Our Heritage

30 Years of Extraordinary Adventure:
To celebrate our 30th anniversary we have searched high and low through Drago HQ and we've unearthed some excellent video clips of Dragoman through the years.
Sit back relax and enjoy our 30th birthday video montage.

View more videos on our YouTube channel

Our story starts in 1981 when two budding overlanders bought an old Bedford truck and headed off for Nairobi with a group of adventurous passengers (the picture to the left is the group at Felixstowe). The truck - and passengers - made it back to the UK in one piece and so Dragoman was born.

These were the heady days of overlanding when rules were made to be broken. Campsites were few and far between and wild camping was the norm. It was not unusual to wild camp for a week or even two at a time without any facilities. To many people, this kind of freedom was a real attraction.

Back then each trip had a vague itinerary to follow, but where you actually stopped for the night was never set in stone. Yes, there were routes and highlights but the real goal was the journey - and the beauty of wild camping was in being a guest of the people whose land we stayed on.

In 1984 Dragoman’s 2^nd truck was ready for the road and we expanded from Africa into Asia, running the first of many classic London to Kathmandu routes. Throughout the years there aren't too many places we haven't been. With shifting political situations there are countries we visit today that were off limits in the past and countries that were once open to travellers are now out of bounds. Back in the 1980’s our route through central Asia included Afghanistan and Pakistan, although sadly it looks like it will be a long time yet before we can go back into these captivating countries.

By 1989 we were ready to launch our first trip in the new world and with it the start of Dragoman’s South America programme. Over the year's we have pioneered more routes across the world than any other overland operator and our first circuit of South America was no different. A vague route, brave leaders and open minded passengers – this is the true sprit of overlanding.

The 90’s started off with the Gulf War, threatening to scupper the whole of the Asia overland route - but despite this setback, the decade was a period of growth and consolidation. By 1997 our fleet had grown to 18 trucks and Dragoman was established as the leader in the industry.

In the last ten years, a new vision for overlanding has emerged. Having merged with Encounter Overland and forming today's Dragoman Overland we now have a fleet of 24 overland trucks and also offer small group adventure holidays on local transport, as well as family tours and volunteer programmes.  Today our tours are all about taking everything we’ve learnt from 30 years of exploring the world, and using the unique Dragoman spirit and ethos to create the best possible adventure trips.

Drawing on almost three decades of local goodwill, we are still dedicated to engaging local communities in tourism for their benefit – and we continue to develop our involvement through a range of partnership projects that facilitate genuine cultural exchange. We’re also able to take advantage of the benefits of various advances such as improved global communications and much more comfortable travelling infrastructure, making our tours more accessible and relevant than ever before.

Our heritage is really important to us. It’s key to our ethos and a big part of what makes us special. Every new passenger travelling with us joins the long line of past 'overlanders' who have been bitten by the travel bug. Here’s to the next 30 years, wherever the road may take us.