Jose Megre was a world traveler and adventurer seeker, who spent over 50 years traveling the globe. Most of which was done by either organizing or participating in trans continental automobile rallies. Jose wasn’t what you would call a travel purist in the sense on Andre Brugiroux or Heinz Stücke, but Jose did it his own way.
The dromomaniac series of world travelers I write about here at DigiDrift, are all written about very unique individuals, and I place Jose in the group as well.
He never spent years on the road hitchhiking his way around the globe like Andre, or on a fifty year cycling tour (with no end in sight) of the globe like Heinz, but Jose was not just another rich man jumping on and off planes, and counting stamps in his passport. He was a true adventure seeker, that had a passion of overland travel.
These adventures have seen him drive almost 1 million kilometers (mostly in 4×4 vehicles) in just about every region of the planet. He is know as ‘The Father of All Terrain’, and is held in high regard in his homeland of Portugal.
Jose Megre – The Farther of All Terrain
Jose Megre on his tour of Antartica
Jose was born in Lisbon Portugal in 1942, and was always been seen as a practical man. This would be attributed to his mechanical engineering course that he completed in London between the years on 1963 to 1966, where his specialization was automotive. These skills learned at an early age have no doubt helped Jose out of many obscure situations he has found himself in over the years, during his lifetime of transcontinental rally driving.
During these rallies Jose would spend a great part of his life driving through some of the harshest environments on earth. He first raced in the Paris to Dakar Rally in 1981 (I’m not going to get into the politics of this race here, but it has had it’s problems and some see it as a burden on the local people where the race runs through many small village environments. There was also the death of the three villagers in 1998, and many from the Saharan Africa region are probably quite glad it’s moved to South America).
Jose Megre Made 15 Crossing of The Sahara (via 6 different routes)
Jose also spent many years in Africa, and has personally crossed the Sahara 15 times, via 6 different routes. Besides racing in the Dakar, Jose organized many trans continental rallies himself. He also twice competed in the Atlantic to Pacific from Peking to Paris Rally, and also crossed Asia on the Trans Siberian Railway.
It wasn’t until later in life that he actually began to quantify the vast number of countries that he had actually visited. When that number grew to over 130, he decided he would make it his life ambition to see the rest of the world. In 2006 he set out to visit the remaining countries he missed during his many years of overland adventures.
Jose was not the type who liked to visit a country solely for a quick stamp in the passport, and soon leave. Once in a country he would spend his time, and on most occasions would drive vast distances in these countries, and seeing area’s that few travelers do.
In the end Jose Megre visited 191 of the 192 United Nation Member States. The sole country that Jose missed on visiting was Iraq. It’s sad to say the Jose Megre will never set foot in Iraq because he sadly passed away in February of 2009, at age 66.
Sadly Jose Will Never Make The Final Trip To Iraq
A commemorative plaque to Jose Megre, celebrating his life of overland travel (image by Manuela Barreto).
It wasn’t through lack of trying to get to Iraq either, as he’d planned the visit several times, but due to his worsening health, he had to postpone. I suppose Jose has a sense of humor as well, as he released a book titled ‘Como Eu Vi Todos Os Paises Do Mundo - (Minos Un)’ or loosely translated to ‘ As I saw all the countries of the world (minus one)’.
Studying Jose’s world map, you can see the vast number of overland journeys he has undertaken (pay special attention to the crossing of the Sahara). To commemorate his life, the Municipality of Penamacor in his home nation of Portugal also created a plaque in his honor, crafted from ceramic tiles and depicting all of his overland journeys.
Jose Megre was in my opinion a true adventure seeker. As he grew older he refused to slow down and tread water like most, instead he kept on swimming against life’s currents in pursuit of his passion. He fell short by 1 trip of achieving his life’s ambition. RIP Jose Megre a true adventurer, and now dromomaniac here at DigiDrift.com
For a great slideshow of Jose Megre’s life of travel you can visit this site, or you can go to Jose’s personal site for a little more detail on his overland adventures here.
Your Thoughts and Comments?
Do you consider Jose Megre’s style of travel a worthy inductee into the Dromomaniac series? Has anyone out there competed in one of these trans continental overland rallies?
(Researching Jose Megre was quite difficult as most of what is written about him is in Portuguese. Although I gave Google translate a good workout, it’s not a perfect beast and does have it’s problems.)
