco Burger. On his family farm near Kamanjab, Jaco - known as the white Himba - has developed a Himba village and 'adopted' many orphaned children who, along with several adults, are being taught modern farming and horticultural methods that will surely in time improve their lives. The Himbas are therefore deployed as both additional guides and more particularly - in what are their very homelands - as lookouts. For the time being Ken and Brian are both armed, in case of real emergency, but these weapons will have to be discarded upon entry to the proclaimed Skeleton Coast Park itself. A support vehicle, tracking well behind the intrepid walkers, does spot two rhino, but otherwise the party reach the Park without major incident. The terrain has been harsh and so different to the waterlogged Caprivi and the lush pastures of Etosha; for here in the Namib, the temperature climbs so, so rapidly every morning whilst both sandy river beds and rock-strewn gravel plains make progress uneasy in such a different way. The words of the Namibia Tourism Board (NTB) describing this country as 'the land of contrasts' can never have been more vividly demonstrated. Expedition leader Ken summed up this stage of the journey 'These animals are so unpredictable, and when taking a party of disabled people through the rhinos' home environment, uninvited, we have nowhere to hide. But by taking particular care and more so respecting this most fragile eco-system, we have achieved a safe passage'.

So eight of the original eleven contributors have indeed gone Beyond Boundaries. They proudly stand this afternoon on the very Skeleton Coast itself, where the ephemeral Uniab River runs into the Atlantic Ocean. This team of people with a disability have in the last few days crossed the considerable sea of sand dunes that rises majestically from the gravel plains of this awe-inspiring tract of land long since proclaimed as the Skelton Coast Park. Theses dune fields that arise from the gravel plains consist of captivating crescents of barchan dunes formed by the prevailing south westerly winds. These dunes move visibly, anything between two metres up to as much as 15 metres a year, this shift being caused by the wind picking up grains of sand from the dune's back slope and depositing them on the front face. The dunes invariably travel north east, the direction in which their formation always points. Words of praise are definitely due for John Paterson, Warden of the Park, who has accompanied the expedition since it crossed the Park boundary. His vast knowledge and experience have been invaluable whilst traversing this harsh paradise. Of the contributors who remained as the team entered the proclaimed area, Heidi Thomas, one of two paraplegics making use of a wheelchair on the expedition, was sadly evacuated after just twenty four hours inside the Park boundary, suffering from a potentially very serious and rapidly deteriorating pressure sore. She thus became the third member of this extraordinarily determined team that was forced to accept expert medical advice and realise that their future long term health and well-being could be perhaps severely compromised by continuing this most extreme of all journeys. Tim Sampolinski, an arm amputee, has since guided his seven remaining colleagues through the sand sea, mapping a route across some of these mighty dunes, direction coastline. At one stage he even exhorted his colleagues, all near exhaustion, with some simple but proud motivation: 'Come on guys, we can do it, we're hard now!'. On the bigger slip faces, 50 metres and higher, the team have used a rope, pulley and belay system to pull the wheelchairs, one now carrying just equipment, up the steep slopes of soft sand. Soon however, adrenalin, fuelled by the westerly sea breeze and their proximity to the coast, began to counter the massive fatigue brought on by this struggle through the dunes and the cumulative effects of weeks of tough expedition trekking and little sleep. Indeed a sense of euphoria was evident as the expedition members glimpsed distant sea water from a high dune ridge.

The end, 2000 kms from the starting point at the Victoria Falls was at last in sight, the territory here no longer being the preserve of the larger land-based mammals but instead of brown hyena and jackals, a few Oryx and Springbok, along with seals, dolphins and whales in the nearby Atlantic waters. Once again history has been made, for it seems that no group has ever been allowed to roam free and trek through these astonishing landscapes since the Skeleton Coast Park was first proclaimed. Many sage fellows see this area as one of the last remaining wilderness areas on the planet earth. In neighbouring South Africa, various areas of the Republic have already been designated as "Wilderness Areas", with these being protected in the country's legislation. A definition of wilderness - as applicable in South Africa, is therefore perhaps relevant to all undertaking this expedition : "Such an area is defined as uninhabited, having no lasting human structures, being large enough to give a feeling of solitude, have all human activities concealed from sight or hearing and not be 'managed' in any way." Ever mindful of this, both the expedition team themselves, the production crews and the logistical support personnel have been incredibly careful to preserve this pristine environment: indeed everything that was taken into the Park was taken out again and under John Paterson's superb and watchful guidance, no vehicle needed to leave the existing rangers' tracks. Nor, thanks to these eco-friendly practices, would any sign remain - long term - of the group's presence and trek across the park. But here on the shore - at the conclusion of this epic trek - the sea, in perpetual motion, seems to be roaring its support. How eerie though is the absolute desolation, the mist rolling furiously in from afar, the debris of nature lying untouched on the sand. The human brain is hard put to assimilate such a scene, to soak up the sound of silence, to understand this place where nothing is everything. The successful participants wander on virgin sand, taking in this stunning solitude. Many throw themselves happily into the surf, forgetting aching bodies and tired minds, knowing now only the euphoria of such an achievement.

Every single person on this expedition, from the participants, their chaperones and guides, the camera, sound and production crews to the logistics and support personnel feels that they have been hugely privileged to be take part in this ground-breaking journey, benefiting from the extreme munificence of the Ministry of Tourism and Environment (MET) in allowing access to areas of the Etosha National and Skeleton Coast Parks where ordinary folk have literally never set foot before. Perhaps this was indeed one of the truly great expeditions of modern times, harking back to the severity of the struggles of explorers in earlier times and even mirroring, in a small way, some of the movements of the Dorsland Trekkers long ago. A humbling, back to nature experience that will never be forgotten by all who took part. Expedition leader Ken Hames, whose experience and powers of motivation proved an inspiration indeed to this disabled group, summed up the whole trip thus : 'With the cataracts of the Zambezi now nearly 2000 kms distant, we arrived at the ultimate challenge. Our crossing of the Namib Desert encapsulated the spirit of this expedition. New ideas and new frontiers were forged in a land of great beauty and contrast, a land loved by its people and by those who visit. The oldest desert in the world took us to its heart, whilst the Himba with us blessed our journey. Out of the heat and the sand came new hope for this expedition of disabled people who will carry the spirit of Namibia to give inspiration to those less fortunate. Thank you Namibia'.

Most of all, Diverse TV now have the wherewithal - in the shape of this landmark documentary series Beyond Boundaries - to challenge the preconceptions that people hold of what the disabled can and cannot do; indeed to create mainstream awareness, worldwide, of the very real abilities of all people with a disability and the need for society to accept and accommodate them as the valuable assets they are. Thank you to both Namibia, where in 2006 the Cabinet is urging citizens to focus on people with a disability, and to the disabled themselves - together they make the world a better place.