Adventure Travel: Disabled Brazilians in Nepal
A group of physically disabled Brazilians traveled to Nepal, and did water rafting on a Class IV river, two days biking, and air ballooning at an altitude of 3500 meters. The "Challenge of Attitude" was the idea of Dr. Manoel Morgado, who is non-disabled and dropped everything to travel around the world. He first traveled to Nepal 17 years ago. In 1995, on a trip to the capital Kathmandu, he met a group of people with disabilities from the US. "They had gone trekking. That opened my mind and I wanted to form a Brazilian group to take there," he says.
Two years later, nine people with disabilities, seven amputees and two paraplegics, took on the adventure, among them Ranimiro Lotufo, who lost a leg while hang-gliding, businessman Edson Passafaro, who had already done extreme sports, and Lois Neubauer, owner of an adventure magazine and one of the founders of a sports program for disabled children. People who had never imagined having that sort of experience also participated, like a doctor who didn't even know how to swim. "It was the greatest adventure of my life," concludes Ranimiro.
The group went rafting and slalom canoeing on the Kali Gandaki River, which was chosen due to its proximity to beautiful beaches. Along with water sports, the group also did mountain biking, basketball, hang gliding and air ballooning. The return trip to Pokhara was made via bicycle by some, who enjoyed the variety of the Nepalese landscape. They could see the far-away snow-capped mountains, but the trip was full of greenery. At the end of the adventure, seated on elephants, the Brazilians toured the Chitwan National Park, a showcase preserve for the region's great variety of flora and fauna.
Manoel's newest plan involves a bicycle trek for 24 days on a course that varies in altitude from 2000 to 5600 meters, on the highest road in the world. This time, participants will be selected by the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, since only very experienced cyclists will be able to take the trip.
Full story available (in Portuguese) online at: http://cf5.uol.com.br/webventure/aventurabrasil/index.cfm?u=mostra_not.cfm&ID=720022262
|
