In 1997, myself (Chris Wrede) and Steve Crowhurst, both having worked for other overland and adventure tour operators, decided the time was ripe to start our own overland venture. Between us we managed to scrape together enough money to fund the building and equipping of one and a half overland trucks. So we bought our first truck, D650 NOX (affectionately known as ‘Noxy’ among other names, by over 1000 travellers before we retired her in 2009)

and completed building her in an old WW2 aircraft hanger near Cirencester in March 1998 I drove her out to Turkey to start her first trip in April that year, a 5 week ‘Oasis Caravan’ overland tour from Istanbul to Cairo. Noxy remained in the Middle East doing return trips for many years.

Back in the UK, Steve had purchased our second truck. By re-investing all the money we had earned from our first few Caravan trips in the Middle East, we had completed building it by June 1998 and had our first Africa overland truck. This ran a Nairobi to Cape Town overland trip and in March 1999 our next new truck ran our first Trans Africa Expedition. From here on we slowly built the company, putting ‘Frida’ our first overland vehicle into South America in 2001.

Since those early days we have continued to grow and find new areas to take intrepid travellers, with Central Asia being the latest region on the Oasis map. Now based in Henstridge on the Somerset/Dorset border, we have a streamlined office with a small team of dedicated, knowledgeable staff consisting of past travellers and crew. We continue to build our own custom built overland trucks in our workshops and maintain them to high standards of safety and quality both here in the UK, whilst out on the road and at our base in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Oasis Crew

Our crew have gained considerable knowledge and experience of travelling even before they join us. They have a passion and an enthusiasm for their work and for the countries and places we visit.

Except in exceptional circumstances, on our Overland Adventures & Ultimate Expedition trips, all vehicles have a crew of two (Driver and Tour Leader). Our Regional Explorer trips are run with one Tour Leader.

Their experience and knowledge will enable you to get the most out of your trip and to have an unforgettable experience. Their roles are many and varied and include amongst other things, maintaining the truck throughout the trip, organising group activities and bookings, managing trip funds, overseeing group rosters, organising border crossings and permits, organising the day to day running of the trip and passing on general information to the group. However, Oasis crew are not guides as such, so do not expect them to hold your hand every step of the way - get out and experience things for yourself, read the guide books, get lost in markets, meet the local people and talk to them - it’s all part of the experience!