All Tours Operated By Oasis Overland

Reviews of Oasis Overland Tours

• Craig2 Mar, 2024

  4

  Be warned this is a bare bones tour where Oasis provides transportation, a way to group prepare food and money for that food when not in town (but no refrigeration and a tight budget), and minimal accomodations. You will normally stay in dorm rooms, often with people not traveling with you, or stay in gas station parking lots in provided tents, some that leaked. While included activities are included, they are few. Optional and other activities are the responsibility of the passengers to locate and book themselves. Accomodations aren't always in town. An example is where the description talks about Devil's Island and the European Spaceport, the only Oasis affordable accommodation in Kourou was a campground 20 km out of town in a town famous for few taxis. So it was next to impossible to visit both of them without 'leaving the truck' for several days and finding our own transportation and own more expensive accomodations. Which some of us did. We lucked out on Kaieteur Falls because we just happened to have the right number of passengers who wanted to go in order to charter a flight and one of the passengers was willing to organize it. But don't count on seeing the falls unless you 'leave the truck' for many days to catch a scheduled flight with enough passengers. In the future I will likely take busses and book my own accomodations to save money and see more. Or go on all inclusive tours. Some people really like the forced social interaction on a budget and some liked they didn't have to think about the transportation or accomodations, only the rest for a bit more cost than self travel. This trip is for them.

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  Rio To Manaus Via The Guianas (57 Days)
• Narnie0528 Mar, 2019

  5

  I went on the 56 day Coast to Coast Trip from Nairobi to Cape Town. I’ve written more detail on three sections. The Tour Leaders: Kim (Tour Leader) and Often (Driver) were AMAZING! These two went above and beyond in all aspects. Having done this route several times, Kim was a wealth of knowledge & very informative. It will be a huge loss to Oasis as this was her last trip as a tour leader. Often was always happy, smiling, cheerful & asked us how we were going every morning. Kim & Often volunteered to cook multiple meals for us (which is not part of their job) even if it meant them getting up at the crack of dawn to make sure we could all sleep in for longer. Often was incredibly handy and was always happy to help fix anything ranging from air mattresses to tent poles and sunglasses without expecting anything in return. The Route: I was happy with the route and felt that Oasis went at a steady pace. It wasn’t too rushed and for most places we were able to spend at least 2 nights and enjoy each place. My only complaints were the 5 hour immigration wait and $50USD visa fee for Mozambique when we spent less than 24 hours there (we drove through on the truck) and didn’t get to see much of the country. As Mozambique is notorious for the difficult land border crossing, it would be nice to spend at least 2 -3 nights there and make it worth the time & money. The other part that I really disliked was the unnecessary 14 hour overnight train ride to Vic Falls. It made no sense to me that I had to spend a sleepless night on a train when the truck was driving to Vic Falls anyway. The train ride was not at all enjoyable or scenic. The truck would have made it there a lot quicker & we could have had a restful night at camp. I enjoyed the majority of places we visited. Just bear in mind that doing an overland trip means everything is organised for you and most of the optional activities have a touristy element to them (especially the village tours). It makes it difficult to immerse yourself in true African culture when you’re on a tour like this. But doing an overland is the best way to see Africa. To try and travel on your own would be difficult and dangerous. The Truck: I’m not going to lie. Being one of the first overloading companies in Africa, the Oasis truck at times feels like it is from the Stone Age. The seating arrangement has its pros & cons and will vary depending on what you like. The storage space is massive! At times I found the sideways seating very handy when we spotted something and everyone got the opportunity to look out. On the other hand, I found it hard to see out the window sitting down (because you only see the people opposite you and their heads) and the only way to see properly is if you turn around and stand up or kneel on your seat. That can get tiring after a while. I prefer to sit facing forwards and get a good view out the window. The majority of companies these days use electric fridges. Unfortunately Oasis still has eskies where the passengers are responsible for buying ice. There were times where it was not possible to get ice, so sometimes we’d have food for cook groups that wasn’t properly refrigerated & warm drinks (which is not nice at the end of a 38 degree day!) Because of the truck layout the two eskies along with everyones backpacks etc. are scattered in the middle which makes it difficult for people to walk up and down the truck. Oasis doesn’t provide bedding, so make sure you bring a comfortable mattress. I enjoyed the fact Oasis has their passengers cook & prepare meals in groups, it made for a great atmosphere and the majority always pitched in to help out! Food was good for the most part and I didn't get sick for the whole trip! All in all, I loved my African overland with Oasis and I’d definitely travel with them again. Highly recommend!

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  Nairobi To Cape Town (56 Days) Coast To Coast
• hayley25 Dec, 2022

  5

  What a trip of a lifetime! Strongly recommend traveling Africa with Oasis - it was a truly unforgettable experience! I did the 75 day Nairobi to Cape Town trip with on average about 13 people. I’m so glad I did the entire route as it really gave you the chance to experience the diversity of Africa. It felt a bit tiring towards the end but I have no regrets. If you did want a shorter trip I would recommend Nairobi to Nairobi or Nairobi to Vic Falls - although Namibia is AMAZING! The truck itself is great - the line of seats down both sides of the truck are perfect for ensuring you socialise with everyone and relationships don’t get too cliquey. Great way to play card/board games, sleep and admire the amazing views. I sometimes get car sickness and it didn’t happen at all on the truck! The truck had UK charging points, drink bottle holders and speakers to plug music in which were all very handy! My tour leaders were Often and Alexis. Often was the most amazing guide you can imagine! After 75 days on the trip I learnt that there was nothing he couldn’t do! He was so helpful with fixing anything that broke - air mattress, zips, tyres etc not to mention helping with a million other things - when he saw you struggling to fit your tent into its bag, making his famous garlic bread for your cook group etc. He cooked the most delicious food! He always ensured his beloved truck was in perfect working order. He was so open in sharing his life experiences and ensured we fell in love with Africa just as he had. Essentially, the trip would have been very different without him. Like Often, Alexis has been doing this route for years and it showed. She was very organised - with the days and border crossings always going smoothly. She was great at making sure if there was a specific African meal or something we wanted to see that wasn’t in the itinerary we would get to experience it! Alexis was also really helpful when it came to meal times. The food cooked by Alexis and Often was some of the tastiest meals I’ve ever had! So yummy! Being in a cook group can be a bit of a pain but it’s a great way to get to know everyone, learn new recipes, have some laughs and foster that family feeling. I spent a lot more money than I thought I would but you’re only in Africa once (hopefully more)! There are a lot more atms available than what the info Oasis provide states. You also don’t need as much USD as it implies as you do end up using local currencies in the countries you’re in. For me, I had a tonne of USD so I just exchanged it at the borders and rarely used an atm. In saying that, having too much USD actually worked out well as some people didn’t bring enough so I was able to help them out. There will be supermarket/grocery store stops about every 3 days too so there is no need to bring all your toiletries etc. The tents, dorms etc were absolutely fine! Tents are really quick to put up and down and are comfortable. There are upgrades available and a few of us always took a dorm room if it was less than $8. My number one tip is to buy a pillow at the start of the trip - you won’t regret it! Bring a spare set of headphones and flip flops because so many of us lost or broke both! Don’t worry about over packing - you get a lot of space to store your things. I’d also recommend bringing binoculars for all the game drives - we were always fighting over who got to use the two that we had! Do both of the village walks in Malawi and make sure you go down the slide in Jinja! Overall, it was just the most amazing trip. I have travelled quite a lot but never seen and experienced a place like Africa and I’ll always be so thankful for the memories and friends I now have.

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  Nairobi To Cape Town (76 Days) Grand Adventurer