Great Desert Walks | Slow Travel

Leave Everything Behind

Welcome to Great Desert Walks

Nearly 20% of Australia’s vast continent is officially classified as desert - remote, untamed, and breathtakingly beautiful. These ancient landscapes, shaped over millennia, are among the most unique on Earth. Accessing them can be challenging, but for those who venture in, they reveal stories that stretch back through time, waiting to be uncovered.

Great Desert Walks invites you to experience these timeless places through two extraordinary journeys. Embark on a bushwalking experience steeped in history - a tradition that traces its roots to the camel expeditions of the 1860s, long before the concept of “ecotourism” was born.

Opt for a “good old-fashioned” camel trek with the Outback Camel Company, where heritage and adventure intertwine. Or, elevate your journey by joining an Australian Desert Expeditions survey, blending the magic of camel trekking with the opportunity to contribute to important scientific research in these remote, awe-inspiring landscapes.

Whichever path you choose, you’ll walk in the footsteps of our First Nations peoples and colonial explorers, immersing yourself in a land etched by the passage of time. This is much more than a walk; it’s an invitation to connect deeply with the spirit of Australia’s deserts and create lasting memories in the heart of one of the world’s great wildernesses.

A Desert Trek or Expedition with the Outback Camel Company

Outback Camel Company has been walking and exploring in nearly all Australia's deserts since 1976, and has a vast experience and knowledge of remote desert travel

A Scientific/Ecological Survey with Australian Desert Expeditions

Australian Desert Expeditions is a Registered Environmental Organisation established in 2007 specifically to document the natural history and First Nations history of remote deserts

Both journeys are pure walking adventures, deep into the remote heart of the Simpson Desert, with our camels carrying all your gear. In a world of convenience, we believe there’s still something profoundly meaningful about exploring the desert with camels - offering not just a gentle environmental footprint, but also a timeless, harmonious way of moving through the land.

You don’t need prior desert walking experience or ecological knowledge to join these Great Desert Walks. What you do need is a spirit of adventure, a strong and resilient body, a deep appreciation for vast, open skies, the profound silence of ancient landscapes, and the desire to be part of Australia’s unfolding story.

These are journeys of authenticity. You’ll be walking and living in the Simpson Desert - experiencing it as it is, raw and untouched. We call it Desert Bushwalking, an immersion into wilderness that few have known and even fewer have truly understood.

Each trek begins where the roads end, where bush tracks give way to uncharted horizons. Here, there are no paths to follow. Together, we’ll create our own way across towering red dunes, beside winding inland rivers, over shimmering gibber plains, and across the vast, open claypans. Every step will take you further from the ordinary and closer to the desert’s timeless soul.

And then there are our camels - gentle, charismatic companions who bring a unique rhythm to the journey. Walking with them reconnects you to the land in a way no vehicle ever could. This is a continuum of discovery, an unbroken thread linking you to the ancient heartbeat of this extraordinary country. This is more than a walk; it’s a way to feel the land as it has always been and to carry a piece of its story with you, forever.