Not strictly overlanders gear, you probably think this is more suited to general travel and you would probably be right. But having said that, many people come to the overlanding world from a vehicular perspective and may have little or no travel experience before they embark on ‘the BIG one’.
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Photo of The Week: West Africa, Mali 2011
This week’s photo is from a very remote village in Mali. We were here to help The MAPA project map and record information on all National Parks and reserve areas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal. Maps show little to no roads in these parks and those on paper maps have been lifted from old IGN maps dating back to the 50’s.
This village in particular is north of Mora Mora in the de Boule NP. Villages here do not have motorised transport so when our Land Cruiser pushed through the bush the whole village came out to meet us. With mud huts so close together, the villagers moved their firewood aside and congregated on the edge of the village to see us off. I took this photo from the roof of the Cruiser. The curious look from the children is due to them never seeing a camera before.
For me this is the most poinient photo of our expedition through West Africa.
Our GPS tracks for the area can be found on Tracks4Africa
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Photo of The Week: Tryfan Sunset, Wales 2009
This weeks photo is taken on Tryfan in the Snowdonia Mountain Range , North Wales. It was a Friday night and we had rushed up there to pack in as much as we could that weekend.
We thought we could make the summit via the north ridge and camp beyond but it quickly became dark. Not a foot of grass around for a tent we were forced to bivi with just roll mats and sleeping bags on a pointy rock ledge.
Luckily the weather held and we were on the summit by seven the following morning. We then chased this up with an ascent of Crib Goch and Snowdon itself before returning home.
Overlanders Personal Carry List
A list of important items we carried on ourselves for the 8 month overland trip through remote parts of the former USSR. The gear got a lot of heavy use everyday and never faultered so comes recommended. We liked it so much, we have it all on us now here in Indonesia.
What do you carry on long trips? Leave your comments below.
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Photo of The Week: Deep Water – Shropshire, England 2012
Crossing deep water in Shropshire
Another great weekend with friends. The trip had been planned months in advance but leading up to the long weekend we had all booked off, the country was in flood. So what do Land Rovers do when there are flood warnings issued? They go out and play! couple this with some camping and you really do get a wet weekend.
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Photo of The Week: Land Rovers in The Mist – Peak District, England 2012
Dusk on the Dark Peak
This photo was taken on the Dark Peak in the Peak District, England February 2012. It was to be one of the last greenlane trips we would take with our Land rover before leaving the UK. It was a great weekend with friends even though the weather was truly ‘Baltic’. We had to deal with a frozen campsite and some frozen lanes but the weather was generally dry and clear.
This photo has had its fair share of post processing but it does capture the atmosphere of a foggy afternoon on the last lane of the day returning to the campsite. The two Land Rovers are Simon Woodhead’s 110 and James Wickenden’s 90 both 300tdi and both, strangely, Rioja Red!
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Photo of The Week: Dades Gorge, High Atlas – Morocco 2008
Dades Gorge, High Atlas Mountains Morocco 2008
This photo was taken on a route down the Dades Gorge in the Atlas Mountain Range of Morocco in 2008. The route peaks at 3000m above sea level and is a lone double track for most of its length. Once we came off the Todra Gorge route towards Imilchil there was nobody to be seen. We passed by one small hut in the morning and didn’t see a single form of life for the rest of the day. As our first trip away with a vehicle we really felt the high mountain isolation on this day in particular and little did we know that it would change the course of our lives forever.
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Photo of The Week: Lisa at Ait Benhaddou – Morocco 2008
Ait Benhaddou
As many of you have only been following since we left the UK in January 2013, I thought you may like to see some photos from our previous overland trips. Whilst these are scattered about the trip reports section and Facebook I felt the urge to push them forward. We have had a website up and running now for six years so many of you wont have known about these previously visited places. The photographs are not as good but at least you see I have improved! These will be run weekly alongside other blog posts, so enjoy.
This photo was taken at Ait Benhaddou in the Atlas Mountain Range of Morocco. We stopped by to see if it was worth going in and whilst taking photos from a distance this old fella decided to come on over with his friendly little snake. An impromptu photo that still invokes memories of that place many years later.
Russian Altai Region – Taking the road less travelled from Kazakhstan to Mongolia
How we tried to fill in the missing piece of road for the shortest crossing of the Altai, bumped into Adam in the back of beyond, flouted permit laws and immensely enjoyed the non-corrugated gravel roads of the southern Altai.
After we crossed through the Russian border we said goodbye to Andrew and Jon as they sped off to Barnaul to find a TIG welder. As we perceived the border to take some time we hadn’t planned anything further than Rubtsovsk so we rolled in early to find a hotel and a good welder to put our awning back on for us. After yet another night in a cosy hotel (we were only there to register!) we hit the road east. Back in Almaty Michael told me about a track he had found using Google Earth that linked the existing road with another 30-40km further east making it the shortest possible crossing of the Altai to Mongolia. Our Russian Atlas showed something similar with a ‘path’ also linking these roads which ran for some 60km. Advice from other adventure bikers was to take these small roads anyway as they passed through traditionally Altaic villages. So a small detour to see if this route was possible seemed like a good idea.
Eastern Kazakhstan Transit – Kolsay Lakes, Charyn Canyon, Almaty & The Road North
How we got super efficient with our time in Almaty, dined on fresh lamb at Kolsay Lakes and drove for days through storms to reach the Russian Border.
Dropping down from the mountains the rains soon gave chase
The border couldn’t have been much more farcical. First the Kyrgyz customs wanted their document (which we were never given on entry). I tried explaining we were never given one, told them which border we came in through and told them to call them as it was a ‘Kyrgyzstan problem’ not ours. Eventually after much pacing around they let us through until we tried to exit. One guy wanted everything out. He tried to take the GPS off the dash saying we shouldn’t have it, it’s a security issue blah blah blah. He tried to take the microSD card but I told him he wasn’t having it and put it in the cubby box. Then he wanted everything out of the back of the 90, so I did the usual and offered for him to take it out himself. He demanded we did it so very slowly we pulled things out. Computers first, opened the fridge then our bags. When Lisa started waving her underwear around he soon told us to pack up but we were not done yet. He kept prodding the trailer with his pointy metal stick, everything got poked. Paintwork, boxes, clothes, I was slowly starting to lose my patience with him, his attitude and his nonchalant regard for our worldly belongings.
Lisa
Griff
Sirocco Overland | Сирокко Оверленд 