INTRODUCTION 8
PART 1: PLANNING & PREPARATION 9
A plan 10 – Which continent 11 – Seasons and Climate 12 – Time and
Money 14 – Fuel prices 15 – Overlanding: what are the alternatives? 16
Getting information 19 – Travel documents 21 – Visas 21 – Insurance 24
Vehicle documents 25 – Carnet 27 – Money and currencies 29
Sponsorship 31
PART 2: CHOOSING A VEHICLE 34
Paris to Peking 35 – What car, van or truck? 36 – Regional differences 37
Renting, Mick Baines 38 – Payload 41 – Manual or Auto 43 – ECUs 46
Ground clearance 49 – Buying abroad 52 – Diesel fuel 54 – Petrol 60
Two-wheel drive 62 – MPVs and vans 65 – Cab-over flatbeds 71 – Dual rear
tyres 75 – Towing trailers 76 – GVW 81 – Motorhomes 82 – Campervans 84
Mountable cabins 87
PART 3: 4X4s 89
4WD 90 – ETC 94 – Choosing a 4x4 95 – Toyota Land Cruisers 99
Land Rover Defenders 114 – Defenders in the USA, Nick Taylor – 125 – Land
Rover Discovery 132 – Nissan Patrols 136 – Mercedes G-Wagens,
Russ Humphreys 139 – Double-cab pickups 144 – 4WD trucks 145
Ex-military trucks 148 – Mercedes Unimog 157 – Iveco Daily, Richard
Clafton 161 – Fuso and Isuzu, John Marano 164 – Best North American
overlanders, Scott Brady & Chip Haven 169
PART 4: MODIFYING YOUR VEHICLE 173
Overland, not overload 173 – Redundancy 174 – Mechanical assessment 175
Engine 176 – Transmission 181 – Suspension 183 – Tyres and wheels
190 – Tyre speed rating 194 – Compressors 197 – Extra lighting, Matt
Savage 201 – Road-car specific modifications 202
PART 5: CONVERTING A VEHICLE 207
Long-range fuel and water 211 – Where to sleep 227 – Roof tents 230
Packing and storage 239 – Roof racks 247 – Electrics 251 – Auxillary
batteries 254 – Solar power 258 – Inverters 262 – Lighting 264 – Cooking
on the road 265 – Gas stoves 267 – Ovens 272 – Fridges 275
PART 6: BUILDING A CABIN 281
Self-build strategy 284 – Chassis torsion 288 – Power and heating 294
Shower and toilet 295 – Building and mounting a cabin 303 – Materials 306
Insulation 311 – Plumbing 315 – Cabin cooling and heating 321
Case study: MAN 8.136 conversion, Gareth ‘Stan’ Healey 323
PART 7: DRIVING OVERLAND 327
Shakedown trip 327 – Culture shock 330 – Driving abroad 332 – Borders
and checkpoints 337 – Women driving alone, Lorraine Chittock 340 – Maps and route finding 342 – GPS & Satnav 346 – Navigation 350 – Vehicle
maintenance and troubleshooting 353 – Fault diagnosis 356 – Spares list
363 – Tyre repairs 364 – Dirt-road driving 369 – Off-road recovery 387
Single vehicle shipping, Doug Hackney 403
PART 8: LIFE ON THE ROAD 422
Changing money and bargaining 422 – Keeping in touch, Nick Taylor 425
Satellite phones 429 – Mobile internet 430 – Filming your trip 431
Wild camping 438 – Adventures in food on the overland trail, Jan Rutters
441 – Health for overlanders, Claire Davies 443 – First aid kit 446
Accidents 449 – Stomach ailments 450 – Malaria 453 – When things go
wrong 458 – Road accidents 459 – Robbery 461 – Survival situations 464
Honey let’s take the kids, John Higham 466 – Taking the dog, Lorraine
Chittock 473
PART 9: ASIA: ROUTE OUTLINES 479
Planning 479 – Map: West Asia 480 – Carnets in Asia 480
Turkey 483 – Caucasus and the Caspian, Charlie Weatherill 484
Syria and the Middle East 489 (Syria 489 – Jordan 490 – To Egypt via Israel
or the Red Sea Ferry, Jan Rutters 490)
Iran, Andy Pag 496
Pakistan 499 (Baluchistan 500 – Northern Pakistan and the KKH 501)
India, Charlie Weatherill 507 (Map: India and Central Asia 509 – Kashmir
and Ladakh 514)
Nepal and Tibet, Andy Pag 516 – Myanmar (Burma) 518
Shipping across the Bay of Bengal, Charlie Weatherill 519
Russia, Charlie Weatherill 521 (Western Russia 530 – Baikal Northside
(BAM) 530 – East of Irkutsk 534 – Map: Russian Far East 535 – The Amur
Highway to Vladivostok 538 – Bering Strait, Mac MacKenney 540)
Central Asia, Charlie Weatherill 542
Mongolia, Charlie Weatherill 554
South Korea, Phil Flanagan 561
Southeast Asia, Charlie Weatherill 563 (Map: Southeast Asia 564)
Overlanding in China, Charlie Weatherill 572
PART 10: AFRICA: ROUTE OUTLINES 577
Practicalities 577 – Carnets in Africa 579
Maps: North Africa 586, Southern Africa 621
Trans-African routes 581
North Africa and the Sahara 582 (Crossing the Sahara 582 – Tunisia,
Algeria and Libya 583 – Morocco and Mauritania 585)
West Africa 590 (Senegal 591 – Mali and Burkina Faso 591 – East towards
Chad or Nigeria 594 – Nigeria, Andy Pag and Darrin Johansen 595
Western Route via Angola, Darrin Johansen 599 (Cameroon 599 – Gabon
to Angola 601 – Congo 602 – Cabinda 604 – Congo Ferry to Kinshasa 605
DRC 606 – Angola 609)
The Nile Route 612 (Egypt 613 – Sudan 615 – Ethiopia 616 – The Omo
valley route to Kenya 617 – Kenya via Marsabit 618)
East Africa, Enzo Elphick-Pooley & Dawie du Plessis (Kenya 619 – Nairobi 620
Kenya to Tanzania 625 – South of Tanzania 626 – Tanzania to Malawi 629
Tanzania to Mozambique 631 – Mozambique 631 – Zambia to Botswana
632 – Zimbabwe 632)
Overlanding in Southern Africa, Pat Garrod 636
Shipping from South Africa to the UK, Jan Rutters 643
PART 11: LATIN AMERICA: ROUTE OUTLINES 646
Practicalities 646 – Map: Central & South America 649
Mexico and Central America, Graham Jackson 650 (Baja 653 – Mainland
654 – Belize 656 – Guatemala 658 – Honduras 659 – El Salvador 660
Nicaragua 660 – Costa Rica 661 – Panama 662)
Shipping around the Darien 663
South America 667 (Routes in South America 667 – Map: South America 668 Peru 673 – Bolivia 674 – Chile and Argentina 675 – Shipping out of
Buenos Aires, Kristin Brinner 679 – Colombia and Venezuela, Phil
Flanagan 680 – The Guyanas 678 – Northeast Brazil 684)
Across the Amazon north to south, Silviu Stanescu, Phil Flanagan 685
PART 12: NOTES FROM THE ROAD 690
The Trail of the Turtles Gary Wescott 690
Sahara: The Empty Quarter Chris Scott 696
Full Timing in the Hotel Benz Arno Waal 707
Learning to Live in the Now Richard & Amanda Ligato 712
Low Profile Overlanding Jurgen Stroo 717
The Rivers of Asia Charlie Weatherill & Nina Alton 721
Our Big Overland Adventure Hannah, Noah, Jake & Eden B 726
APPENDIX
A Short History of Roads 731
ABOUT THE OVERLANDERS’ HANDBOOK CONTRIBUTORS 735
SUPPLIERS’ DIRECTORY 736
INDEX 745
