Responsible Tourism

Oasis Caravan Overland Tour

» For more information, reviews and availability, click here «

Highlights of this tour.

Join our overland truck for an unforgettable trip in this fantastic part of the world! You can join the trip from Istanbul to Cairo or from Cairo to Istanbul.
+ Gallipoli
+ Troy
+ Ephesus
+ Turkish beaches
+ Cappadocia
+ Aleppo
+ Crac de Chevaliers Crusader Castle
+ Damascus
+ Petra
+ Wadi Rum
+ Dahab on the Red Sea
+ Luxor & Valley of the Kings
+ Aswan
+ Pyramids & Sphinx at Giza

An additional local payment of £190 (or £220 from October to April) is made to your tour leader at the start of your trip. The trip cost includes all travel in the truck, approx. 50% of meals, services of crew and all accommodation during the trip.
Our trips are led by two experienced crew who will share with you their knowledge and enthusiasm for travel to the Middle East

Itinerary

Days 1 - 8 (or day 28 - 37) Our overland trip from Istanbul to Cairo begins as we embark on a half day drive through olive groves and rural settlements to Gallipoli and the Straits of the Dardanelles. In World War I, on this blustery and exposed peninsula, ANZAC and British Forces struggled unsuccessfully for nine horrendous months to dislodge Turkish troops from the hills above the beaches. It is a moving experience to visit the war graves and battlegrounds where so much suffering and unnecessary loss of life took place. Australians and New Zealanders make a pilgrimage each year on ANZAC Day to pay their respects to their fellow countrymen who died here. We attend the dawn service on ANZAC Day. From here we cross the Straits, leave Europe and enter the continent of Asia. We visit Troy on our way to Ephesus and spend the next 2 nights camping on the coast. Built by the Greeks a thousand years before Christ and then rebuilt by the Romans, this immense ancient city boasts an amphitheatre that can seat 24000 and a harbour with no water - still in good condition after all these years. We then travel via either Pamukkale where you can swim in warm, mineral-rich water, or take the more visually scenic route towards Marmaris and camp in the mountains before arriving in Olu Deniz where we spend 2 nights on the Turquoise Coast and then further down the Mediterranean coast at Olympus. Our accomodation is tree houses and campsites and we spend the next couple of days relaxing on the beach. You can also take boat trips or hire small motor bikes.

Days 9 - 15 (23 - 29) From here we travel inland and upwards for a day to the visually powerful, windswept landforms of Cappadocia via Saklikent Gorge where there is the opportunity to go river tubing. In Cappadocia over the centuries houses, churches, fortresses and even underground cities have been carved into this eerily eroded volcanic rock. The Goreme Valley provides us with an astonishing setting in which to spend a few days investigating the region. We will take you to one of the underground cities where you can explore alone or with a guide this ancient and mysterious area!

Days 16 - 23 (15 - 22) Driving through stunning mountain scenery in the crisp clear days of summer, and ice and snow in winter, we wend our way to Syria. Syrians are among the most hospitable people you will ever meet. The country has a rich and varied history with the Egyptian, Roman, Babylonian and Persian Empires having all passed through here along with Jesus and his disciples! Our first stop in this fascinating country is the market town of Aleppo. Nearby we visit Crac de Chevaliers - an 800-year-old Crusader Castle - perched on top of a mountain. Trekking out to the oasis town of Palmyra we really get into the desert proper. Sleeping out in this vast wilderness, untainted by artificial light is an experience not to be missed. The night sky dazzles with stars, satellites and shooting stars. On the road to Damascus, we head to one of the friendliest and safest of capital cities. We spend three nights in this, the oldest inhabited city in the world. From here, depending on the political and security situation in Lebanon, there is the option of taking a one day guided tour into Lebanon and Beirut.

Days 24 - 27 (11 - 14) A one-day drive takes us into Jordan where we camp overnight on Mt Nebo - with it's stunning views over the River Jordan and Israel. The Dead Sea is nearby and here, therapeutic mud baths and not so therapeutic mud fights are followed by an unusual swimming experience in this highly buoyant salt sea! Petra is nearby. One of the main attractions in the Middle East, this stone-carved city was only uncovered about 70 years ago after being forgotten for over 1000 years. Walking through an incredibly narrow, rocky defile brings you out to Petra's most famous site -The Treasury - The Nabataeans who carved this vast red city in 3 BC controlled the spice and slave caravans on their way to Arabia.
On our way to Aqaba we desert camp over night at Wadi Rum - the desert headquarters of Lawrence of Arabia. This remote area is best viewed from the back of a camel! From Aqaba, we take the ferry across the Red Sea to the Sinai Desert and continue with our travel to Egypt.

Days 28 - 30 (8 - 10) Dahab is our base for the next few days. Here, you can snorkel or scuba dive to some of the best coral in the world or enjoy the Bedouin hospitality and just relax on the beach. For the energetic you can take a one or two day camel safari. Trekking off road down the desert coastline with experienced Bedouin guides and camels you will reach areas few tourists ever see. Mount Sinai and St. Catherine's Monastery are nearby deep in the desert. It was here, that Moses received the Ten Commandments. It is a great place, if a little cold, to camp the night and watch the sunrise. Crossing the Suez Canal we may well see the amazing spectacle of huge ships seemingly passing through the desert sands.

Days 31 - 33 (5 - 7) A days drive southward lies Aswan, arguably the most attractive city on the Nile and a highlight of our Middle East overland tours. Here you can walk along the Corniche with its riverside restaurants, some of them floating, and enjoy tremendous views of the Nile cataracts. We spend two days here, which gives you enough time to take a trip out to the stone monuments of Abu Simbel built by the greatest of all Pharaohs, Ramses II. On the third day, you have the opportunity to enjoy the Nile River from a traditional felucca sail boat for a two day trip to Edfu. Just lie back and watch Egypt glide by.

Days 34 - 37 (1 - 4) We rejoin our truck for the short drive to Luxor, where, based at one of the best campsites on the trip, we have two full days to explore. Both Luxor Temple and Karnak Temple are within easy walking distance. On our second day in Luxor we organise a trip to Valley of the Queens and Valley of the Kings. Here, the remarkably well-preserved tombs of Ramses II and Tutankhamun have coloured paintings and hieroglyphics that still seem fresh after 3000 years. From Luxor we travel to Cairo by overnight train. With almost 20 million people this is a hectic, chaotic city. The finale of our trip is a guided tour of the Sphinx and Pyramids of Giza including a camel ride, followed by our last night party.

PLEASE NOTE: For most of the year on our trips from Istanbul to Cairo and vice versa we camp approximately 70% of the time and the rest is spent in budget hotels, pensions, overnight trains & tree houses. From October to April we use budget hotels and pensions a lot more as nights are quite cold, especially in Turkey. Over the winter we will often spend less time on the Turkish coast, and more time in the countries further south.

The benefits you bring in taking this tour

Our aim is to put as much back into the local communities that we visit as possible. Wherever possible, we use local operators, guides and accommodation providers. For example, in Egypt we use local Egyptologist guides to visit the Pyramids and Sphinx. In Luxor, our local rep Tayeb, sources the donkeys for the trip to the Valley of the Kings from his own family and neighbours and has been doing so for the past five years. This allows village families to gain extra income beyond their subsistence farming. In Aswan clients undertake a 2 day felucca trip. The feluccas are owned and run by Ahmed Fauzi and his extended family - we have been supporting their tiny felucca business from its start. They have recently managed to expand to 3 small sail boats which completely support their large extended village family. In Jordan, we use Bedouin guides for 4WD treks into the more inaccessible areas of Wadi Rum and we have Turkish guides at Gallipoli and Cappadocia.

We purchase all our food supplies locally, thereby directly supporting local communities. When we eat out we use local restaurants, not international chains and we encourage our clients to try food from street vendors and local beer!

We also have our vehicles maintained and repaired locally and try to equip them with locally made goods.

Before commencing the tour all our clients are provided with detailed pre-departure info which includes information on Responsible Travel. This information is re-emphasised by our Tour Leader at the start of the trip - clients are, for example, advised about respecting local customs particularly in terms of dress and behaviour; water conservation; animal welfare - a salient feature of this trip as we use carefully selected donkey and horse transport in Luxor - again supporting local communities.

We support two charities in the areas visited. In Cairo we have donated computers, teaching materials and provide regular financial assistance to the Sudanese Community Development Program - a school for Sudanese refugee children. We have also helped the school set up a Sponsor-a-Child scheme and arranged a letter exchange scheme between the children there and a school local to our UK office. This promotes opportunities for inter-cultural understanding and provides the Sudanese children with great encouragement. We can arrange pre or post-tour visits to the school, and many of our clients regularly donate old clothes and shoes to the Sudanese Refugees via our collection system at our Cairo Hotel.

In Luxor we sponsor the Sunshine Project International, a home for abandoned and orphaned children. Apart from a regular financial commitment we have also donated bedding and play equipment to the school and even delivered a sandpit from the UK. Luckily there was no need to deliver any sand! Clients on the Egypt trip are given the opportunity to visit the home in Luxor and regularly donate baby toiletries and toys directly there themselves.

We also donate one pound to Tourism Concern for every booking made with us.

» For more information, reviews and availability, click here «