Photo of the Week: Camping 4000m up in the Pamirs – June 2013
4000m up in the Pamir Mountains
What was to be the last night camping with Adam Lewis in Tajikistan, in a narrow valley near Rang Kul, approximately 50km from the Chinese border sheltering from the wind behind a rocky outcrop. Crystal clear sky gave way to a star filled night hundreds of kilometres from any source of light pollution. A top place to camp and take photos of the night sky.
If you want to know where in the world this is, click here: 38°26’10.0″N 74°10’52.6″E
Sirocco Overland Interview Part 1 by Expedition Portal
Over the pass – Tajikistan
Just a quick post to let you all know that our interview with Christophe over at Expedition Portal is up and live on their website. You can read all about it here: www.expeditionportal.com
Credit to Adam Lewis (www.shortwayround.co.uk) as they used his image of us as the opener! Nice one Ad.
2013 Trans North Asia Overland Trip GPS Track Logs
THAT was one hell of a drive!
So we completed our trip to Vladivostok back in late September last year and we are still working on the last two blog posts for you (thank you for your patience). In the meantime check out our 42,000km GPS track log.
With the use of our daily tracklogs from our Garmin GPS our GIS man (Jack Pitts) back home has pinned together our route from the moment we landed in France, to putting the 90 in the container.
After 10 months (248 nights) on the road totalling 42,000Km we have crossed 22 countries, 16 International border crossings, survived temperatures from -25 to +35 degrees C and camped for 176 nights.
Check out our Interactive Map here: Progress So Far
There are a few gaps in the tracklogs which we are still working on.
Enjoy.
Overlanders Tips: Getting your GBAO Permit in Dushanbe for $3
It is that time of year again when the intrepid few venture into Central Asia. If you haven’t got your GBAO permit for Tajikistan sorted yet, fear not. It can be had in the capital for the cost of a beer.
We had picked up our Tajikistan Visas in Ankara, Turkey back in March but still needed to get the GBAO (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province) permit for the Pamirs. Some consulates will not issue these whilst others and some tour agency’s can charge up to $150 just for the permit!
I got wind that it was possible to obtain this permit, direct, in Dushanbe for next to nothing.
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Overlanders Tips: Top Five Budget Overlander Hangouts in Central Asia
It’s that time of year again when the chosen few venture east cross Central Asia. Here is a guide I wrote last year on the top 5 accommodation spots that shouldn’t be missed out. Enjoy.
You have driven hundreds of kilometres all day on dirt tracks, corrugated and potholed tarmac roads, been stopped five times by the police for ‘documents’, then an unfamiliar noise emanates from the engine bay. Your still 10 km outside of an unfamiliar town looking for somewhere to stay that has secure parking and won’t blow your daily budget. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t need that damn (delete as appropriate) Visa/Registration Document/Permit/Customs Form/Flight Ticket/Spare Part. It’s the usual battle.
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Photo of the Week: Hammer & Sickle, Siberia – 2013
Yukutia Village, Siberia – Russia
You see a lot of ‘Hammer and Sickle’ symbolism around Russia, especially in Siberia where whole communities, towns and even cities formed under communist leadership. This one was probably the biggest one we saw outside of cities. Usually they are tied in with town or city names as you enter the outskirts but this one was in a small town with very few people present. I like it because it is simple and stands bold. For me, in a town like this in deepest Siberia it no longer represents communism but the unification of industry and agriculture and people working together to better their future.
10 of the best Wildcamps from 2013
Our collection of the top 10 most memorable, but not always the best, wildcamps from 2013. Each was chosen for a reason and has a story behind it. There were many more like these often in similar landscapes but these are the pick of the bunch.
Photo of the Week: Gobi region, Mongolia – July 2013
Topping up. Wells were located on our old Soviet maps with details on recharge rate (L/Hr). However only about 1 in 5 were still operational
A great moment in the desert a long way from civilisation. A clean water well with water actually in it. We became fairly reliant on water wells during our 2 week traverse of the Gobi Desert region in the south of Mongolia. Even though it wasn’t that hot we were still using water for drinking, cooked, washing etc. Most of the time we got by with the 50L water tank but when we needed a shower we filled the 20L jerry can also. These wells literally made the trip.
Photo of the Week: Alesund, Norway – January 2013
Alesund, an ‘out there’ port town in the Fjord region of Norway. It took us a fair while to reach this place, catching a multitude of ferries and crossing many icy mountain passes. It was worth it though, the air temperature rose to about -4c so it was a little warmer than the previous week. I had to climb around 300 icy covered steps to get this photo and there wasn’t a handrail at all times. It was pretty tricky as the sun was setting and our parking ticket was expiring. Worth it though as I am sure you will agree.
Photo of the Week: West African Forest Elephants
My recent move to Lightroom 5 has opened up opportunities to improve on previous photos shot with outdated technology. This trio of shots was taken in Burkina Faso whilst mapping National Parks for the MAPA Project. We stumbled upon this group of elephants at a watering hole and I had to work quick to get these shots. It was my first encounter with elephants and the second photo clearly shows that this elephant wasn’t happy about my close proximity. I moved back into the bush as the group slowly left the watering hole and disappeared into the forest.
Griff’s Photo Shop – 2014 Relaunch
It has been 10 months since the initial launch of the photo shop on our website. At the time there were only a select few photos on display and as we were on the road we didn’t have much control over what we could offer. The best we could do was to email a high resolution copy for you to sort out yourselves. For the tech savvy this wasn’t a problem, maybe only a minor inconvenience. Now that we are in Australia and I have finally sorted out 95% of the photos we have taken over 2013 (from over 7000 images) we can finally get some control back…
Photo of the Week: Nordkapp, Norway – January 2013
Probably the first big milestone of the trip, something I am very proud of. Reaching Nordkapp in northern Norway. At 71 degrees North, Nordkapp sits as the most northerly point in mainland Europe a 1000km drive within the Arctic Circle. Days spent driving in short daylight hours and nights spent camping at minus 20 degrees C. It was bitterly cold the day we arrived and the wind was howling as we stood on the precipice looking out over the Arctic ocean into nothingness. Nothing between us and the North Pole. A beautiful day.
Photo of the Week: Brechfa Forest – Wales
James guides the 90 down a muddy descent
Some of my favourite green lanes in Wales are down in Brechfa Forest and around that area. Generally heavily forested, muddy, challenging, tight and sometimes impassable. Not many people know these are here either, so your often alone in the ancient woodland which all adds to the ‘out there’ experience.
I shot this as James helps guide Alex’s 90 down a muddy slope at the end of one lane. Alex was running a rather large waterproof box in front of his roof tent. After this trip he quickly remedied that!
Photo of the Week: Huskies at Rest, Arctic Finland February 2013
Finnish Lappland – Huskies at rest
Huskies at Rest and keeping warm during our sledding activities last winter in Arctic Finland.
Photo of the Week: Highland Cattle – Lake District, England 2012
Highland Cattle – Lake District, England
We had just driven a tight technical climb with washed out gullies deep in the Lake District when we came across this sedate beast just over the crest. It must have been as funny for him as it was us. Six Land Rovers stopping and taking photos for five minutes then driving off again. ‘The Lakes’ offers superb views and vistas for photographers, usually with foreboding skies which can help with subjects like this.
A great place to visit for a long weekend greenlaning, just don’t go in the summer holidays, the place gets packed out.
Photo of the Week: Monaco Dreamin’ 2009
Lisa out and about in Monaco
During our 2009 trip to the French/Italian Alps we thought it would be rude not to hang around Monaco for a few days. We spent some time following the F1 track, drinking coffee in the harbour and generally a lot of ‘window shopping’.
As I went to set this shot up of Lisa crossing the street this Ferrari popped out. Framed nicely with the La Poste sign this is one of my favourites from the trip.
S.O. Proud to Present…
A new year and a new start for
Sirocco Overland
A huge thank you to our very first sponsor
MAXTRAX
for joining us in our adventures.
Thanks to Brad and Tracey at Maxtrax HQ for making this happen.
Don’t Date an Overlander…
A good friend of mine recently shared a short blog post on Facebook titled ‘Don’t date a girl who travels’. Some of the points raised resonated with me but a lot of it, I felt, was idealised generalisations taken from the travel industry. Its gone a bit viral online with spin offs for those who don’t get the irony or satire of the original. Overlanding on the whole is travelling but generally overlanders are travelling in placed where backpackers fear to tread, away from comforts, public transport, latte’s, cafe’s, facebook and instagram. So here is my take on that original article, titled ‘Don’t Date an Overlander’.
Lisa
Griff
Sirocco Overland | Сирокко Оверленд 
