Road tripping is a lot of fun and is an awesome way to explore the countryside off the beaten track. In the USA and other developed countries, all you need is a normal road car unless you are actually planning to go off-road. But in many countries around the world, the main roads are in a sorry state of affairs.
In some countries, there are officially roads and highways, but they may be little more than dirt tracks. If you really want to travel around these countries, you'll definitely need a 4WD, and in some cases, you're probably best off with a proper overlanding rig. Here are 10 countries you need a 4WD to explore.
10 Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The DRC is perhaps one of the most notorious when it comes to the quality of its roads. Some overlanding drivers have said that in some of the worst sections of roads, it may take a day to move just 3 km or 2 miles. Many of the DRC's roads have largely returned to the jungle or in the rainy season are just mud traps.
This is extremely adventurous if you are up for it. Just don't expect your vehicle to be in the same condition on the other side. In some cases, you need to buy the wood for the bridge from the local village. Sometimes you need the wood to build a new bridge or to replenish the bridge's planks of wood that have gone missing.
9 South Sudan
South Sudan had long been marginalized by northern Sudan, and after a long and bloody civil war, they achieved independence in 2011. At that time they did not have a single paved road.
In the years since independence they have been ravished by civil war and today, of their 17,000 km, or 10,500 miles of roads, they have 200 km — or 125 miles — of paved roads.
8 Central African Republic
Currently, the Central African Republic is ravished by civil war and the country is in dire straights and its roads are certainly not for your average city car.
As of a few years ago, the landlocked African country had some 23,000 km or 14,000 miles of roads and only some 643 km or 400 miles of it is paved.
7 Chad
Chad is a large African country stretching deep into the mighty Sahara. This unfortunate country has also been plagued by war, corruption, and poverty — just this year the president was shot and killed while visiting the soldiers battling the country's rebels.
Chad has a network of around 44,000 km or 27,000 miles of roads throughout the country. Only around 260 km, or 161 miles, of are paved.
6 Niger
As a measure against banditry, cars are reportedly banned from country roads in Niger after dark — except for buses, which normally have an armed soldier on board. This undeveloped, landlocked Sahara and Sahel country has around 19,000 km, or 12,000 miles, of roads.
The vast majority of which outside the capital are unpaved. They do have a paved (but potholed) highway connecting many of the main cities in the country.
5 Republic Of Congo
Not to be confused with the larger Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo has perhaps marginally better roads compared to its troubled neighbor. It has around 12,800 km, or 8,000 miles of roads, of which around 1,200 km or 800 miles are paved, according to older estimates.
In this tropical Central African country dominated by tropical rainforests, some of the transportation is on their (mostly) operational but limited rail network and by river.
4 North Korea
North Korea stands as a stark contrast to its southern neighbor. It is estimated to have around 31,200 km, or 19,400 miles of roads, of which only 1,717 kilometers, or 1,067 miles, are paved.
Furthermore, of the roughly 264,000 vehicles believed to be in use in 1990, the vast majority were believed to be in military service.
3 Papua New Guinea
Australia's colorful neighbor to the north and occupying the western half of the island of New Guinea, Papua New Guinea (PNG) is notoriously difficult to explore by road.
Tourists visiting this tropical island noted for its stunning birds of paradise will often fly from point to point on the island as a simple journey of only a few hundred miles may take days, if it's possible at all.
2 Gabon
Gabon is another Central African country whose roads are in very poor shape. Not only is it an impoverished country, but the tropical heavy rains make maintaining the road infrastructure very difficult.
They have an estimated 7,700 km, or 4,700 miles, of road infrastructure, of which around 630 km, or 390 miles, are paved according to some older estimates.
1 The Solomon Islands
Located on the equator in the Pacific Ocean north of Australia and just west of Papua New Guinea is the tropical island paradises of the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands are probably most well known in America for the World War Two Guadalcanal Campaign.
These impoverished islands have around 1,360 km, or 870 miles, of road infrastructure, of which around 33 km or 20 miles are paved.
In some parts of the world, just getting between major cities along the "major highways" qualifies as off-roading.