Colombia overland
 

Anybody out there who has recently driven their own vehicle through Colombia. I have a trip coming up in July and am weighing up the pros and cons.

Cheers,
Sam.

Hi Sam,
We were planning a 2004 Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe bay trip. During the research we had feedback from a lot of people that it wasn't worth the hassle - including advice from Columbians in Columbia. I'm normally of an open mind, but the advice we universally received was don't bother going, and even if you do you'll be too stressed to enjoy it.

We were planning on shipping from Equador to Panama. But looks like we may be going to Mongolia instead now... To many places to see!

HTH,
Nick.

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www.nickt.com
96 BMW F650
96 Defender 90 300TDi
97 NAS D90
98 Camel Trophy 110

From somebody who has been to Afghanistan, no.

It's a bloody silly idea. Needless stupid risks, you can hardly go anywhere and it is extremely dangerous.

I too like the idea, but what is the point?

See the diary entries on http://www.ihana.com/big_trip/index.htm - Tom & Barry may say they are glad they did it now, but that wasn;t the impression i got from them when they were there through their emails. And also Ted Simon on www.jupitalia.com might answer some questions.

He has removed his diary entries though on Columbia. He meet an american who had just been released after quite a few months of being held hostage.

Also buy Noam Chomsky's CD on Columbia to have a chance at understanding what is going on there politically.

Also note, Columbians don't drive. They fly.

In my original post, I asked for people who had already driven their own car through Colombia.

As far as I can tell, Ihana did not drive through - it looks as if they back-packed, then collected the car in Venezuela - I emailled them last week to ask.

I am aware of the 'don't go' lobby (usually, sorry, from people who haven't been), I am interested to hear from people who went anyway.

Sam.

The Ihana guys shipped their landy into Columbia (they have a page describing how to do this on their website -

http://www.ihana.com/big_trip/diary/...g_colombia.htm

and drove out of Columbia to Vene. (North). Obviously they had to fly into Columbia. Perhaps you could try reading their website again - start here

http://www.ihana.com/big_trip/diary/...pril2002_1.htm

The reason they didn't do much within the country is because it's so dangerous to drive around.

Ted Simon approached from the south (motorbike).

Apologies for bothering to reply in the first instance. Won't happen again.

Thanks for that, I missed it the first time. Look forward to hearing from them.

Would still be interested to hear from anyone else who has done it.

Sam.