Daring destinations (or so you thought)

The Lebanon is for wimps and you can even get travel insurance for your holiday in Colombia. The really risky places are often not where you would think. By Jeremy Atiyah

Jeremy Atiyah 

Sunday, 23 February 1997

A risky adventure is the last thing that most holiday-makers are looking for when they jet off from Gatwick or Manchester. But for the more intrepid "real" travellers, who positively enjoy getting off the beaten track, an element of adventure (read: risk) is an essential part of the experience. The two British travellers who yesterday passed their 600th day as hostages of a political group in Kashmir surely once dreamed of adventure. But which places are unacceptably dangerous to visit even for the most hardened traveller? And how can you work this out before you get into trouble?

One way is to find out whether your insurance company offers cover for the place you are going to. Columbus Travel Insurance currently rate a number of places as War Zones - where full-scale fighting is involved - for which they will not provide any insurance cover at all.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) also has a list of countries to which they advise against "all travel". The 14 places currently on this list include perennial disaster zones (Afghanistan, Somalia), "enemy" nations (Iraq), and obscure disputatious corners such as Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea.

In terms of casualties though, there can be a fine line between a War Zone and an area of high criminality. Colombia, for some reason, is not considered a war zone - despite the fact that getting on for one person in a thousand of the population is murdered every year (at this rate, one in 15 of all Colombians is destined to be murdered). Although most of the killings are political, foreigners have also been in the firing line, with kidnappings and disappearences regular occurrences.

Is tourism remotely feasible in such an environment? Toby Follet, a television producer recently returned from Colombia, says yes. "Away from the Bogota slums, it feels completely safe and tranquil, as long as you don't read too much about the dangers. Conspicuously rich foreigners are a target, but scruffy backpackers, for example, are probably the safest people in the country. Most of the killings are political, after all." Columbus Travel Insurance seems to agree; it will offer cover for your trip to Colombia, though with a "loaded" premium.

The Americas are generally more crime-ridden than the Old World and the USA is no exception, with a murder rate three or four times that of Europe. The murders of several Europeans in Florida have caused particular alarm in recent years and the FCO, while admitting that most travellers visit Florida without difficulty, emphatically warns tourists to take precautions such as not stopping if their car is bumped from behind, and not sleeping in vehicles in rest areas.

Not that Europe itself is totally risk-free. Although nobody is advising you not to go there, it does appear that whole swathes of eastern Europe are currently on the verge of collapse, particularly Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia.

On the other hand, anyone considering a visit to Bosnia - where several hundred thousand people have been killed in the recent war - will be interested to know that they now have the chance to do so for the first time in years. Not only can you buy travel insurance for Bosnia, but tour operators such as Dat Travel will organise tailor-made trips for you. Flights from London to Sarajevo (via Zagreb) are also available on Croatian Airlines. Before packing your bags however, note that the FCO still advises against travel to Bosnia "unless on essential business".

Another part of the globe sometimes perceived as hostile to Western tourists is the Arab world and the Middle East, though this fear is very largely misplaced. Countries such as Iran, Syria and Lebanon not only welcome tourists but are in fact very safe places to travel.

Algeria, on the other hand, where a string of Europeans have recently been murdered, is certainly classed as a War Zone by both insurers and the FCO, though interestingly, the Algerian Embassy in London dispute this, insisting that the major cities are safe to visit and that visas are still routinely being issued. "Just don't go off into the countryside on your own," an embassy spokesman suggested.

A Middle Eastern country whose London embassy has not issued tourist visas for nearly twenty years is Afghanistan. But Suzy Price, a BBC correspondent recently based in Kabul, recalls that stray backpackers did still occasionally materialise in Kabul from nearby Pakistan. "Tourists were all brought directly to the BBC by the militias," she says. "We acted as a kind of tour guide to get them out of the country again."

Africa is probably the continent with the largest number of countries unsafe to visit. Tourism to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Central African Republic, Somalia, Angola, Zaire, Rwanda, and Burundi is currently considered inadvisable by the FCO, and even the new star in the firmament of African tourism - South Africa - has a serious crime problem, with tourists counted among the victims.

All in all, the world is a seriously dangerous place for those who like it that way. But if you prefer safety, why not instead try Lichtenstein, where crime is officially described as a "minor problem".

FACT FILE

Foreign and Commonwealth Office Advice Unit: 0171-238 4503

Columbus Travel Insurance: 0171-375 0011

Dat Travel: 0171-3796249

Croatian Airlines: 0171-306 3138