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Topics: Travel, World News
Gerrard Kaonga
Topics: Travel, World News
Some travel experts might have just ruined your upcoming 2024 plans as they insist a disturbing amount of the world is simply too dangerous to visit.
If you told people 50 years ago, travelling the world would be as a few clicks, they probably wouldn’t believe you.
Yep. A couple clicks and a few dollars later and you are on the flight to pastures new. Waking up in one time zone and going to sleep in another, sounds like a dream, right?
Well, according to the British Governments Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) that dream is closer to a nightmare if you planned to visit countries they deemed too dangerous to visit.
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According to the government body, there are 24 countries people are ill advised to visit due to political unrest, civil unrest, serious crime or war.
Unfortunately, over the last four years the travel blacklist has only increased due to new conflicts.
As of 2024, the British government has advised against travel to the entirety of Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Sudan, Lebanon, Israel, Belarus and the Palestinian territories. These new additions to the blacklist are accompanied by 18 other nations.
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In case you haven’t paid any attention to intentional politics over the last few years, many of these countries won’t come as a surprise as they have been wrapped up in tense conflicts, most notably the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and intensifying conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
The full blacklist includes, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Haiti, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Mali, Niger, North Korea, Somalia, Somaliland, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
All 24 countries combined amount to just over 20 percent (20.8%) of the world’s landmass which is around 30,965,383 square kilometers.
If you thought the travel warnings stopped here you would be mistaken however, as the governmental advise gets even more bleak.
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As well as this travel blacklist, the FCDO also has a red list, where parts of the countries mentioned should not be travelled to unless absolutely essential.
This list includes 42 countries, including: Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ecuardor, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indoensia, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Laos, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Moldova, Mozambique, Myanmar(Burma), Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of Congo, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara.
While the list is admittedly extensive, it is important to note that the advice does not suggest that every aspect of the country is too dangerous but rather caution is advised for specific areas.