Traveling is usually associated with fun, adventures, relaxation, but some tours are more extreme. So if you ever wanted to feel the adrenaline rushing to your head while you’re kayaking with the blood-thirsty hippos or trying to figure out if this one mushroom you picked up near Chornobyl will kill you or make you grow a second head, you’ll surely appreciate these 9 insanely dangerous tours!
1. Visiting Danakil Desert
Welcome to hell … or at least the closest place on Earth temperature-wise – the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia. Temperatures here reach 45-50°C (113-122°F) on a regular basis, so you better pack gallons of sunscreen and fresh water. Local people here live in poverty and these “survivalist” tours are probably the only source of revenue for them, so go ahead and help them out!
2. Climbing Mount Everest
Getting all the way to the summit of Everest would be a dream come true for thousands of people but only the toughest will actually pull through. All you’ll need is your courage and plenty of determination, the rest of the stuff you can buy on your way to Tibet. It will usually take up to 60 days for your party to get from Kathmandu to the North Col and back.
3. Hippo & Croc Boat Cruise
Are you perhaps into observing the wildlife, rather than getting your butt roasted or frozen? In that case, this tour is for you! St Lucia Estuary in South Africa offers its visitors an unforgettable life experience. Here you’d be able to get face to face with some of the most blood-thirsty animals in the whole world – hippos, bull sharks, and crocodiles. Definitely not the safest place in the world, but what’s life without some excitement, am I right?
4. Ride the Lightning
While visiting Venezuela, don’t forget to see a wall of freaking lightning, where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo. This phenomenon is known as the “everlasting storm” and it’s one of the most beautiful things you’ll ever see in your life. More than 1,000 lightning bolts strike the town of Maracaibo every hour. If you’re lucky you’ll get to see a hurricane along with a tornado swirling around. Having a pair of fresh pants is advisable.
5. Chornobyl Zone Tours
After the big bang in 1986 this was like a Fallout game turned real: radiation everywhere, derelict buildings, trees growing out of houses, and tows lying scattered around. 30 years have passed and the rads are no longer lethal, so the Ukrainians turn this nuclear wasteland into a tourist spot! But still, some danger remains and you’ll not be allowed to smoke, eat, or drink in the open air, not to mention fiddling with plants, trees and especially “weird things”.
6. Plane-Spotting at Maho Beach
This is not exactly a tour but tourists do like to flirt with death here. It’s that famous beach right behind a busy airport. When planes fly in and out, their turbines will blow everyone away. People will stand pressed against a metal fence to get the adrenaline up. As one of the pilots explained, even the smallest pebble that gets sucked into the engine will shoot out like a bullet at anyone stupid enough to get in its way, but some people are still standing behind the fence. Oh and you can also go deaf.
7. Lava Boat Tours
I know that the sound on a waterfall is said to be quite soothing, but what if it’s the sound of falling lava? If you’re in Hawaii, make sure to take a boat tour straight to the flowing lava rivers. Sounds pretty safe, but it’s a volcano we’re talking about. Accidents happened here in the past. One boat came a bit too close as a small eruption flung a literal ball of fire at 23 tourists, giving them all a hell of a burn.
8. Death Road Tours
Yungas Road, aka the “Death Road,” in Bolivia is just as dangerous as it sounds. You get on a bike, and pedal your way across 64 km of mostly narrow road without a hint of guardrails. Steep drops, incoming cars, and no safety net make this the most dangerous road in the world.
9. Dynamite Mining In Bolivia
Let’s get to the most extreme tour you can do today (and I bet it’s somewhere near that Death Road, too) – dynamite mining in Bolivia. There’s this silver mine near Potosi, called “Rich Mountain”, and in the last few decades it has taken numerous lives already. Mining is dangerous as is, but here, they’re using dynamite like firecrackers! If you decide to pull through with this tour, you’re gonna need to give various offerings for protection to the local miners. Stuff like cigarettes, booze, and of course, the explosives. If you’re lucky you’ll survive the big boom and tell your tale to the world, but if you’re set on doing this dangerous tour, you may have to hurry. The mountain keeps sinking by a few centimeters each year, making this mine a literal ticking time bomb.
