24 Oasis Overland tour reviews shared by other travellers

I returned home from this incredible trip about 3 months ago and I'm STILL missing the fun and excitement we experienced. If I had the chance, I would do it all over again. For safe, fun, well-organised and good-value overseas travel, Oasis Overlanding is definitely the way to go. Our guide, Derek, was extremely knowledgeable, competent and organised and really brought the group together with his fantastic personality and sense of humour. His interaction with the locals was compassionate and heart-warming and we were lucky enough to be given the opportunity to meet several local communities and get involved with them in lots of different ways. Derek really put his own individual stamp on our tour and if/when I go on another Oasis Overland trip, I would make sure he was my guide again. The truck was really comfortable and had plenty of room for all our gear. The tents were very roomy and kept the mozzies out and the excellent kitchen/dining facilities made cooking and eating out under the stars a nightly highlight. The itinerary was well thought out and had something for everyone. Definite highlights were trekking to the Mountain Gorillas, white-water rafting the mighty Nile, safaris in the Serengeti and seeing the Great Migration, snorkeling and sunset cruises on Zanzibar (quite possibly one of the most beautiful places on earth), walking with lion cubs, game viewing on elephant and horseback, gorge-swinging and microlight flights over Victoria Falls, the list goes on! Our group included some of the friendliest and funniest people I have ever met – people I now call great friends and will hopefully meet again in the future. I will never forget my 2 months in Africa and out of our entire 12-month overseas trip, it was easily the best part.

Had the most amazing adventure holiday. Looking back I met some wonderful people that have now become life long friends and had a great tour leader, who was an elf and not a leprechaun! And the drivers on trip, Nathan, an absolute legend endured from severe back problems and still drove us to our destinations on time while enduring a hell of a lot pain (really appreciate it dude, hope you get better!). And Charles, the happiest man alive! I felt like a kid again, especially doing press ups in the most awkward places when you mention MINE (Ten Pressups!) :)and Karaoke every night, Derek is a karaoke machine! I saw every animal under the sun, even witnessing a leopard kill in the wild, glared at the most amazing African sunrises and sunsets I have ever seen, met amazing local people and done some of the most action packed stuff, skydiving being a particular highlight (Great times!)... I miss the truck (Stiffler), I miss the group and I miss the adventure of Africa. Thanks Oasis, cheers Derek, Nathan, Charles and the Gang for a once in a lifetime trip! :)

Stay away from Oasis!! They provided the worst travel experience ever. The guide was worthless and made it clear that she didn't care about the countries or the local culture, she was afraid of the local people and didn't know how to interact with them or her customers. She was rude, incompetent and unprofessional. The trip was a fiasco from the beginning. I have never seen worse customer service and I have never been so embarrassed travelling as when I had to be part of her group. This was a waste of time and money!! Stay away from Oasis Overland!

I did the Coast to Coast from Nairobi to Cape Town, finishing during the Worldcup and I don't regret one single moment of it! The trip is good value for the money, there are plenty of optional excursions so you can pick whatever you want. It's a good combination of nature, culture and party. All countries are different but they all offer some really special things to see and do. I especially loved the fact that Oasis brought back Zimbabwe into their trips, it's by far the most beautiful African country! We saw plenty of trucks (busses) from other overland companies and every time I was happy I picked Oasis! Driver Steve and tourleader Iain were amazing, in all possible ways! It's true that they loved to party with us, but they were also responsible and extremely helpful too. Without them the trip wouldn't have been so good! Also the contact with the Oasis people in the office was great, they helped out with preparing for the trip wherever they could! I highly recommend this trip to anyone who wants to meet Africa and it's people in a laid back vibe with great people. I can't wait to travel with OAsis again!

My first overland trip, and did not disappoint. Four months on the road in South America with a fantastic group and great crew whose local knowledge and overlanding know-how was matched only by their enthusiasm, which seemed to spread to the rest of the group. As for Oasis, the standard of the transport, meals and accommodation is as good as, if not better, any I have seen from other overland companies. I cannot understand, therefore, just why they are so much cheaper. I can only assume they are less profit-driven than other companies, and that they manage to somehow make the money go further. I think it speaks volumes that last year (2009) I had no hesitations whatsoever in travelling with Oasis again in Africa, and would travel with them wherever they decided to run trips in the future. Overall, I really cannot speak of them highly enough.

Great value trip from Nairobi to Cape Town. Well laid out truck (bench seat face-to-face style, rather than coach style seats). Plenty of storage space. Good itinerary, including via Zimbabwe rather than most companies which go via Zambia. Good choice of excursions. Let down by weak tour leadership (friendly enough, but poor organisation) and too much group drinking sessions (including tour leader), but this may have just been this particular group (who otherwise were great company and made good friendships post-trip). Overall though, definitely recommended.

If you are thinking of traveling through Egypt I would highly reccommend using Oasis Overland. We had a fantastic time on our 10day tour and we were well looked after. The pyramids and sphynx in Cairo are amazing but be prepared to be harrased by locals wanting to sell you something. Don't be fooled nothing is for free in Egypt! Except as it turns out the sea sick tablets which we were offered on our hydrofoil trip to Dahab! The temples in Luxor were really fantastic our mini hike from the valley of the kings over to the valley of the workers gave us an amazing view of the weaving nile river. Dahab is a must, you don't have to get fully geared up and dive with tanks. We spent 3hrs snorkling amongst the most beatiful and colourful coral and fish I have ever seen. Just majic. Makes the long bus ride between Dahab and Cairo worth it!

I went on the Gorillas and Gameparks trip in July 2009 which was 19 days in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. I have nothing but praise for Oasis who delivered a fantastic trip on a budget. I would describe it as more of an adventure than a holiday but I imagine that is a reflection of overlanding in Africa in general! Oasis is for you if you're looking for an operator who skimps on the luxuries but not on the essentials. The truck was in excellent condition, the tents were hardy and roomy (though they did leak a bit on the one occasion that it rained really hard!), the cooking equipment was good quality and the seating area on the truck was well set out. The music system was a little flaky and often cut out when we went over a particularly big pothole but really it wasn't much of a problem! The itinerary was great and we only had about three really long driving days, but you're never going to eliminate this when trying to cover such huge distances. Every evening there was a different cook group on duty (groups of three decided by the group leader at the start of the trip) and this worked out fine. The cook group also went shopping with the group leader to help buy food for dinner. There were some really early mornings but that means you reach your destination quicker. The group leader was fantastic; did all the hard work at border crossings, was very knowledgeable about where to go shopping etc, and generally looked after us very well without being too much of a school teacher! The driver was great too; always got us safely from A to B and helped out when needed. If I have one criticism it is that there isn't enough food! But then I have a big appetite. And it was Africa where food is often hard to come by. There was plenty for dinner but not enough for breakfast and often not enough for lunch. Often it was possible to buy snacks along the way and I would recommend grabbing these whenever you can. Oasis has a strict food budget to keep the price of the trip down but I would have gladly paid extra for a bigger breakfast! We went to some truly magical places and I have only fantastic memories, so I can thoroughly recommend Oasis!

It was my first Africa trip, i booked it on the spur of the moment. How good was it ....... Good enough that 7 years later i see an opportunity to write a review and its still fresh enough in my memory to do so. Oasis were first class i have been on 2 shorter, but more expensive trips since then. Oasis did not do trips that short so i was forced to book with another company. Oasis were light years better. Everything in the brochure was exactly as it happened. Nothing was hidden. No secret extras. The staff were helpful beforehand and the 2 trip staff were great. I have recommended Oasis to friends and they have agreed. A great company.

This was my third Oasis Overland trip and I have to say that I was extremely disapointed. This trip had the potential to be the best of their catalogue but was let down due to a lack of information provided and professionalism from the tour leader and driver. I have come to expect a high standard from Oasis Overland and this was not the case for this trip. The tour leader and driver had not done the leg from Santiago to Rio De Janeiro so had little information to provide. It also seemed that the notes provided by the previous leader and driver were insufficient and at times completely misleading. Oasis have been doing this trip for a number of years and I would expect much more information to be at hand. We travelled in Parallel with a number of other budget overland trucks and more often than not got our information from the tour leaders from these trucks. Two in particluar were more than helpful even though they new we were on a competitors truck. These were Kamuka and Budget. To make things worse the tour leader and driver on Oasis had no or little time for the passengers and seemed unwilling to help or provide information when asked. They were more interested in getting to the next destination as quick as possible so they could start drinking again. The redemming factors of the trip were the Inca trail and Machu Picchu which is spectacular, the down hill mountain biking on the most dangerous road in the world in Bolivia, the condors at Colca Canyon, Piranha fishing in the Pantanel in Brazil and the Vilcarra Volcano climb. Basically being on the truck sucked but the activities and sites were amazing. This trip finished in Rio in Brazil and by this time a number of the passengers had had enough and agreed the trip couldn't have ended soon enough. Rio completely took our mind off the trip and we had the best party of our lives. If you are looking for the biggest and best party atmosphere in the world, make the effort and travel to Rio for Carnaval. It would be my suggestion that if you were thinking about doing South America, do an organised tour between Quito and Santiago, as these countries are much proorer, more dangerous and harder to travel between. Then travel the rest independantly. From Chile right through to Brazil it is easy and safe to travel and would not work out to be that much more expensive if at all. However if you are going to do an organised tour all the way, I would NOT use Oasis for this tour but would highly consider either Kamuka or Budget.