Kathmandu to UK Adventure

Photographs	Click here to see 1257 photographs of the trip AAA
Videos	Click here to see 10 video clips of the trip (Partly constructed)
Journal	Click here to see the journal of the trip AAA
Guest Book	Please take time out to sign my guest book and let me know what you think of the site

(please note that the jornal and guest book will open in a new window)

The Adventure

For nearly 4 months in 2005 I went on an overland adventure tour with a company called Dragoman. I flew out to Kathmandu in Nepal via Abu Dhabi on the 18th February to start my journey back home overland. I spent a couple of days in Kathmandu by myself and then I met up with my fellow travellers, crew and truck to start the adventure of a lifetime. We would be travelling together through Nepal, India, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Egypt back through Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and then onto Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Austria, Germany and France before getting back to the White Cliffs of Dover and home on the 6th June. We travelled in a converted Mercedes truck (see below for details), which enabled us to get to a lot of places that normal tourists could not. We spent a large part of the trip camping and the rest of the time we stayed in small centrally located hotels - for all you Canvas people out there it is like Montage and Demontage but without all the work!

Below is a bit more detailed information about the adventure and the company. If any of you get the chance I would highly recomend taking a trip like this - it was fantastic.

Above you will see links to the photographs and the journal of the trip, so sit back and relax and enjoy the adventure!

Section 1:
Maharajas, Tigers & Taj, Kathmandu to Delhi
The first section of my trip starts in Kathmandu in Nepal, from there we travel down towards the Indian border and enter the Chitwan National Park where we go on an elephant safari & jeep trips looking for Asian rhinos, tigers and sloth bears. We then cross the border into India and tour around India, roughly following the blue line on the map on the right. We will see such sites as the Taj Mahal, the River Ganges, the Amber Palace, the Rathambhore National Park, Fatehpur Sikri, Bharatphur Bird Sactuary, Khajuraho Erotic Temples and more. We will also visit the following towns and cities:- Varanasi, Agra, Pushkar, Udaiper, Jaipur, Orchha and Delhi.
This section of the trip lasts for 3 weeks and leads straight into the next section of the trip which starts in Delhi and goes all the way back to the UK.

Section 2:
Grand Asian Overland, Delhi to UK
Our original itinery was to leave Delhi and head straight into Pakistan along the blue route on the left, however, because of the political situation in Pakistan it is now unsafe and we are taking the red contingency route and flying over Pakistan. We now spend longer in India and Iran and have the chance to see the Rat Temple at Bikaner, Jaisalmer Fortress City, Jodhpur's Fortress, Mandu Ghost City, Ajanta & Ellora Cave Temples and Mumbai (Bombay). Some of the other highlights of the trip back to the UK include the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Baluchistan Desert, Persepolis Persian Ruins, Esfahan,

Goreme Valley, Krak des Chevalliers, the Dead Sea, Petra, the Red Sea, St Catherines Monastery & Sinai Desert, Felucca Sailing on the Nile, Aswan, Luxor, Karnak Temples, Valley of the Kings, Gizza & Saquarra Pyramids, Cairo & the Egyptcian museum, Wadi Rum, Jerash, Bosra aphitheatre, Damascus, Palmyra, Trek to Termessos Ruins, Turkish Mediterranean coast, Ephesus, Troy, Gallipoli, Istanbul, Saltzberg and much more.
The last part of the trip from Turkey back to the UK is fairly fast only taking about 10 days. This is the end of the trip and gets back to Dover on 6th June.

The Company

Click here to go to the Dragoman Overland website

Dragoman Overland is one of the world's leading adventure travel companies and has been providing adventure tours around the world for over 21 years. They take groups of travellers on overland expedition tours which last between two and forty two weeks. Their trips involve experiencing all aspects of a country, the great sites, historic monuments, natural beauty and the wildlife. Most importantly, they give you the chance to meet the local people and to see their customs first hand and often to help out in their local communities.

The Truck

Dragoman design and build their own trucks for their expeditions around the world, they are based on the Mercedes truck and are perfect for taking groups of people around the world safely and securely. They are self sufficient and carry everything required from fresh water through to all the equipment needed. They also carry a large supply of spares to carry out any repairs on the road.
The trucks have fully opening windows and have seats on the roof which you can sit in on any off road sections to get the best views.
More importantly they have a fridge to keep the beer nice and cold for us when we come to a stop!