The handling answer changes as he grows
A sulcata tortoise can be handled, but the real answer to this question depends entirely on which year of his life you are asking about. A hatchling fits in two hands and tolerates brief lifting much like any small tortoise. The same animal as an adult is among the largest tortoises in the world, a powerful, heavy grazer whose legs can push against a grip and whose weight makes a one-person carry a risk to his shell and to your back. Planning to handle a sulcata therefore means planning a transition: hands-on care while he is small, then a deliberate shift to interacting with him on the ground, in his own space, as the weight climbs.
Young sulcatas: brief and businesslike
While he is small enough to support fully, keep lifting short and purposeful: a move to his soak, a shell and leg check, a transfer to a secure outdoor grazing pen on a warm day. Use two hands under the shell, keep him level and low, and set him down promptly rather than extending the outing into a carry around the house. A few such lifts a week fit naturally into care, and ground-level time, such as sitting in his pen while he grazes toward an offered leaf, can happen daily. A young sulcata that is constantly picked up, passed around and photographed may stay tolerant, but he is not benefiting; security on the ground is what builds a confident grazer.
Adults: guide, do not lift
Once your sulcata is too heavy to lift without strain, handling becomes guiding. Use a favorite food to encourage him to walk where you need him, open gates ahead of him, and let him load himself onto a sturdy board or into a large wheeled container for the rare occasions he truly must be moved, with enough adults helping. Health checks happen where he stands: watch his gait across the yard, look at shell, eyes and nostrils while he eats, and weigh him with a platform rather than hoisting him onto a scale. Attempting a solo lift of a large adult risks a dropped tortoise and a cracked shell, which is a genuine emergency, not a minor mishap.
Trust at ground level
The reward for giving up lifting is that sulcatas are highly food-motivated and often become bold, personable grazers who follow their keeper around the enclosure. Sit at his level, hand-feed part of his greens, and let him choose to approach and to leave. Respect the strength even in friendliness: a large sulcata walking determinedly through a fence line, a garden gate or your ankles is not being aggressive, just built like a bulldozer, so supervise time with children carefully and keep toes out of his direct path. Hissing on approach, persistent withdrawal, limping, or a change in appetite call for a husbandry check and a reptile vet rather than attempts to socialize the problem away.
His care instructions will need rewriting several times across his growth, and everyone helping needs the current version rather than the hatchling rules they remember. In KinsLe, Care Teams lets you retire the old two-hand lifting task as he gains weight, replace it with guided-move and two-helper tasks, and keep each version of his routine in one place the whole household follows.