Accessibility

At Go Ape, we take pride in sharing our activities with as many people as possible. We’re all about creating adventures and encouraging everyone to live life adventurously. All our courses are designed to be accessible, but they do offer a degree of physical and mental challenge. This may mean that additional equipment, adjustments to our training and/or levels of supervision will be required for safe participation. And, for some, the residual risks of injury may still be too great despite the implementation of additional measures, preventing their safe use of the course.

 

If you think you'll need additional support during your adventure, it’s really important that you let us know as soon as you can. We want you to get the most out of your time with us. If you’ve booked already, please give us a call on 01603 895500, or email [email protected]. 

 

If you haven't booked yet but would like to run a few accessibility questions by us, we’d be happy to talk things through. You can email us any time or swing by the cabin at your chosen location. Just let us know when you're planning to pop by.

 

For reference, here are a few examples of when groups, families, individuals, teams or charities have needed additional support or guidance to help them get the most out of their tree-time! Where additional companions are utilised to enhance a customer’s experience or make it easier to access, these participants can be provided free of charge. Please see location specific activity pages for further details.

 

Carer's Tickets

Carers' tickets/discounts are available for Go Ape adventures. If a supervising adult is not required to participate per our activity restrictions, please call our customer service team on 01603 895500 to discuss your requirements and book your free carers ticket. 
 
If a supervising adult is required to participate under our activity restrictions, please call us on 01603 895500, and we will apply an accessibility discount of 10% for you.

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  HEARING IMPAIRMENT

  Our pre-activity safety briefs can be communicated using visual aids and simple adjustments but, it is important that you give us as much notice as possible to ensure these are in place. For instance, some larger groups may like or need to bring signers/ translators or hearing companions. We are very happy to discuss your requirements as Go Ape does not have in-house translators. Please view our subtitled and translated BSL safety brief films at the bottom of this page prior to attending one of our courses.

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  VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

  Depending on the severity of the participants visual impairment, you may need up to 2 additional companions to help assist you through the course. Especially on self-belay courses, sighted participants need to accompany visually impaired participants to ensure safe connection to the safety system and safe negotiation of the obstacles and activities. The level of this additional sighted support will depend on a number of factors including the degree of impairment and whether there are any under 16-year old’s in your group. Please contact us to discuss this further.

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  LIMB DIFFERENCE

  If you are able to climb a rope ladder unaided you should be fine to take part. However, the security of prosthetics at height and during zip landings needs to be considered. With sufficient advance notice we can make adjustments at site to facilitate safe progress and zip landings.

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  MENTAL HEALTH & LEARNING DIFFICULTIES

  Depending on the participants, up to 2 additional companions may be needed to assist throughout the course. If a participant is unable to remain attentive for the training and then apply what they have learned on the session, then the activity may not be suitable for them. Consideration must be taken for any participants that are under prescribed medication and whether this could affect their conduct on the course. We are happy to chat through requirements.

To make your adventure tremendous we cannot stress enough how important it is to contact us well in advance. The more notice we have, the better we will be able to make adjustments to our system and staffing to be able to accommodate you and your party and arrive at the best possible experience. For example, groups with additional needs may prefer to come on quieter days when you will have more time to complete the course without being closely followed by others.

All of our activities require a certain level of physical and mental ability. All participants are given training in the use of safety equipment and systems prior to taking part in the activity. It is vital that all customers are able to understand this training and apply it throughout the activity, especially when not under direct supervision. The reason why this is so important is that failure to follow the safety instructions and advice could result in serious injury or death.

TREETOP CHALLENGE

Participants are required to interpret a safety brief that lasts in excess of 30 minutes at the end of which all participants are required to understand how to stay safe and the consequences of not following the strict safety rules and advice. There is also varied communication from members of staff throughout the adventure. Participants will need to be able to climb a number of rope ladders, attach karabiners to the safety system or manoeuvre safety system trolleys, cross obstacles and run into landing zones at the bottom of zip wires.

TREETOP ADVENTURE

Participants will need to understand the safety rules and advice, be physically able to cross obstacles, manoeuvre safety system trolleys and run into landing zones at the bottom of zip wires.

FOREST SEGWAY

All participants must be able to stand unaided for the full hour of the session and interpret a safety brief that lasts up to 15 minutes. Participants are also required to control the Segway and follow the instructor’s line and other instructions, usually hand signals after the initial safety brief. Whilst the machine balances itself it cannot be used as a support for the rider. All riders must be able to maintain three points of contact with the Segway whilst riding.

ZIP TREK ADVENTURE

Participants are required to interpret a safety brief that lasts up to 30 minutes. Participants are also required to walk 1 km up a hill to a point where they will be driven for 10 minutes to the start of the adventure. After this point participants will need to follow instructions given by staff and walk between the various zip wires.

RISK ASSESSMENT

The staff at Go Ape are not medically qualified and not in a position to assess the capacity of participants who may require additional support to undertake the activity. It remains your responsibility to undertake an assessment of the risks involved prior to participating. We are more than happy to assist you in your assessment and make recommendations where necessary when you get in touch. Go Ape may however refuse or stop any participants that do not meet our minimum safety requirements.

Before you enjoy your adventure at Go Ape you can watch safety briefs for Treetop Challenge, Treetop Adventure and Forest Segway which have been subtitled and translated by a BSL Interpreter in conjunction with our friends at Enhance the UK.