The Atlantic has a great set of images up on its site regarding the recently completed Dakar Rally. Check them out here.
Archives for category: South America
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Here’s a nice video compiling photos and footage of three 4x4s driving through Central and South America: a Land Rover Defender, a Toyota Land Cruiser 70-Series, and a Mitsubishi Delica. Some of the scenery and bridge crossings are jaw dropping.
Links to the three guys’ sites below.
Links:
Land Rover Defender: kontraer.com
Toyota Landcruiser: thebluetruck-e.blogspot.com
Mitsubishi Delica: dinoevo.de
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I found this great video on Expo the other day. In 1995 Austin Vince and seven friends went traveling around the world on motorcycles along the longest route possible. They started in their home country of England and covered about 40,000 miles visiting 44 countries. Great stuff.
In some ways motorcycles are the ideal overlanding platform. They’re inexpensive, sip fuel, can get through stalled traffic, or down the narrowest trail. In my experience, they’re two to three times faster over rough roads than 4x4s. And, as this beautiful video shows, they even work for very long distance travel.
Between 2010 and 2012 Alex Chacon, a recent BioMed graduate from the University of Texas, spent just over 500 days traveling up, down, and across the Americas, from Alaska to the Tip of South America, on his motorcycle, a 2007 KLR 650. It looks like it was a stunning trip. If you’d like to dig deeper, his YouTube channel covers his journey in twelve episodes.
Here’s more info on his KLR, the way he equipped it, and why he chose it over a BMW or KTM. He also set up a consulting service to assist other travels wanting to head south.
Update 5/14/2013: Here’s a WCXC post about the benefits of the KLR 650.
The Dakar Rally has been blasting across South America for more than a week now. If you’d like to follow the action, here’s a link to the official site: Dakar Rally 2013.
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Vincent Urban and his crew of friends have just finished another journey, this time through South America. Last winter I posted his first big video, a beautifully shot and edited Land Rover tour through Asia. This is one equally great. Go Vincent!
And thanks again for the tip, Greg!
It’s only a couple of months until the Dakar Rally starts up again in January. Until then you can watch the best of 2012 in this action packed video.
In western Brazil, north of the intersection of the Peruvian and Bolivian borders, lives a tribe that has never had contact with the outside world.
It turns out that time travel is possible and you don’t need a time machine to do it. Just travel sideways across the surface of the earth until you get to headwaters of the Andirá River. In so doing you will have traveled back tens of thousands of years. There will be problems in crossing this distortion in time, however. First of all, they’ll most likely shoot arrows at you if they see you coming. And you, with your modern germs and viruses, could kill them with a mere sneeze.
In fact, modern diseases, and land encroachment by loggers and oil drillers, are the main concerns of those advocating on behalf of these people. The above footage, filmed by the BBC, is fascinating. In lieu of time travel, it’s the next best thing.
Here’s a link to Survival International who working to bring attention to the situations faced by tribal peoples.
And here’s a petition you can sign on behalf of tribes in Peru.