Vehicle-dependent Expedition Guide
Many clients and professional acquaintances have asked me how I gained enough confidence to tackle biological and photographic expeditions in four-wheel-drive vehicles, mostly solo, sometimes dozens or even hundreds of miles away from frequently traveled trails—or even completely off tracks (an assignment photographing fennec foxes in the Sahara comes to mind). I’m referring to areas where, if the vehicle breaks down or becomes stuck, and you can’t repair or recover it, your life will be in danger.
In the early days much of what I learned was through trial and error—lots and lots of the latter. I could have saved myself untold time and grief had I known about the Vehicle-dependent Expedition Guide.
The VDEG, as its aficionados refer to it, was first published in 1999 by Tom Sheppard, an ex-RAF test pilot with tens of thousands of miles experience of expedition travel in the Sahara, much of it off tracks and much of it solo. As a test pilot whose life depended daily on obsessive attention to detail, such attention was easy enough for him to transfer to expedition vehicles and expedition preparation.
VDEG went through three editions before Tom invited Jonathan Hanson on board as co-author in 2016. Hanson has six continents worth of his own overlanding and expedition experience, and has reviewed related equipment for over a dozen magazines for several decades. His contributions brought a lot of the equipment mentioned in VDEG up to date.
This is not a book to be read cover to cover. Within its 600-plus pages is exhaustive information that can be accessed as needed. Want to know how to ship a vehicle to Africa? Or how to pack that vehicle once you’re there? It’s in here. How about proper oils and fuel for that vehicle—and what vehicle would best suit your plans, anyway? You’ll find all that, plus driving and recovery operations, team selection, navigation, provisioning, and a lot more in the Vehicle-dependent Expedition Guide. You can find it in the U.S. at Exploring Overland, here.
