About us and our Expeditions
We are a private organisation based in the UK. Karen Brown and myself, William Thomson, are a couple in our 30's and for the last 10 years we have been organising and running overland trips in North, Central and South America, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australia. Many of these years was spent working together for an established overland company setting up new routes and running exploratory trips ranging from 3 to 30 weeks in length but for the last few years we have been conducting our own successful Exploratory Overland Expeditions.
The experience of working for established companies has of course been invaluable, but we have always had our dreams of driving farther across the deserts and deeper into the jungles which is why we decided to set up on our own and run expeditions that get a little bit more off the beaten track and visit those unusual and exotic locations. Our expeditions truly are adventures!
Our
first expedition was from London to Sydney, an idea conceived a few
years ago when we were running a trip from London to Kathmandu. Looking
at the world map made us realise that this really would be the ultimate
trip of a lifetime as it covers such diverse regions, and from there
the planning started…
We now run numerous expeditions in various parts of the world and
every year we try and add on a trip that has never been done before.
It is important to realise that we run these trips because we love
travelling and you will find our expeditions are not 'run of the mill'
tours. With us you will be considered an ‘Expedition Member’,
not a passenger on an organised overland tour.
These truly are ‘expeditions’ so full participation is expected and
we will all have to work together, and at times, work hard in difficult conditions,
to get to our end destination. You will not be ‘led’ around
on our expeditions – your participation will be a key factor to the enjoyment
and success of the expedition!
The workload is split equally amongst all of us, regardless of age or sex, so
expect to be participating in cook groups, truck cleans, truck security, collecting
firewood, navigating, digging the truck out and sand matting (if we get
stuck) etc. Every body must be prepared to pull their own weight as this
is what our expeditions are all about. So don’t book on our Expeditions
if you want to be pampered!
Although our expeditions do take in the major sites like the Taj Mahal, Timbuktu and the Inca Trail we believe the natural wonders are just as important so our trips are not just about ticking off countries and tourist attractions, completing the journey is just as important.
Remember, many of our trips are exploratory or they may run through
countries that do not have a western infrastructure so as much as we
research a trip we can assure you that things can and will go wrong.
We may face setbacks that take weeks to right, borders can close without
notice and alternative routes have to be found, bridges can get washed
away leaving us no option but to build a new one and officials will
hold us up indefinitely simply because they can! These are all parts
of the adventure so expect the unexpected!
We do not have any age restrictions on our expeditions but all of our trips do require participation so we all share vital roles on a daily basis including cooking, cleaning, shopping, vehicle security, route planning, vehicle servicing, navigating and when required, digging our vehicle out of the mud or sand! So please don’t book on our expeditions if you want to be pampered or if you can’t take a bit of roughing it!
Your crew will consist of an experienced driver/leader, who’s role will be to drive, maintain the vehicle and lead the expedition. There may be a second crew member assisting him/her depending on the length and difficulty of the expedition.
Your crew will be very experienced in driving and leading overland
expeditions but please remember, they are not tour guides! Specialised
local guides can be arranged when we need them.
Many of our expeditions are dependant on environmental conditions so we have put a lot of thought into climate and seasons. Basically we have tried to follow the sun on most our trips as roads may be closed in winter. We have also tried to avoid the cold and wet wherever possible. However, some of our longer expeditions may take in all the extremes at some point as we may cross hemispheres or high mountain ranges so if you are booked on one of our longer trips you must be prepared for all weather climates, from one extreme to the other.
So if you don't mind a challenge and enjoy exploring - join us!
