First overlanding trip ever – family of 4.

Posted by Lavrras@reddit | overlanding | View on Reddit | 3 comments

Hey everyone,

I’ve been lurking around this and finally decided to post because we’re seriously thinking about doing our very first overland-style trip this year.

We’re a family of 4 from the south of Portugal: 3 adults and one 7 year old kid. The plan is to leave around mid-October and head into Morocco with our vehicle: a completely stock 2004 Kia Sorento with AT tires.

To be honest, I don’t even know if this qualifies as “real” overlanding yet 😅
We have basically zero overland equipment or experience at the moment.

No rooftop tent, no recovery gear yet, no fridge setup, no drawer system, no fancy camp gear, nothing.... Ido have the standard Quechua tent. 2 of them 🤣

Just the car, the family, the will to go, and a huge desire for adventure.

The idea is:

Ferry from Spain to Morocco

About 5–7 days total

Mix of road driving and easy tracks

Focus more on scenery, culture, and the experience itself rather than hardcore off-roading

Probably sleeping in simple accommodations and maybe trying some camping later on

I’ve done plenty of normal road trips before, but never anything remotely close to overlanding.

So I have a few doubts:

Is a stock 2004 Sorento enough for beginner routes in Morocco?

Is October generally a good time for this?

Are we being too ambitious for a first trip with only one vehicle?

What would be the absolute minimum gear you’d consider essential?

Any beginner mistakes I should avoid?

I’d also love to hear from anyone who started small and simple instead of going all-in with expensive builds from day one.

Thanks in advance.

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DepartmentNatural@reddit

Just go camping, don't make this a big deal. Learn from what you want & things you didn't bring

DCTom@reddit

You don’t need any overlanding equipment to cover most of Morocco; there are plenty of good roads and cheap hotels, along with spectacular scenery. It is an excellent introduction to overland style travel.

That said, you should pay close attention to a few issues:
—some roads are not suitable for your vehicle—too sandy, etc. research roads in advance and know what you’re getting into; —even roads that are normally OK for your car might be rendered temporarily impassable by landslides or whatever, so keep doing your research and asking locals as you travel along.
—just in case, bring along basic necessities—food, water, blankets.

I’m not sure about the weather in October, but pay close attention to weather, especially if you head into the mountains. Roads can be washed out, and I seem to recall that many years ago a group of tourists died when they got stuck in a blizzard in the mountains.

But again, I think Morocco is a perfect overland-lite destination and a great place to figure out if you enjoy that kind of travel; and Morocco is big and diverse enough that you could go back there for years without seeing everything. Enjoy your trip, and keep safe!

dbrmn73@reddit

I'd suggest starting out with a 2 to 3 day trip locally to make sure its something you will actually enjoy as well as testing all your equipment.