What is overlanding? The journey is the point

Originally published on MotoSutra in November 2020, and re-verified against current reference material during this recovery. Unlike the mechanical explainers linked beside it, this one is written in the first person about a habit rather than a mechanism, and the voice has been kept intact.

Editing done to it. Spelling slips and mistranscriptions have been corrected — off-grid for what read as “off-grade”, fording for “forging”, recovery gear for “recover gear” — and two factual claims have been dealt with in place rather than deleted: the single-origin story of the word itself now reads as a lineage, and one product reference has been narrowed to the part that could be confirmed. Everything in those two paragraphs is mine; the article itself begins below them.

The last section is not historical. The closing passage on India was written in 2026 for this republication and is separated by a rule so the 2020 article can be read as what it was. It should not be quoted as something the original said.

Overlanding is a widely growing trend that most people have heard of and comparatively few have experienced. So the question is worth answering properly: what is overlanding?

What is overlanding?

Overlanding is a self-reliant journey to remote locations — and it is the journey that is the adventure, not the destination. It is vehicle-dependent travel, and it usually involves a vehicle capable of going off-road, taking travellers onto tracks that few people use. Overlanders generally camp where they stop, and try to be self-sustaining for an extended period.

So what does that actually mean?

Personally, I think it is an experience you have to live to really understand. But it all starts with an adventurous spirit and an almost unreasonable desire to go out and explore.

We leave places of creature comfort, and the madness of day-to-day life, for the plain love of exploration. The origin of the word itself is worth a paragraph.

Softened. The 2020 article stated that the term “originates from Australia”, as a settled fact. A single clean origin is not something the evidence supports; what is commonly described is a lineage rather than a birth. The account goes roughly like this: “overland” travel meant moving over the land rather than by sea or rail, and in Australia the phrase attached itself to covering long distances across the interior — the droving routes, and later the work of the crews who opened tracks into country that was described as wilderness. The modern hobby sense, in which the vehicle and the route matter more than the arrival, grew out of that usage in Australia and South Africa and was carried from there. Treat it as a plausible history of a word, not a fact to quote.

Now, having said something about where the word comes from: the machines that carry it.

The vehicles used for the journey

The first rule of thumb is that there is no perfect rig to chase, especially if you are just getting into it. The saying is that the best rig for overlanding is the one that will actually get you to where you are going.

When you are choosing a vehicle, or modifying one you already have, a few things matter more than the badge.

Capability comes first: the ability to get across rocky ground, mud and cross-axle situations, and to cope with water crossings, side slopes, climbs and descents. That is a major advantage over anything that cannot.

Modifications can help, and are not always necessary depending on the terrain and the kind of trip you are running. What they do is buy you margins.

Upgrades, and why clearance comes before power

A suspension lift buys ground clearance to get over large rocks, deep mud, ruts and water. Gas-charged shocks, monotube units or bypass shocks are chosen because they are built to absorb more abuse, and because they soak up harsh ground instead of sending it into your spine over the course of a day.

The other big element is wheels and tyres: a larger diameter, and a shift to a hybrid, all-terrain or mud-terrain tyre.

Tyres

Big, knobbly tyres are the upgrade that most people should do first. They give traction and clearance, and they are built to survive sidewall cuts and punctures, which makes them one of the best places to put money before you set off.

Once you are carrying tyres chosen for a purpose, it starts to make sense to have them mounted on wheels built to take the same abuse.

Verified and narrowed. The 2020 article named a specific product line, “Method race wheels in the 700 series”, with a feature it described as bead grip. Checking that claim during this recovery: Bead Grip is a real, named rim feature that Method Race Wheels markets, and the description the article gave of what it does is accurate — the shaped rim edge helps hold the tyre’s bead seated so you can run much lower air pressure for grip without the tyre unseating itself. The “700 series” model number could not be confirmed, so it has been dropped; keep the feature and the reason, not the figure.

Running low pressures is exactly the point. Air down, the tyre’s footprint spreads over soft or broken ground instead of skating across the top of it, and traction improves for it. Bead retention is what stops that being dangerous.

Durability and reliability

Arguably the most important thing about your rig is that it endures, and durability and reliability are two different properties that get confused. The vehicle has to be tough enough to take a beating without breaking, and dependable enough not to break down in exactly the wrong place — the side of a hill, or mid-river.

Because overlanding is self-reliant, that means the right gear, a properly maintained vehicle, and enough supplies to last whether the trip runs to days, weeks or longer. Planning the trip is part of doing it.

What to carry

There are thousands of new products reaching the market every year, which tells you something about how the overlanding market has grown over the last decade.

But the essentials before you leave are simple. Most importantly, food and a great deal of water — and a decent water filtration system cuts the weight you have to carry and gets you through an emergency if one arrives. Freeze-dried packets and MREs are popular among overlanders because they are effectively ready to eat as soon as the packet is opened or water goes in.

The list of essentials

Proper clothing for the weather you will actually be travelling through. Desert running is inherently different from crossing the Rockies, so dress and plan for the one you are doing. Then emergency equipment:

• enough food, water and clothing
• fire starters, for warmth in cold climates
• a fire extinguisher, or more than one
• torches, tools for breakdowns and changing a tyre, a plug kit
• medical supplies: bandages, a tourniquet, disinfectant
• recovery gear: a winch, a recovery strap, shackles
• a communications system you can rely on

That last one is the tricky one, because what works depends on where you are going, and it is worth researching which systems actually cover the area before you set off rather than discovering it there.

Most overlanders vehicle-camp, and rooftop tents are the common sight. But if you ever had to leave the vehicle behind, a collapsible pole tent in nylon keeps the weather off you, and it weighs almost nothing.

So, to answer the question

Overlanding is more than driving around off tarmac. It is about the journey, the places you get to, the people you meet and the obstacles you sort out on the way.

There is something about reaching a remote campsite that almost nobody has been to. Some of the best conversations I have ever had in my life have happened around a fire, eating freeze-dried meals, under the stars, with some of the best friends a person can have.

If you are an adventure-seeking outdoor purist and you have never been overlanding, the question is: what are you waiting for? Pick up a decent four-by-four, get some wheels, tyres and suspension, and you are ready for the roads less travelled.

I’m Rahul from MotoSutra, and I’ll see you guys out on the trails.

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Added in 2026: how this reads from India

This section is new. It was not part of the 2020 article above, and it is separated deliberately so the historical piece stays intact.

The 2020 article was written in the vocabulary of a market with wide, empty, well-serviced dirt — the Rockies, the outback, MREs bought from a catalogue. India’s version of the same activity has a different shape, and the differences are not cosmetic.

The routes are shorter and harder. Indian overlanding runs largely through the Himalaya and the Ghats: high-altitude cold desert, single-track mountain roads, river crossings that are trivial in April and serious in July, and long stretches with no recovery service because there is no road to bring one on. That shifts weight away from the “lift and big tyres” answer and toward the things that fail first in that environment — cooling at low air density, tyre supply in an unusual size, and the ability to fix the vehicle where you are standing.

Altitude changes the engine’s behaviour. A naturally aspirated petrol engine loses power as the air thins, roughly in proportion to the loss of oxygen, which is why a vehicle that overtakes comfortably at sea level becomes an effort above 3,000 metres. Turbocharged diesel and turbocharged petrol engines are less penalised because the compressor is already doing the work that thin air takes away. Anyone planning a high crossing on a modestly-powered engine should plan the gear, the speed and the overtaking accordingly.

Modifications are not free in the way they are elsewhere. Lifting a vehicle, changing tyre sizes, fitting bumpers, bull bars and winches touches the structure recorded on a vehicle’s registration, and the consequences run through roadworthiness inspections and, importantly, insurance: a modified vehicle can create a dispute about what was fitted when something goes wrong. This is a live practical constraint for anyone building a rig here, and the specific requirements vary by state and change. Check the current rules with your RTO and your insurer before spending money on hardware, rather than after.

Permits, not just planning. Large parts of the interesting map — border and inner-line areas — require permits, and those requirements differ for Indian nationals and foreign nationals and change with the season and the administration. Getting the paperwork right is part of the trip in the way that checking tyre pressures is.

The self-reliance still translates. Everything the 2020 article said about durability, recovery gear, water, and having a plan for the moment the vehicle cannot go on, applies completely. What India adds is distance-to-help being measured differently, and a supply chain for parts that rewards carrying your own.

If you want the vehicle side of this — what is actually sold here and what it costs — the catalogue covers it, and the guides index is where the buying decisions live.