Wanderlust Travel Awards 2009: Top Tour Operator
Wanderlust team | Issue 102 | 102 march 2009
Dragoman
"Our truck leader Martin used to say, “change is a wonderful thing” – and how right he was. The four months I spent on a Dragoman truck in South America were some of the most varied, amazing times I have ever had. I would love every holiday to be an overland adventure – I think I have found my utopia!”
This comment from reader Vicky Thomas sums up the spirit of Dragoman, the overlanding company, founded in the 1960s, that promises ‘not your everyday journey’. On one of its almighty trucks you can drive off on epic adventures (Helsinki to Cape Town, anyone?) stopping at places that don’t even know what a beaten track is.
Victoria Hadley also sang its praises: ‘In the past four years I have spent nine months on the road with Dragoman, through three continents and 34 countries and they have never let me down – despite the world throwing bombs, curfews and invasions at us. I have made friends for life and visited fantastic places hardly mentioned by guidebooks. All this for a reasonable budget, too! Drago has taken me as near to the heart of a country as I have wanted to go – skimming over the top is not an option.’
Indeed, while you’d used 391 different companies, the top ten as a whole showed what an adventurous bunch you are – second-place Wild Frontiers is one of the only operators daring to take travellers to Afghanistan, while KE Adventure will lead you up 6,000-plus-metre mountains. Phew!
Rankings
- Dragoman 97.14%
- Wild Frontiers 95.56%
- KE Adventure Travel 94.29%
- The Travel Collection 94.29%
- Audley Travel 93.49%
- Journey Latin America 92%
- Inntravel 91.11%
- Trailfinders 89.77%
- Hurtigruten 89.23%
- Mountain Kingdoms 89.09%
>>See the rest of the award winners here.