Greetings from the DANGER ZONE
A week on the Costas? It’s SO last year. From tornado tours to sightseeing in war zones, holidays in hell have become the trendiest way to travel. But as events in New Zealand proved, there can be a tragic cost
Five years ago, George Kourounis, a ‘scientific explorer’ — or one of the maddest men on the planet, depending on your view — lowered himself into the giant methane-burning Darvaza crater in North Turkmenistan.
Held by a series of ropes, while encased in a heat-reflective suit (above) and using selfcontained breathing apparatus that wouldn’t melt in the extreme heat, the Canadian entered what’s known as the ‘Door to Hell’ to collect a soil sample and, presumably, boost his reputation as a daredevil tour leader.
‘When you’re dangling in the middle, you feel like a piece of laundry on the line, drying out,’ Kourounis was heard saying while being lowered into the pit.
each to his own. But what’s truly scary is how when Kourounis went back in July, the crater wasn’t just smouldering beneath the surface but bubbling with tourists above it. A metal fence had been erected around the perimeter; there were brick pathways, yurts, toilets, a viewing platform.
‘People were dangling over the fence to get the most risky selfie and i heard it’s become the number one tourist destination in the country,’ Kourounis told the Mail.
The question is: why would people deliberately put themselves at risk?
Certainly that’s the agonising question the families and friends of the 18 people who perished following last week’s eruption of the White island volcano in New Zealand may be asking. Apart from the two Britons who died, an english mother and daughter were seriously injured.
Why did they choose to walk into that volcano when some of them might have known that New Zealand’s seismic monitoring organisation had upgraded its alert to warn of ‘greater volcanic unrest’?
Likewise, why do up to 50 people a year accidentally fall from the rim of the Grand Canyon in America, including a 38-year-old Texan who was pretending to fall to scare his daughter — and then really did plunge 400 ft to his death.
‘eliminate all the risk and you eliminate all the reward,’ said Kourounis. ‘ if you don’t want adventure, stay at home.’
Whatever you might think about Kourounis he does take safety seriously, stressing how there’s ‘no excuse’ for not taking the necessary precautions.
What’s undeniable is that risky tourism in the guise of ‘adventure tourism’ is booming.
Almost one in every 20 holidays taken by Britons — be they millennials or baby boomers with large disposable incomes who have hit retirement and demand active holidays — involves some sort of risk, even if it’s merely rafting, climbing or paragliding, according to the Association of British Travel Agents.
Worldwide, the adventure holiday market — crucially offering the chance to post daring pictures to social media feeds — has more than doubled in the past five years. And so have the accidents. This week, the RNLI lifeboat charity reported that it is 600 per cent busier over Christmas and New Year compared to 40 years ago. Where lifeboats used to be dispatched to help fishing vessels or other boats at this time of year, increasingly they are deployed to help people who have misjudged the tides or scrambled over rocks and become trapped or swept out to sea.
‘With camera phones these days, people go out and want a nice Christmas Day family selfie but then find themselves in trouble,’ said a spokesman for the RNLI.
Adventure tourism has been booming in recent years as worldweary travellers look for exciting new destinations and activities.
There aren’t many undiscovered places in the world and so the onus is on what travel companies call ‘experiences’ — and the more ‘experiences’ people have the more they want to increase the adrenaline rush or, as Kourounis puts it, ‘feel you’re living on the edge and be reminded that Mother Nature is in charge’.
So here are eight danger spots that are proving dangerously popular:
LIVING RIGHT ON THE EDGE
if ANY evidence is needed that danger has itself become a tourist attraction then consider that in 2009 some 500 people made the trek to the hair-raising rock formation of Trolltunga in Norway, whereas more than 80,000 did so in 2016. No safety railings have been constructed so as not to spoil the natural beauty, and so there are wonderful selfie opportunities as you pose above the abyss (above).
it takes 10-12 hours to get there on foot and woe betide you if you get lost. Once you’re there, the drop from the cliff, jutting out over lake Ringedalsvatnet, is nearly 2,500 ft. four years ago, a 24-yearold Austrian woman fell to her death.
Seven days B&B hiking Norway’s fjords, including Trolltunga, from £1,599pp, flights excluded. visitnorway.com
CLOSE TO THE LAVA FLOW
YOU wouldn’t want the tour boat to break down while edging its way closer and closer to scorching lava tumbling into the sea (top). incineration is a risk but apparently one worth taking for those who want to witness close-up the aftermath of a volcanic eruption.
The Big island of Hawaii is the place to do this, but tour operator Kalapana Lava Boat warns that it’s not for everyone as the boat copes with the ‘chop, swell and surf’. Presumably that’s only half the thrill. Passengers must be strong and agile enough, with ‘muscles that will support you and “fade” the rough vessel surges of energy on impact while in transport’.
But it’s not just the sea. in 2018 a tour boat near the volcano was hit by a basketball-sized ‘lava bomb’ which burst though the metal roof and injured 23 passengers, one seriously. Some people fear that a larger lava bomb might sink a boat. A three-hour Sunset Lava Boat tour in Hawaii costs £190. alapanalavaboat.com
FOLLOW IN THE STEPS OF ISIL
You might want to read through the terms and conditions before signing up for a holiday in Iraq (top) with Hinterland Travel.
‘The Company will do all that is reasonably possible to ... assist in the event of the need for emergency evacuation of any clients,’ it warns. But it’s more upbeat when it comes to the general situation, stressing that the Caliphate has been forced back over the Syrian border — well let’s hope so because selfies with an ISIL sniper might be unwise. Tourists can see many of the country’s ancient ruins, including the royal tombs of the brief monarchy of Iraq in Baghdad — at least what’s left of them.
From £2,800, plus flights and visa, hinterlandtravel.com
CHECK IN TO CHERNOBYL
No Official figures have ever been agreed about how many people lost their lives in the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster in 1986 but it is estimated to be in excess of 4,000.
More than 30 years later, and with radioactive particles still present, several companies offer tours of the site (above), one of which boasts of an ‘eye-opening experience of a post-apocalyptic world’ and stresses that ‘radiation makes the zone particularly interesting’.
You get to see abandoned towns and villages, including the almost fully buried village of Kopachi. Day tours from £8, including an ‘ecologically clean dinner’. chernobyl-tour.com.
RUNNING WITH THE BULLS
YOU don’t have to run with them of course — you could just watch from a balcony. But adventure- seekers increasingly want to be on the street and part of the bloody action. The Pamplona bull run (above) happens in Spain every year, with some 200 medical staff on hand.
It takes place every summer as part of the San Fermin festival. Normally there are six bulls that are let loose on the street so your chances of confronting one might be slim. But try telling that to the man this year who was flipped over, gored by the bulls’ horns and then slammed on to the cobblestone street.
Three nights’ accommodation, with various meals, tickets to a bull fight and four chances to run with the bulls from £1,513 per person, pamploma-tours.com
BOLIVIA’S DEATH ROAD
BETWEEN 200-300 people die each year on what’s described as the world’s most dangerous road (above) through Bolivia’s notorious Yungas region. It’s mainly a cycle route with 3,500 metres of perilous descent. Part of the thrill along the 43-mile switchback are the fog, landslides and sheer cliffs that plunge down into the ravines. A one-day mountain-biking tour of Death Road can be organised by Gravity Bolivia ( findlocaltrips.com) from La Paz for £95.
WEATHER THE STORM
MANY of us would hide on hearing that a vicious tornado is on its way. For others, it means the fun is just about to begin.
Sign up with Storm Chasing adventure Tours to experience weather in all its threatening glory. Six days in May, starting in oklahoma, from around £2,000 including all hotels and meals, stormchasing.com
DANGLE OVER THE BIG DROP
No one has yet died at Devil’s Pool (left) on the edge of Victoria Falls adjacent to Livingstone Island in Zambia. even so, it’s not for the faint-hearted as you perch on the lip as water cascades over the falls next to you for what one company calls an ‘ awesome once- in- alifetime experience’.
only accredited companies are meant to take tourists to the pool but that doesn’t stop rogue traders going about their business. The water has to be low, normally from late august to early January. There is a safety rope in the water for those who panic.
Five nights B&B at the avani Victoria Falls Resort, including flights, from £1,633 pp. Devil’s Pool experience from £85pp with victoriafalls-guide.net