Books that Inspired You to Get into Overlanding

[xybjka97k]

I thought I'd start a thread for people to post details about books they have read that inspired them to get into overlanding.

Here are three from my own bookshelf I have selected. They all have an Australian slant of some kind:

1. African Adventure (A Senile Safari), Hazel Barker 1995. By the 1990's I'd been in the 4WD scene for a while when I saw a magazine article about a couple that had embarked on an overland trip in Africa in an Australian-registered Landcruiser. Hazel and David drove from Cape Town to London, then across Russia, years before the Trans Siberian Highway was finished. Shipping the Landcruiser back to Australia. They later shipped the same Landcruiser back to Vladivostok ad drove it back to Europe. I couldn't get this book in Tasmania at the time, so I contacted Hazel herself and she sent me my prized, signed copy.

2. Bush Tucker Man, Les Hidins 1996. Les Hiddins is an Australian legend and an expert on survival in Australia for the Australian Army. He follows the routes of many European explorers in northern Australia highlighting how they could have survived when they perished and why some expeditions flourished by eating native food. The book also details a number of excellent overland tracks some of which I have travelled myself.

3. Safe Outback Travel, Jack Absalom 1976. This is the classic Overlanders book, way before the term ovelander was widely used for what we do now. The book is written before 4WD was common place and many of the modern navigation and communications aids existed. Some of the ideas seem antiquated indeed, but then vehicles in the 1970's weren't as reliable and didn't have the range that we take for granted now. Still, to a ten year old it inspired me to want to explore this country.

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Perhaps you could post a few of your own.
Books have definitely played a huge role in that for me, shaping my understanding of what’s possible. I remember getting completely hooked on overlanding stories and then needing to put those thoughts into words for a project. That’s when I stumbled on 99papers—helped me organize my ideas without losing that personal connection to the journey. Funny how reading about adventures can push you to start your own, even if it’s just through writing first!

Overlanding has this unique way of capturing the imagination

 

[CR-Venturer]

I was surprised and delighted to find out that a new printing run of 20,000 Miles South was done in February of last year! Anyone wanting a paper copy of this outstanding book can find a new softcover edition on Amazon and other book retailers.

In a related and somewhat sad note, I also found out that the co-author, Helen Shreider, passed away just this year, February 6th 2025, at the age of 98. Helen and Frank absolutely deserve to be remembered as two of the greatest adventurers of the 20th century, not only for their amazing journey from Circle, AK to Ushuaia, Argentina, but also for their amazing journey mapping the amazon as well as other expeditions they undertook to Africa and Indonesia.

May they rest in peace and pass into legend.

 

[Uniquely Us Adventures]

Scott Brady’s overland book is now available for preorder if you need a new read.
Here is the Amazon link to it.

https://amzn.to/3XOjOdx