Overland Expo 2015: a view by an outsider
http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/the-crazy-camping-rigs-at-americas-richest-off-road-adv-1705279152 will get you to piece written by someone with sleek writing skills who knows nothing about what we do ...
Forum Discussion
Robert: yet another lost world (undiscovered ecosystem) is discovered in Australia.
'Lost world' discovered in Australian rain-forest
Tuesday, October 29, 2013"
"Scientists have discovered a mini eco-system full of strange creatures in a remote territory of Australia. The 'lost world', as scientists are calling it, is believed to have remained undisturbed for millions of years." (Site: Unknown Country; The Edge of the World)
Australia is so vast, I'm sure we will be discovering "lost worlds" on that continent for at least the next Century.
Jefe:
What I wouldn't give to be able to travel the Baja in the '60s :B Forget about the Darien region, there are huge regions of the Mosquito Coast of Honduras, and RAAN and RAAS in Nicaragua yet unexplored! I was part of an effort to bring overlanding tourism into the Western regions of the Mosquito Coast of Honduras (which culminated in a book, and obliquely into an A & E TV documentary). "We" pioneered overlanding from Limon to near Palacios in the early '90s. Started with HiLux trucks, and pushed farther and farther into the coastal jungles (fording rivers, and many, many miles of mud). Most of our travel was in the black of night (far too hot in daytime), pushing through frontier cowboy towns (real cowboy towns, replete with wild-west gunfights in the streets), and all kinds of natural dangers (tropical storms, hellacious floods, the odd hurricane). That was from the early to late '90s (I pulled out in late '98 because of heat-related health issues: ie. working in 50C with 100% humidity 24/7 almost all year round can really wear on ya... LOL).
As far as I am aware, there has not been one single contiguous overland expedition across the Honduran Mosquitia, then across the Nicaragua RAAN and into RAAS, ever. Notwithstanding vehicles that have been "shipped" into the region via ocean-going cargo vessel from time to time and shipped back, a few at a time (land-locked in the region by rainforests / nearly impenetrable swamps / jungle), no one has made the crossing. In "the day", 4x4 vehicle floatation devices (portable ones) were very crude and prone to failure. One had to build a log raft, and rope the vehicle across the numerous rivers that cut across the coastal beaches. I could see the possibility of the first ever crossing by a light-weight pop-up truck camper sitting on an appropriately equiped HiLux, with newer truck floatation technology. The endeavor would be the equivalent of a Darien crossing into Colombia.
Another one I worked on (in 1992, just before the EZLN guerrillas invaded Chiapas; just after the mass return of refugees back to Guatemala) was the possiblity of an overlanding trail from Tziscao Village (in the Chiapas jungles of Mexico, bordering on Guatemala) all the way into the El Peten jungles of Guatemala. Bits and pieces of 4x4 tracks existed back then, however, there was no contiguous road (like today's relatively recently fully paved road, paid for by oil company money!) into Guatemala through Chiapas (and, across the Usamacinta River!).
'Lost world' discovered in Australian rain-forest
Tuesday, October 29, 2013"
"Scientists have discovered a mini eco-system full of strange creatures in a remote territory of Australia. The 'lost world', as scientists are calling it, is believed to have remained undisturbed for millions of years." (Site: Unknown Country; The Edge of the World)
Australia is so vast, I'm sure we will be discovering "lost worlds" on that continent for at least the next Century.
Jefe:
What I wouldn't give to be able to travel the Baja in the '60s :B Forget about the Darien region, there are huge regions of the Mosquito Coast of Honduras, and RAAN and RAAS in Nicaragua yet unexplored! I was part of an effort to bring overlanding tourism into the Western regions of the Mosquito Coast of Honduras (which culminated in a book, and obliquely into an A & E TV documentary). "We" pioneered overlanding from Limon to near Palacios in the early '90s. Started with HiLux trucks, and pushed farther and farther into the coastal jungles (fording rivers, and many, many miles of mud). Most of our travel was in the black of night (far too hot in daytime), pushing through frontier cowboy towns (real cowboy towns, replete with wild-west gunfights in the streets), and all kinds of natural dangers (tropical storms, hellacious floods, the odd hurricane). That was from the early to late '90s (I pulled out in late '98 because of heat-related health issues: ie. working in 50C with 100% humidity 24/7 almost all year round can really wear on ya... LOL).
As far as I am aware, there has not been one single contiguous overland expedition across the Honduran Mosquitia, then across the Nicaragua RAAN and into RAAS, ever. Notwithstanding vehicles that have been "shipped" into the region via ocean-going cargo vessel from time to time and shipped back, a few at a time (land-locked in the region by rainforests / nearly impenetrable swamps / jungle), no one has made the crossing. In "the day", 4x4 vehicle floatation devices (portable ones) were very crude and prone to failure. One had to build a log raft, and rope the vehicle across the numerous rivers that cut across the coastal beaches. I could see the possibility of the first ever crossing by a light-weight pop-up truck camper sitting on an appropriately equiped HiLux, with newer truck floatation technology. The endeavor would be the equivalent of a Darien crossing into Colombia.
Another one I worked on (in 1992, just before the EZLN guerrillas invaded Chiapas; just after the mass return of refugees back to Guatemala) was the possiblity of an overlanding trail from Tziscao Village (in the Chiapas jungles of Mexico, bordering on Guatemala) all the way into the El Peten jungles of Guatemala. Bits and pieces of 4x4 tracks existed back then, however, there was no contiguous road (like today's relatively recently fully paved road, paid for by oil company money!) into Guatemala through Chiapas (and, across the Usamacinta River!).
