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Blind courage of man who took on jungle trek
Intrepid adventurer overcomes sight loss PUSHING a wheelchair up the steep slopes of a Nicaraguan volcano was just another one of life's challenges for Amar Latif. Andrew Robinson
The30-year-old,from Leeds, lost his sight 10 years ago as a student in Glasgow due to a degenerative disease of the retina.
He had suffered from the condition since his late teens but the inevitable outcome was nonetheless traumatic when it came.
But he refused to give in and after completing his maths, statistics and finance degree, took off all over the world including Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
His most recent adventure has been to Nicaragua where he and a small group of disabled people were challenged to cross the country.
They were allowed little more than tents, a braille compass, water purifying tablets, and an SAS veteran to advise them on the expedition, captured on film.
The result is due to be screened by the BBC in the autumn under the working title, Beyond Boundaries.
He said: "It was a bit of a shock, realising I could not do what I used to do. I was not going to go down the road of feeling sorry for myself. It was a challenge of working out how I was going to get round it. I believe that in life you have to play the best that you can with the cards you have been dealt."
He added: "Nicaragua was one of the hardest challenges I have ever faced. We crossed 200 miles in 40 degrees heat."
The coast-to-coast trek also included a yacht trip over a shark-infested lake.
To make matters worse he found himself as chief wheelchair-pusher.
"I pushed it through bogs and over logs. I had to push a guy up the side of a volcano," he said. "The programme explores the levels of endurance attainable by travellers of various disabilities."
The experience has given the qualified management accountant renewed confidence to organise his own adventure trips for blind and partially-sighted travellers.
He said there were few customised holidays available for visually impaired people and they had to plead for 'special case' consideration.
Traveleyes offers discounted trips to sighted travellers in return for them acting as guides.
Blind travellers, he said, should not be made to feel they are "tagging along".
"Our blind and sighted travellers are empowered to venture beyond boundaries, defy restrictions and grasp a real sense of independence and fulfilment," he said.
Ring Traveleyes on 08709 220 221 or visit www.traveleyes.co.uk. Sighted and blind travellers are needed for trips to Andalucia, Malta and Morocco.
andrew.robinson@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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