Even though we all feel like we are experiencing mass tourism on overlanding tours, this is not the reality.

On the road, things are different. In my 120,000 kilometers of travel through Iceland, Europe, Africa, and South America, those who seek a quiet spot outside of urban areas in the evenings are typically alone.

Most 4x4 overlanders travel alone, but they occasionally run into each other at popular sightseeing spots such as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, national parks, guided tours (rafting, ziplining, diving), and so on.

They meet, but rarely.

The typical 4x4 vehicles are designed for autonomy of up to 10 days, which means that the frequency of necessary procurement for water, food, and fuel is relatively low.

For example, Brummie had 280 liters of diesel, 85 liters of water, a 15-liter cooler, a 15-liter freezer, a solar panel, and a board battery. With two travelers, you can easily live off the vehicle for 12 days, and on day 12, there were still two steaks to cook on the campfire.

So the intersections for meeting each other are even lower.

I have never seen an overlander camping in nature on a motorcycle during my travels. Otherwise, I would certainly offer them a cold and invite them to the campfire in the evening.

It is likely that the majority of motorcycle overlanders opt to stay at campsites or hostels. (we travellers by 4x4 try to avoid camspites & hostels)

Today, travel behavior seems to be changing, especially because famous influencers (+1 million followers) seem to prefer traveling in groups for creating content (mentioned at Buschfunk). I don't know if it's a lack of adventurous spirit or the desire to create content together.

Surfy

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About Overlanding, Travelogues, Equipment
Trans-Africa over the west coast

A couple of photos of en-piste meetings with ever-friendly 4x4 owners. The first was four Spanish guys, I was descending from the top of the Dades route. It was a real hot day and they invited me over for a couple of ice-cold San Miguel lagers and a bocadillo de jamon.

The second is a couple I've met before whose name escapes me (Charles, maybe), this was on the link piste between the Todra and the Dades.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

As for bikers camping in nature...



Number one with my son-in-law

Second with no tent, just a groundsheet to pull over once I got into the sleeping bag. It was at 2200m and got real cold.

I was fond of the basic tent in third example. This was starting to pack away.

Another night without a tent. Also without sleeping mat, sleeping bag and everything else. I was overcome with tiredness, night was drawing in. All I had was my emergency bag. It got down to 0ºC in the early hours. Every so often I would fire up the engine to stick some heat into my electric jacket.

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

As a 4x4 person, I've shared s and travel with many on 2 wheels, non of the mysterious animosity the OP mentions.

At the moment I'm waiting to hear if a bike who had a serious accident in the Western Sahara has arrived back home on the medivac flight after I spend several days assisting with customs and bike storage while he recovers

There's some truth in this I think, Surfy. I certainly feel that there has been a growing tendency to take more of a 'tickbox' approach to overland travel in recent years - i.e. to go to a country and your own vehicle, and to focus on seeing a list of the better known sites/rides/locations.

I have also wondered whether this has been fuelled by social media - you only have to look at content on YouTube etc and you'll see that people posting for [x] country all post very similar videos.

My experience on the ground last summer in Georgia/Armenia mirrored that - in the 3 months I was fortunate to have there, I rarely saw other overland motorcyclists or trucks outside of the better known locations.

None of this is meant as a criticism, I should add. If you have the privilege of being able to travel, particularly on a motorbike or car, then we are all 'tourists' whether we like it or not; though I think there are a lot of people in the overland community who activity seek to claim otherwise, which is rubbish IMO.

I've travelled that way in the past though nowadays I prefer a different approach; I find it far more rewarding to focus on a particular area (rather than a specific number of locations), exploring it in-depth.

Three reflections on this:

1) The accessibility of adventure vehicles and growth of overland travel, combined with social media, is likely a factor because it is becoming more mainstream as a result.
2) As the number of people doing it grows, then the reality is that overland travel will become less of preserve of the 'hardcore' and become another form of popular tourism. Not everyone has the inclination or ability to do multiple trips, so they have to go for breadth over depth.
3) And for many people, maybe that approach is just enough.

Some Sunday evening musings whilst drinking a cuppa of tea in a rather nippy London.

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Where Next Barney? Buenos Aires to Lima 2015 | London to Sydney 2015/6 | Armenia, Georgia & the FYR 2022 | Algerian Sahara 2023.