What is 'overlanding'?
Overlanding, as the name would suggest, is about exploring the world whilst crossing as little water as possible. But it is so much more than that – overlanding is a travel philosophy where the journey is the focus, not the destination.
Our custom-designed overland trucks travel regularly travel two thirds of the way around the world, they are designed to allow us to get off the beaten track, and to carry everything with us that we need – from the fridge to the kitchen sink. But we don’t sacrifice style or comfort and have taken the rough edges off overlanding. The crew really climbing in and do many of the tasks that on normal overland journeys would keep you busy while you want to be off exploring the sights or chilling in a street side cafe. Yep you still need to help out but that’s all part of the fun!
We camp about 50% of the time on our London to Australia and more on the Africa trips which offers us a huge amount of freedom to go off and explore. When we are not camping we use a mix of hotels and small family run guesthouses. Even if you have not done a lot of camping before (or even none for that matter!) you will find that done right, camping can be comfortable, and many of our former expedition members have found it to be a highlight of the journey as we get away from the crowds, enjoy amazing meals cooked over an open fire or the gas cooker, and have the chance to sit around and relax, maybe swapping stories of our recent or past travels, and enjoying the camaraderie of travelling in a group of like-minded people.
This is small group travel (with up to 22 people on each trip), but no packaged tour. While we all travel from place to place together, the way the trips run give everyone the opportunity to make the journey their own, and allow the expedition members the freedom to do the things that most interest them. We give you all the information and useful tips that we have pickup over the years and you head off and explore. The group normally divides up into groups with similar interests. Typically, for some, museums have a huge draw - for others there is nothing worse! With our style of trip you get to choose and are not part of a group following a guide around all the time. That said, for some places a guide is really required – eg. to understand the history or to not get lost on a mountain trek. We have many old friends along our routes who love to guide and explain the wonders of their country. In many of the countries they will travel with us the whole time we are in their country, really letting us experience the true nature of the destination.
Is
Overlanding right for you?
Do you want to really get out and see
the world, to experience cultures and places that are off the beaten
track? Do you have a sense of adventure? Are you up for anything
and willing to get involved? Do you have a reasonable level of
fitness (although the trip can be as active or passive as you make
it!)? Lastly does the thought of following a heap of other similar
tours all doing the same thing along the same beaten track make
you want to stay back home? If so, it sounds like Odyssey Overlanding
is right for you!
So come Overlanding with us for an incredible journey of discovery, this is no packaged holiday!