To honor the 20-year anniversary of Overland Journal, we are revisiting special heritage content in the upcoming 100th issue of the magazine. Originally published in Overland Journal’s Summer 2019 issue, this article is part of that celebration. I’ve had a few travel dramas in my time, but on my latest journey, a serious misfortune occurred….
Category Archives: Heritage
EP327 | Jonathan Hanson on Writing, Overland Conservation, and Land Cruisers
Overland Journal Podcast host Ashley Giordano interviews writer, ecologist, and Overland Journal Co-founder Jonathan Hanson for the publication’s 20-year anniversary. Hanson discusses his favorite expedition vehicles, including his 1973 FJ40 and a 1993 Land Cruiser Troopy that has traveled across Australia, Africa, and the US. He shares how early field-biology work and outdoor exploration shaped…
Magic Girl of the Pamirs
To honor the 20-year anniversary of Overland Journal, we are revisiting special heritage content in the upcoming 100th issue of the magazine. Originally published in Overland Journal’s Fall 2019 issue, this article is part of that celebration. It was another spectacular warm and sunny day in the mountains of Tajikistan, as warm as it gets…
Luminous Flux: Swim, Sink, or Shine; We Test Nine LED Driving Lights to Their Limits
To honor the 20-year anniversary of Overland Journal, we are revisiting special heritage content in the upcoming 100th issue of the magazine. Originally published in Overland Journal’s Gear 2013 issue, this article is part of that celebration. I distinctly remember the moment I became aware of auxiliary lights. I was 15 years of age and…
Classic Kit: The Hi-Lift Jack
To honor the 20-year anniversary of Overland Journal, we are revisiting special heritage content in the upcoming 100th issue of the magazine. Originally published in Overland Journal’s Winter 2012 issue, this article is part of that celebration. It is the unsung hero of expedition travel, an essential piece of kit that any mindful backcountry regular…
Classic Kit: The Pith Helmet
To honor the 20-year anniversary of Overland Journal, we are revisiting special heritage content in the upcoming 100th issue of the magazine. Originally published in Overland Journal’s Summer 2010 issue, this article is part of that celebration. Home, they say, is where you hang your hat. If that hat happened to be the legendary pith…
Story Time with John Blashford-Snell: The 1971-72 Darién Gap Expedition
Overland Journal Podcast host Ashley Giordano welcomes John Blashford-Snell, a British explorer, author, and former army officer known for leading pioneering scientific expeditions to some of the most remote regions on Earth. Born in 1936, he served in the British Army’s Royal Engineers before turning his focus to exploration and conservation. Blashford-Snell tells the story…
1966 Land Rover Series 2a Marshall Ambulance :: Feature Vehicle
The namesake of British explorer Ernest Shackleton is suitably the stuff of legends. This wheeled Sir Shackleton, who we’ll call “Shack” for brevity’s sake, is a 1966 Land Rover Series 2a Marshall ambulance. But we’ve already entered a shrouded realm of mythology. Though Shack’s registration papers designate his build year as 1968, the error in…
Oregon’s Alvord Desert | Overland Routes
The silence of the Alvord Desert is all-consuming. The column of quiet that descends on the dry lakebed in the evenings reaches through you. Sounds that would be swallowed by the regular cacophony of a workaday wilderness are amplified, like they’ve been plugged into a Marshall stack—the rumble of a pickup truck on the county…
The Drums of Tonkin :: Frank and Helen Schreider’s Indonesian Expedition by Amphibious Jeep
Photography by Frank and Helen Schreider Frank and Helen Schreider were preparing to leave for the island of Flores, Indonesia, when the village chief in Komodo brought bad news. “There is no road at Labuhan Badjo,” he said, running a calloused thumb eastward over their map. “It starts here, at Reo.” Their map of Flores…
Tom Sheppard on the Nobility of Wilderness, Crossing the Sahara, and Overlanding the Deserts.
Show Notes for podcast 157 Tom Sheppard on the Nobility of Wilderness, Crossing the Sahara, and Overlanding the Deserts. Summary: Scott Brady interviews the legendary Tom Sheppard, an icon of overlanding, and one of the most accomplished desert explorers in history. With overland projects and many solo, remote region, off-tracks Sahara expeditions to his name, Tom…
Toby Savage on Exploring and Photographing the World by Land Rover and WWII Jeep
Show notes for Episode 155: Toby Savage on Exploring and Photographing the World by Land Rover and WWII Jeep Summary: Scott Brady interviews desert explorer Toby Savage in episode 155 of the Overland Journal Podcast, a professional photographer, and Land Rover enthusiast. Tony shares his many adventures in his Land Rover and his significant work…
Unbreakable: Vasilisa Komarova’s Six-Year Journey to Justice
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Spring 2023 Issue. Illustrations by Wayne Watford. Editor’s Note: This article contains mature content that may be considered disturbing, particularly to victims of sexual assault or minors. Seven years ago, I was dispatched to London to deliver an enrichment program at the Apple Store in Covent Garden….
Rwandan Legacy
There is a mist that hangs over this small landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley. The clouds fall gently over the mountains, quietly holding the land and shrouded forests even when the sun shines. Rwanda is not the first place you would visit in Africa, but it’s a short distance from Tanzania or Kenya…
Paradise Found
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in Overland Journal’s Fall 2020 issue. On an evening in July 1985, Fat Paul Wonsok met Bros at Stan’s Bar at the Babanango Hotel in distant Zululand. Wonsok, so named because a goat once ate his other sock, had a proposal. Over brandy, he spoke of the Kgalagadi, the…
Deep Ozarks
White caps, like the peaks on my great-grandmother’s meringue, fill the road ahead. The waters are high and raging at a usually benign stream crossing deep in the Ozarks. It is late April and a wet and stormy spring in Arkansas. We had another downpour last night, the rain is still falling, and we’re in…
Shovels 101
Our resident archaeologist digs into the best shovels for overland vehicles.
Living Legends: Colonel John Blashford-Snell
Colonel John Blashford-Snell, explorer, leader of men, and renaissance man, shares his life of adventure.