Never underestimate the ingenuity of the human population. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and that seems to be the driving force behind the Safari Seat, an all-terrain gear-driven wheelchair built in Kenya for people with limited mobility to get around. Most wheelchairs are optimized for paved sidewalks and building hallways, but living in the African countryside doesn’t exactly afford wheelchair users a lot of paved and level paths. YouTuber JerryRigEverything went to Kenya to test out the wheelchair and visit the factory where they are produced. It’s truly a marvelous work of simple engineering problem solving.
Most hand-propelled wheelchairs simply provide a grab surface on the face of the large side wheel as the main source of propulsion. From a seated position you can grab on and shove the wheel to move forward or backward, or execute turns. Wheelchairs have been widely used since their invention in 1595, though the design of modern chairs can be traced back to 1901. There hasn’t been a lot of progress on the basic design front since then. The Safari Seat changes all that with what amounts to a ground-up rethink.
As you can see in the video, the Safari Seat uses gear-driven hand cranks to propel the seat forward at a 2:1 ratio, like gearing down your bicycle. Not only does this make moving the chair an easier proposition, but it means you never have to take your hand off the wheel to reposition and grab another handful. That’s particularly helpful for when you’re climbing uneven surfaces.
The design is pretty rudimentary, with a pair of cushions sitting over a welded bar stock frame. These enterprising Africans are pushing forward to create a better world for the folks who need it, and using what limited resources they have to get the job done. Considering the whole thing can be built using about $350 in materials is pretty cool, and if you’re so inclined, you can support The Accessibility Institute’s goal of giving these away for free to those who need them by sponsoring a Safari Chair or a Safari Kid build of your own.
