An expedition camper is a recreational vehicle, commonly referred to as a motorhome or RV, designed for extended travel and capable of going to very remote locations.
There are some half decent motorhomes on the market, like those made by Winebago, but expedition campers are designed to go where the average motorhome can’t, or should never go; 4WD tracks, like the Canning Stock Route, beaches and “off the beaten track” locations like the Cape York Peninsula, for example. Taking a “standard” motorhome to any of these locations, if you were allowed, would probably result in it getting seriously stuck or falling apart.

Expedition campers come in many flavors; from the very simple to the extravagant.
In its simplest form, an expedition camper could be a four wheel drive vehicle, like a Toyota Hilux, fitted with a slide on camper body. At the other end of the scale there are companies like Unicat (Germany), and Global Expedition Vehicles (USA), that produce some exceptional vehicles. Both of these companies normally use large vehicles, like Man and Unimog, and build their own custom camper bodies for the rear.
In Australia there are also a few companies that build expedition campers. Three of those are All Terrain Warriors (Queensland), EarthCruiser (Queensland) and Amesz (Western Australia).
Some of these expedition campers are fitted out better than a luxury home, having all of the mod cons, and then some. Unfortunately, this all comes at a price; a very big price!!!

With an expedition camper you can have near total freedom in Australia and, if the vehicle is built with self sufficiency in mind, you can also stop wherever and whenever you like, not being restricted by the location of caravan parks. Unlike towing a caravan or camper trailer, there are no concerns about having to unhitch when the going gets rough. There are some good off road caravans out there but, as far as I know, there are some places in Australia where caravans are prohibited. An expedition camper does not have these restrictions, allowing you to setup camp pretty much anywhere. When there are few limitation on where you can go, finding a location with idyllic surroundings to setup camp is not that difficult. How good is that?

As I eluded to above, buying a commercially made expedition camper can be very expensive. One option, and the one I have chosen, is to build my own.
Find out more about why I decided to buy a Canter and build my own camper body by reading the article, “The search for a 4×4 motorhome”.