Jim Eagles: Surviving the world's hot spots

COMMENT

It's a dangerous world out there. But is that a reason to stay at home? Not really. It's more a reason to be careful.

After all, countries officially classified as having "some risk" now include the US and Britain, which are second and fourth on the list of places Kiwis visit most often.

Australia, by far the most common destination when we go abroad, isn't on the warning list yet, but it is certainly spoken of as a potential terrorist target because of its support of the war in Iraq.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade now lists 68 countries which to varying degrees are risky to visit.

Which rather begs the question: where can you go that is completely safe?

Well, there's nowhere that is completely safe. You could be hit by a truck while driving to Auckland International Airport.

But if you behave sensibly, most foreign countries are at least as safe as the airport expressway, and maybe a bit safer.

New Zealand millionaire Alan Gibbs has just returned safe and sound from a holiday in war-torn Afghanistan, which is rated as an area of "extreme risk".

And Gibbs says he doesn't recall hearing a shot fired during the whole time he was there, and never felt in danger.

In fact he reckons the biggest risk to life and limb in Afghanistan is the crazy style of driving and the appalling state of the roads.

Maybe Gibbs was lucky.

But the fact is that around the world crazy drivers are a much greater hazard than crazy bombers, and if you're going to be unlucky it is just as likely to be in Kingsland as in Kabul.

And for many people a slight element of risk, whether it be wildlife walks in Africa, caving in the central North Island, shark diving in Fiji or even surfing at Piha, adds a certain frisson to the experience which makes it especially worthwhile.

Even the ministry, which naturally tends to err on the side of caution, doesn't warn against going to the places it classifies as being at "some risk".

Rather, it suggests exercising caution, something which is always advisable in a foreign land.

Countries on its low-level risk list include: Bahrain, Bolivia, Cambodia, Egypt, Guatemala, the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, most of Lebanon, Oman, Oaoua, New Guinea, Qatar, Solomon Islands, much of Southeast Asia including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, most of East Timor, Laos, most of Malaysia, most of Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, Spain, most of Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe.

In most cases the risk identified is from the possibility of a terrorist attack such as those in Bali and Madrid, and the ministry's basic advice is to steer clear of bars, nightclubs and commercial premises with a strong Western identity which might be attractive to bombers.

In most other places the ministry mentions - and in a great many it doesn't - the best advice is just to be sensible, avoid walking through dark places late at night, taking doubtful taxis or going to isolated areas on your own.

The ministry does suggest deferring non-essential travel to areas it classifies as "high risk" and backs this up with a dark warning that it "may have specific indications of possible location, timing or place of threatened action from sources that may be regarded as reliable".

The "high risk" list includes: Kabul, Angola, Central African Republic, Brazzaville Congo, Guinea-Bissau, the Indian states of Assam, Nagaland, Tripura and Manipur, most of Indonesia including Bali, most of Israel, Kenya, the Transdniestria region of Moldova, Nepal, much of the Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Montenegro, Sierra Leone, northern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Turkey.

But, without being silly about it, the fact is a lot of tourists are still going to places like Bali, Kenya, Nepal, the Philippines, Israel and Turkey and getting home safely.

If you avoid obvious trouble spots and exercise common sense, the likelihood of running into strife is reasonably low, though you'd have to accept that it still exists.

Then there are the countries classified as "extreme risk", where the ministry strongly advises against all travel because of ongoing "conflict, war or civil disturbance".

They include: most of Afghanistan, Albania's border with Kosovo, Algeria, the Nagornokarabach region of Azerbaijan, Burundi, Chad, Colombia, Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire, the East Timor/West Timor border region, Indonesian provinces of Aceh, Papua, Sulawesi and the Belu district, northern Ecuador, the border areas of Eritrea and Ethiopia, Guinea, Haiti, the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and border areas with Pakistan, Iraq, the Israel/Lebanon border, West Bank and Gaza, the Egypt/Gaza border, Lebanon's North Bekka'a Valley, large areas of Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, the Eastern Sabah region of Malaysia, the Thai/Myanmar border, Nigeria's Bakassi Peninsula and the border with Cameroon, Pakistan, the Mindanao region of Philippines, Russia's Chechen and North Caucasus regions, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.

Most of those are not spots where the average traveller would wish to go anyway, though adventurous types like Gibbs seem to manage it safely enough and have a great time.

If you have a hankering to do that sort of thing then a good starting point is www.comebackalive.com, a website established by adventurer Robert Young Pelton, who has made a living out of visiting dangerous places and writing about them.

The website carries his stories about adventures everywhere from Afghanistan and Albania to Uganda and the US.

You can buy "The World's Most Dangerous Places" T-shirts, caps and stickers featuring a skull in shades laughing at danger.

There's a Black Flag Cafe where adventurous types can chat online about their experiences.

And Young Pelton offers a heap of useful advice on what gear to take - one tip is to take gifts like pens with your name printed on them and balloons for the kids - when heading for danger spots.

It's fascinating stuff, even if you're more of an armchair thrillseeker.

A chap who, according to his website, has challenged headhunters to chug-a-lug contests, engaged in target practice with Kurdish warlords and called the Taleban a bunch of women to their face and got away with it obviously knows a bit about survival.