There are places in the world where pirates, drug lords, armed robbers,
or terrorists would kidnap you, gun you down, or slice you up without a second
thought. There are places where you could burn or freeze to death before you even know what’s
happening to you. There are even places where, if you step foot in the wrong area,
you could be blown into a pink mist by an undetonated World War One munition.
And as your personal anti-travel agents, we’re here to tell you about all of those and more!
Make sure you watch all the way through to ensure that your next family vacation doesn’t
become another horrifying data point in Worst Places in the World to Travel Part Three! So,
let’s put on our body armor, radiation suits, and gas masks,
and take flight on a crash course through the world’s most dangerous places!
Let’s start with something a little more familiar: Mount Everest, Nepal. It’s one
of the most recognized natural landmarks on earth, as well as the world’s tallest mountain,
at 8,848 meters or around 29,000 feet. Some eager mountaineers have paid over $50,000
for guided climbs to the mountain’s highest peak, and if you decide to pay that hefty sum,
you’re likely to see some of the multi-colored frozen corpses of the over 330 people who’ve died
on the mountain in recorded history. Why are all these corpses left up there, you may ask?
The trip is dangerous as it is, so in most cases, it simply isn’t worth risking another
fatality to retrieve the bodies. And we’re sorry to tell you that this is actually getting worse:
In 2023 alone, it’s believed that 17 people have died on the mountain due to increasingly
severe weather conditions thanks to our old pal climate change. We personally wouldn’t advise you
to try your own climb on the iconic mountain - Because you just might become a part of it.
But if you’re an American, fear not - You don’t need to travel all the way to Nepal
to die on a famous mountain. You can just make a trip to Mount Washington, USA. At
just over 6,000 feet or 1829 meters tall, this New Hampshire behemoth has taken 160 lives since
record-keeping began in 1849. What makes this scenic mountain such a deadly place to travel to?
It’s been the site where the highest wind speed in the last 60 years was recorded,
231 miles per hour (372 km/h) back in 1934, as well as having been recorded hitting
temperatures of -50 degrees Fahrenheit (-46 degrees Celcius). Fuse the two,
and you’ve got a recipe for some of the deadliest windchill effects in the world—couple that with
its difficult terrain, and you’ve got an even deadlier recipe for disaster.
So let’s maybe get away from the mountains, for the sake of your safety. How about a relaxing
stay beside a lake? You might even be tempted to take a dip - Well, unless the lake you’re visiting
is Lake Natron in Tanzania. The name Natron is short for “Natrocarbonatite”, the scientific
label for the chemical runoff from the nearby Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano, made from a mix of highly
concentrated sodium and potassium carbonate. If you’re thinking, “Immersing myself in water filled
with those chemicals seems like a bad idea”, that may be your survival instincts talking to you.
During the heat of summer, the lake’s temperature can rise to 60 degrees Celsius (140 Fahrenheit),
which can cause third-degree burns in a matter of seconds. In other words,
if you fell into this lake, you’d likely be burned to death before having your corpse calcified into
a horrific statue by the chemical compounds lurking within. Remember to bring your snorkel!
Okay, okay, that lake was a bad idea. Sue us - No, wait, don’t actually sue us!
Instead, how about we offer you a beautiful island getaway in warm, sunny Brazil? We’re
talking about Ilha da Queimada Grande - Which is also known as Snake Island. Located 90
miles off the São Paulo coast, this island might seem like a paradise from a distance,
and you’re not entirely wrong. It is a paradise for between 2,000 to 4,000
golden lancehead vipers, the deadliest snake in the world. If you’re a real reptile whisperer,
then you might be able to have your herpetological dream vacation.
If, like the rest of us, you’re a mere mortal terrified of the
idea of being cornered and bitten by thousands of highly venomous snakes,
you might want to give this one a miss. Sorry, they can’t all be winners, okay?
Maybe for you, the ideal vacation isn’t about relaxation - It’s about excitement.
Maybe you’re a gearhead, who loves to tear up the road in luxury cars, or perhaps you’re an
adrenaline junkie with a proclivity for mountain biking or BMX riding. Maybe the perfect trip for
you would be the infamous North Yungas Road in Bolivia, also known by a nickname as frightening
as it is obvious: Death Road. At 43 miles or 69 kilometers long, it’s a winding nightmare that,
prior to some modernization efforts in 1994, often killed up to 300 drivers a
year. It’s still been responsible for dozens of deaths in the years since.
So, why is North Yungas Road such a horrific death trap? The mountainside switchback is a
road that isn’t more than ten feet, or three meters, wide, which is incredibly
narrow compared to the 2000-foot, or over 600 meter, drop of its many cliffs. And if a sharp
corner turn off a cliff doesn’t kill you, you’ll have to contend with the fog, the landslides,
and deadly cascades. This one is only for the most serious drivers and cyclists, folks!
But maybe you survive Death Road and decide you still want to spend a little more time in
beautiful, scenic Bolivia. If you fancy yourself a bit of a jungle explorer,
maybe you’d like to visit Madidi National Park - Where your bones will likely become
part of the soil forever. That’s because, in addition to its stunning biodiversity, Madidi
National Park is a treacherous and indifferent mistress. From fire ants to bloodthirsty jaguars,
there are plenty of animals who’ll give you a hard time - But the rugged terrain and harsh
exposure to the elements are equally likely to put you into an incredibly humid grave.
Still, it's worth it for some of those breathtaking views, right?
Maybe you’re sick of mountains and lakes. Maybe you’d rather relax on the beach - Far away from
civilization. Somewhere memorable and remote. This is where the infamous Skeleton Coast in
Namibia comes in. On the bright side, we can definitely say that you have never relaxed on
a beach like this. On the other hand, there are some pretty horrible reasons why that’s
the case. The beach itself is littered with animal bones and wrecked ships,
there are 11 different types of sharks in the surrounding waters, and the coast is often
visited by lions, hyenas, cheetahs, and more, all looking for a fishy - or touristy - snack.
They don’t call it the Skeleton Coast for nothing, folks!
Perhaps, if you’re an American vacationer with a complete disregard for your own safety,
you want to travel somewhere a little more local. Somewhere you could even get to by car! If you
happen to live in El Paso, Texas, you’re not far from the next ominous locale on our list:
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Now, we want to make it clear that Mexico is a beautiful
country with gorgeous beaches and a rich and interesting history - But like all countries,
it’s got problems, and no place better represents that than Ciudad Juarez.
For the last several decades, Juarez has been the site of a bloody cartel war between the brutal
Juarez Cartel and the equally infamous Sinaloa Cartel, where the officials are
allegedly corrupted by the billions in narco dollars flowing through the area. Back in 2010,
it experienced 3100 murders, the highest of anywhere in the world. Unless all that sounds like
jolly good fun to you - and if it does, we’d just like to say thank you, El Chapo, for supporting
the channel! - you’d be better off staying home than taking this particular trip down South.
Maybe you’re after something a little more chic, a little more continental. How about
France? Specifically, Zone Rouge. While this may sound like a really hip Paris nightclub,
it’s actually the area surrounding the Meuse River in northeastern France, which,
just over a century ago, played host to the brutal and bloody Battle of Verdun during World War
One. It happened so long ago that literally everyone involved in that war is now dead,
but the French authorities still strongly recommend you stay out of the area - Because
this 42,000-acre territory is packed with potentially millions of dangerous unexploded
ordinances from that battle, many of them still capable of turning you into tourist confetti.
Though this is still probably considered less of a faux pas
than eating with the wrong fork at a fancy Parisian restaurant.
Maybe you want a vacation that’s really off the beaten track. Somewhere with a
great story and architecture you’ll never forget. If that’s getting you excited,
maybe you’ll enjoy a stay on Runit Island, one of the many Pacific paradises among the
Marshall Islands. On some vacations, you’ll leave with memories, some with souvenirs,
but you might leave Runit Island with acute radiation poisoning and several malignant tumors!
That’s because it’s home to the Runit Dome - a site built between 1977 and 1980 to contain all
the radioactive waste from America’s Cold War nuclear tests. It contains 35 Olympic swimming
pools’ worth of contaminated soil and debris, and given that the dome appears to be cracking, we’d
personally advise that you keep a safe distance to keep the integrity of your DNA preserved.
But perhaps you’re not all that bothered by radiation. Maybe the thing that really
bothers you is that Runit Island would be far too hot for you. If you like your vacays cool,
then you’re going to love the settlement of Oymyakon in Russia. This quaint little village
nestled in the frosty bosom of eastern Siberia is actually the coldest inhabited settlement on
earth - In 1924, it broke the terrifying lowest inhabited temperature record by clocking in
at minus 96 degrees Fahrenheit or -71 degrees celsius, which could turn you into a popsicle
in minutes. It’s so cold that even Vodka freezes if left outside, every Russian’s worst nightmare.
And this close to the Arctic Circle, it’s not just well below freezing. It’s almost
impossibly dark - with the shortest nights of the year lasting 21 hours. If you don’t
care about the idea of getting a tan on vacation, then maybe Oymyakon is the holiday spot for you.
If that made you shiver just thinking about it, how about a warm lakeside trip? That’s right - If
you love waterside vacations and could go either way on the concept of being alive,
we recommend a cabin on the side of Lake Nyos, Cameroon. This isn’t just a scenic body of
water in the delightful African nation, it’s a lake with a real story behind it - Namely,
in 1986, it released a giant bubble of toxic gas that spread over the surrounding area and
killed 1,746 people and around 8,300 livestock. This incident, dubbed the Lake Nyos Disaster,
happened as a result of huge quantities of Carbon Dioxide from the Earth’s Mantle
getting trapped at the bottom of the lake over the course of centuries.
When a landslide in the area disturbed the lake, 1.24 million tons of carbon dioxide poured out,
blanketing the area and suffocating everyone in its invisible cloud of death. Experts
believe there’s a non-zero chance of another calamity like this unfolding under the right
circumstances - So maybe pencil a paddle in Lake Nyos in at a far, far later date.
For many, one of the locations on their vacation bucket list is Australia. Sure,
you may hear a lot about spiders and serial killers like Ivan Milat, who targeted backpackers
and became one of the primary inspirations for the Wolf Creek horror film franchise,
but it’s a country with a lot to offer: breathtaking views, world-class beaches,
and unique wildlife. But you won’t find any of these at the Wittenoom Ghost Town. This town was
literally taken off the official maps in 2007 to avoid people visiting it, and these days,
you can be criminally prosecuted if you try to enter - For your own safety. Why did this little
Western Australian town get abandoned? Because it was originally an asbestos mining town.
You can probably put the rest together yourself. At least the Australian
government is seemingly getting around to demolishing the blighted town at long last.
Our next two dangerous travel locations have so much in common that you might have trouble
choosing which one not to visit first. Take Monrovia, the capital city of the West African
nation of Liberia. Fans of Vice documentaries probably felt a familiar twinge upon hearing
that - Because the Liberian civil war was one of the most horrifying in living memory, featuring
mass death, child soldiers, and a particularly violent warlord who went by the nickname “General
Butt Naked” - who killed and cannibalized with reckless abandon. These days, the country is still
sadly subject to unrest and crime, which makes it an extremely inhospitable location for tourists.
The same can be said of Burkina Faso in West Africa, because man,
West Africa just cannot catch a break. The tourist boards there must really have their work cut out
for them. Much like Liberia, Burkina Faso is a hotbed for crime, kidnapping, and terrorism,
with all English-speaking governments advising travelers to stay as far away as possible. But
if you do decide to throw caution to the wind and visit Burkina Faso, just make sure your family
is wealthy so they can pay for your ransom - Or at least give you a really nice funeral.
Of course, no list of dangerous tourist traps would be complete without a little trip to the
Sunshine State - Florida, y’all! Specifically, New Smyrna Beach, which has been ranked as
the deadliest beach in the USA by the travel organization Travel Lens. That’s an achievement
to be proud of. The beach has played host to 32 recorded shark attacks, twice as many as the
second most shark-attack-prone beach. And, because this is Florida, if the sharks don’t get you,
the weather will, because Florida easily takes the prize for the most hurricanes of
anywhere in the United States, too. Surf’s up, bros! This will be a spring break to remember!
Maybe you want to take a romantic vacation - Somewhere that just
has love in the air! Sadly, we don’t have anywhere like that,
but we do have a place that has extremely high quantities of certain other things in the air.
This brings us to La Oroya, Peru, a town considered by some to be
the most polluted place on earth. Because of its involvement in mining,
as well as smelting and refining of copper, zinc, silver, and lead ores,
it has left the local air quality in a pretty horrific state. Studies have found that 99% of
children in the area have unacceptable levels of lead in their blood, so if you’re looking
for a nice place to stay in Peru, we’d advise that you leave La Oroya off your itinerary.
We hope that we haven’t given you any ideas of where to spend your next vacation. But if
you do find yourself frozen to death deep in Russia, run off the road in Bolivia,
or kidnapped by Liberian warlords - You can’t say we didn’t warn you!
Now check out “Worst Places in the World to Travel”. Or check out this video instead!