We've been in South America since the beginning of January 2026, and it's been a different world. This is not Africa, but we've liked it nevertheless.
We are still falling behind on our stories from last year’s expedition through West Africa; next up is a recap of our time in Ghana on our Substack publication. And after that, there are still many countries to go.
However, we wanted to write a more real-time update this time.
It was late April already when I wrote this, and now, very soon we will again have our “Summer break” from overlanding, and we are flying back to Finland to spend the beautiful northern summertime with our families, friends, and the brown bears! 🐻
Honey Badger the Defender will stay in a safe indoor storage facility, and we decided to store her in Uruguay, from where we started this “introductory” first round here in South America. Another option would have been Buenos Aires, but we found better storage in Uruguay.
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Doing the Rounds in South America
We have seen a lot and driven quite a few kilometers since January.
We started in Uruguay, continued north to Brazil to the Pantanal, and then briefly to Paraguay. Changed plans, went back to Brazil, and crossed into Bolivia. And from Bolivia back to Paraguay and then over to Argentina, before driving back towards Uruguay.
You can check our route map here.
It seems pretty irrational, right? Especially when most people just drive south towards Patagonia and then up the coast to the north. We will drive down to Patagonia when we return after the Finnish summer, around early October.
But the main reason we did a loop like this was that we absolutely wanted to go to the Brazilian Pantanal to see and photograph jaguars – a plan we made a reality!
Was it worth it? Absolutely!
If you already want to read more about that, below is Piritta’s post about the Pantanal’s jaguars in her photography Substack 👇
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Into the Wild with Camera
Photographing the Jaguars in the Rainy Season in Pantanal, Brazil
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Brazil is not on many overlanders' lists when driving the Pan-American, but they are missing out on a lot! Brazil turned out to be one of our favorite places on this round. Friendly people, moderate prices, amazing wildlife, and awesome balneários.
And even Portuguese turned out not to be a problem (unlike in Angola). Google Translate came to the rescue many times, and it really helped.
Can’t wait to start writing out these South American adventures of ours. But first, we’ll have to close up West Africa.
One of the new road signs we’ve encountered here in South America – beware of the Anteaters!
South America has certainly not been like Africa, and yes, we have been missing Africa a lot on many occasions. We spent more than six years there, and it's imprinted so deeply into our hearts and souls that it will never leave. A part of us is always there.
We have seen some awesome wildlife here, like Giant Anteaters, Tapirs, Jaguar, and Capybaras, but we sometimes still can’t help but miss, i.e., elephants. But well, we’ll return to Africa someday, but now it’s time for this different era.
Many things have been so much easier here in South America than in Africa.
Most prominently, maybe the border crossings. All the chaos of papers, fixers, stamps, small payments, negotiating, etc., is totally missing. We’ve been just cruising through, and it’s been so refreshing.
Unfortunately, we’ve had a few unexpected problems with the Landy while here in South America (mainly electrical), but luckily, they have all been sorted out.
During our whole crossing of West Africa and Europe, we had absolutely none, so maybe something was expected to come up at some point (?). New batteries are still on the list, but that’s not such a big thing, either.
These guys have been so fun – the capybaras!
The Bears Are Waiting, and We Must Go
For the last five years, we have always flown back to Finland for our families, friends, and work. Though our work there doesn’t really feel like work, as it’s bear guiding. 😎
But the Borealis summer is also a much-needed break for us from full-time overlanding, and it always feels great to go back “home” for the 3-4 months to reset physically, mentally, and spiritually.
And the first bears have awakened already!
For those of our newer subscribers who don’t know yet, we work as bear (photography) guides in Kuusamo, northern Finland, where we take travelers to see Finland's brown bears (Ursus Arctos) from comfortable log buildings (called hides) amid the taiga wilderness near the Russian border.
It’s a really wild and beautiful area of Finland with abundant wildlife and few people. And we love it! So, we are really looking forward to it already.
We’re looking forward to seeing our bear friends (we do see some of the same individual bears every year, so seeing them again feels like seeing your old friends ;), walk through the forests and swim in the clear lakes, because then we can truly recharge.
Our northern home, Finland, is at its best during the summer.
Some people will disagree with this because they love winter, but we don’t. Couldn’t take the months of darkness and coldness anymore after all our years in Africa. Fortunately, we don’t have to, as we can seamlessly combine our two different worlds of full-time overlanding and bear guiding. And we are so grateful for that.
It feels like the time has flown by so quickly since the beginning of January, when we picked up our Defender from the container and started our expedition here in South America.
Time truly flies when you are having a good time. :)
We have some pretty nice views in Kuusamo, Finland. It’ll be great to see this scenery again.
So, soon, Honey Badger the Defender will have her rest, and we will fly back to Finland for the “break”. But we will continue writing these posts throughout the northern Summer. So stay tuned!
Hopefully, you enjoyed this small real-time recap. We wish you a beautiful week! ❤️
Stay Wild, Free & Grateful,
Piritta & Niina
Expedition Conservation