Expedition Conservation

27/05/2026

Getting all the necessary visas to drive through West Africa was a Project, to say the least. We gathered it all into one file to make your planning easier. 👇

Getting all the needed visas for driving through West Africa was a Project, to say the least. We gathered it all to a one file to make your planning easier.

21/05/2026

NUEVA BERLIN 🧡 After crossing the border from Argentina, we spent lovely days by Uruguay River in a municipal camping of Nueva Berlin savoring each sunrise and sunset.

The local dogs completely stole our hearts, they slept by the car the whole night and cuddled the chilly days with us. Oh, and we threw sticks, sometimes for hours. It was too hard, and heartbreaking, to leave!

If anyone in Uruguay or Argentina is looking for a loyal companion, please adopt one of the adorable strays at the municipal campsite of Nueva Berlin, unfortunately our Defender life doesn’t allow that 💔

10/05/2026

TOYS - We shared a campsite with a sweet Argentine family whose cool bus is turned into a toy factory. They invited us for a mate & waffles saving us from the crispy evening outside, and loaded us with tips for overlanding Argentina. They had explored the country for a year already selling their craft on the way - what a cool life on the road!

We’ve seen quite many ”bondi buses” touring South America, they’re usually equipped with all comforts from home - and a wood stove for heating! But 3D printers - locooo! 🤪

We were gifted our fav animals, thus an ellie & capybara duo will be guarding our trip from the Defender dashboard. Muchas gracias amigos! 🙌

Check Tresbondi’s travels & art: 🤩 All toys are plant-based and biodegradable. They also recycle excess material into plates etc.

08/05/2026

AUTUMN - Last days in Gualeguaychu have marked the end of our summer here in the southern hemisphere 🍁

Days have been crispy but mostly sunny. Night temps of 5-6 degrees have made us think of installing a diesel heater before the chilly Patagonian nights. Any happy Autoterm users here?

Some pics also from our latest furry friends 🐶 We wish you a happy weekend from Argentina!

27/04/2026

QUESTION: can we drive like this?

We have to find an easy way to bypass Defender’s leaking heater valve in the bush. Can we just connect these two hoses coming out from the valve?

As we arrived to Ibera National Park in Argentina, we had suddenly lost almost all coolant within 100 km drive. Luckily we have a Black Box monitoring system that alarmed us about low water level, and we topped up immediately driving just a few kilometers to the nearest camp.

Now we’re trying to find a bush fix to safely bypass the leaking heater valve. While most leaks are actually not Defender’s fault (only poor workmanship), this leak definitely is ”designed by Land Rover” 😅 After properly bypassing the heater unit in Africa for the very same reason, we finally installed a new, original heater valve in Finland and it showed first symptoms of weakness within only a few months 🙈

The plan is to replace the poorly designed (sorry Land Rover) plastic valve, which starts to leak from glued seams, whenever we can source a metal aftermarket spare from Europe. Now we just have to drive around 1000-2000 km safely to Uruguay. Can we do it like this?

20/04/2026

GOOD MORNING from Puerto Eva Perón, Argentina! ☀️

We woke up in the rooftent before 5AM to the sound of rain and approaching thunder. Decided to close the tent, brew coffee and enjoy the sunrise ✨

Snapped these shots playing with iPhone’s long exposure to get the same epic shades of red we witnessed.

We stayed at the municipal camping of Eva Perón. There were bathrooms, parrillas, a shelter from the rain, and even electricity - free of charge for visitors.

These brilliant, and mostly free, municipal campings were scattered around southern Brazil, too, and after struggling to find official campings in Paraguay & Bolivia, we’re very happy to enjoy them again here in Argentina. Gems for overlanders!

19/04/2026

In Formosa’s Laguna Oca we were warmly welcomed by the environmental police unit,
la Unidad Especial de Policía Ecológica. They ensure both the protection of the biosphere reserve and safety of visitors.

Muchas gracias por su hospitalidad 🙏

19/04/2026

ARGENTINA - Country number 38 for our African Land Rover! 🇦🇷

We’ve met so many incredible Argentenes already, from park rangers to random encounters at grocery stores or picnic sites, like yesterday in Laguna Oca Biosphere Reserve 😘

We were cooking a simple ravioli lunch, when a lovely family brought over delicious Argentinian asado 😋 They we fishing for some hours and the youngest girl stayed with us chatting and getting to know our overlanding lifestyle. Later, more people came fishing and greeting us. After the pink sunset faded (and mozzies took over), we were the only ones camping on the shore. What a serene spot, and perfect for overlanders!

Laguna Oca is located in the northeastern Argentina, just outside of the city of Formosa. It’s a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, which protects 10,500 hectares of wetlands, lagoons, and native forests along the Paraguay River.

Visiting and camping at the Oca Lagoon is free of charge. We choosed to stay at the furthest corner without facilities (other than a parrilla ie. a grill). It was more like a picnic site stay but TRANQUILO 🤙

BONUS: lots of birds 🐤 In just 2 days we’ve spotted herons, egrets, cormorants, caracaras, terns, jacanas, flycatchers, cardinals, emeralds, hawks, nightjars, owls, etc.

Muchas gracias Formosa! 🙌

12/04/2026

SIGNS - ant eaters, pumas, foxes 🦊🐆

While overlanding El Chaco region in northern Paraguay we’ve seen more signs and footprints than actual wildlife.
Chaco is known for night safaris, because most animals are shy and not used to humans. But with luck, you can see even pumas and jaguars.

We’ve spotted some deers, foxes, peccaries, and even flamingos during daylight hours - and it’s beautifully green at this time of the year 💚 Less than we hoped but there’s a big reason for it.

To our great surprise - and disappointment - Parque Nacional Chaco is closed until August. Thus, you can only visit some smaller reserves and projects (we’ll do another post about them soon).

TIPS FOR OVERLANDERS:
Roads are very good until Filadelfia, the main hub and mennonite settlement. From there, bumby and dusty (now also muddy) Trans-Chaco Highway ventures further north towards the remote ranger posts of Chaco National Park. There are no campsites but you can stay at the ranger stations - for free. Stock up everything in Filadelfia (fuel, food, drinks).

Chaco NP was our main reason to visit Paraguay. We probably wouldn’t have made the detour had we known about the closure. But then we would have missed a lot of cool experiences!

Full-time overlanding makes you flexible to change plans and make the best of your time on the road 🙌

06/04/2026

Hot springs in Bolivia ♨️

Some ”aguas termales” like Hoterma near Villamontes allow camping - perfect retreat for overlanders. We parked the Defender in the lodge’s picnic site for Easter and enjoyed thermal pools to the max!

This year Easter coincided with Niina’s bday, so we cooked and ate out to the max, too, consuming all coconut water and cool drinks we had stocked in Brazil 😅

Today we’ll cross the border to Paraguay, where we hope to get a better signal to wrap up recent adventures. Next up: Chaco National Park 🇵🇾