5 Fun Things to do in “Dangerous” Places (Part 1)
Playing it safe is for granny. You’ll never get the full experience of the world by just dipping the tip. Get your blood rushing by doing amazing things you thought were only reserved for for code green destinations in unlikely places. You won’t spontaneously grow an extra limb if you visit Chernobyl nor will you be a victim of suicide bombing the minute you land in Iraq. Think of it this way: people still live in these “dangerous” places and do fun shit all the time. Get in on the action.
Skateboarding in Afghanistan
THE DANGER: If you’ve been comatose for a while, this area of the world has been bombed and ripped apart since America decided Bin Laden was hiding in it’s caves back in 2001. This resulted in mass destruction of the country’s infrastructure and has left 2/3rds of it’s remaining population with PTSD (amongst innumerable other damages).
THE FUN: Instead of sitting around and waiting for the next bomb to drop, a group of international skaters got together and started Skateistan, a skateboarding school in Kabul where displaced local kids learn to not only skate but get instruction in language, art and civic responsibility. These guys built a skate park and take students on skate days using abandoned pools and fountains. You can show off your kick flips by volunteering with Skateistan for 6 months. With all expenses paid for qualified applicants (including travel, visas and living costs), you can afford to switch up your skate terrain to something a little more challenging. Watch their promo to get yourself in the mood for action.
Surfing in Somalia
THE DANGER: Has not had a ruling government for 20 years and is instead been ruled by violent clans and recently, Islamic insurgents. To control their largest natural resource, modern pirates have taken over Somalia’s coastline and continue to pose a threat in African waters.
THE FUN: If you do dare to venture to Somalia to give the waves a ride, be advised it is actually as dangerous as people say. The best approach, according to surfers that have done it, is by boat through Pirights (aka North Side of Cape Hafun). The waves are good and the beach is empty but you can’t stick around for long because again, there are pirates (and not the Johnny Depp kind). So catch a wave or two and get the fuck out of there.
Skydiving in Iraq
Photo by: "flawedartist"
THE DANGER: Identified by the U.S. as:the hot spot of terror, Iraq has been occupied by American troops since 2003. While Americans searched for non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction and fiddled around with setting up an Iraqi post-Hussein government, the country continued to be destroyed beyond repair by war.
THE FUN: Why not switch it up? In 2010, let’s drop some chutes instead of bombs. Although jumping from a plane and living to tell about it isn’t yet common in Iraq, people like extreme sports obsessed Iraqi Fareed Lafta, have taken it upon themselves to introduce skydiving to the war-torn country. Lafta (who is also the first qualified Iraqi cosmonaut), sees skydiving as a way to bring peace to his homeland and in 2009, organized a youth “peace jump” from a helicopter over Baghdad’s Green Zone. According to Lafta, skydiving over a city symbolizes the end of war in the skydiving community.
Camping near Chechnya
THE DANGER: At war with Russia for about a century after Stalin thought it was a great idea to deport Chechens to Siberia and is now home to terrorists of the Slavic variety. Weapons are sold and traded like candy, hostages of all ages are taken daily and things like women being shot with paintballs because they aren’t wearing proper Islamic dress is the norm.
THE FUN: Sounds like a great place to set up camp right? Well, according to our friend Alice, it is. The mountainous landscape at the border of Georgia and Chechnya has withstood war and is a beautiful place to wake up in the morning (unless you’re awakened by border patrol that is). Get friendly with some Georgians and hire a marshrutka (minibus) to haul your ass up there. Make sure to pack plenty of food (as there are no fancy pants amenities up there, just an old woman baking bread) and warm clothes (night and day temperatures vary drastically). Now this is the most important part: Don’t do anything stupid (say, eating unfamiliar berries) because the nearest hospital is 6 hours away.
Sightseeing in Chernobyl
THE DANGER: Oh you know, nothing serious. It’s just radioactive as fuck from a nuclear reactor that blew in 1986 and continues to cause major health problems (i.e. thyroid cancer, leukemia, cataracts and cardiovascular disease) for those exposed.
THE FUN: Very recently, the area has been opened up for tourism. Although radioactivity is still relatively high in Chernobyl, a short day tour won’t kill you and there are interesting things to see. Greenery is slowly growing back over debilitated structures, the trees are red with radiation, huge fish swim in the lake (due to lack of predators) and the eerie unoccupied ghost town surrounding the reactor still stands with abandoned toys and tools littering the ground from 1986. You can book a tour through TourKiev.com but make sure to bring your own snacks and maybe wear one of these E.T. suits.
We’re not saying to ignore all warnings of danger when traveling to these places but know that even the unsafest of places have fun things going on. Grow a pair and get moving.
*special thanks to Alice at AndTheGhostsSoSilver for giving us the low down on Chechen border camping.
5 Fun Things to do in “Dangerous” Places (Part 2): Kite Flying in Pakistan!
COMING SOON!
Head Writer/Editor-in-Chief of Off Track Planet. Pescatarians are not just cheating vegetarians; we're our own breed and the extra protein makes us more feisty! Rawr
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Sightseeing in Chernobyl? Yikes!
That’s cool! I want to surf Somalia!
I love this article. You are very interesting and creative OTP.
Keep up guys!
Motorcycling in Mexico:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbrandon/sets/72157624964933525/with/5048945951/
Afghanistan has been at war a lot longer than since 2001. Interesting project, though. Far saner than surfing in Puntland – and with better surfing conditions – is Yemen: http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/holidaytype/beaches/654967/surfing-in-yemen
Plenty of danger, but at least you can stick around. Nobody wants to surf two waves and jet…
Oh yeah, skydiving in Iraq, sign me up dude! Can’t wait for part 2 (and thanks for the great blogging ideas!)
Thanks! You can find part two here: http://offtrackplanet.com/featured/5-fun-things-to-do-in-dangerous-places-part-2/
The skydiving photo is wikimedia and has not been accredited. I await your response.
Hey John, I replaced the photo w/ proper credit. Apparently, our designer at the time cut corners and didn’t get the correct permission. We will continue to do our best to make sure all photos are used properly at Off Track Planet.
Great! Now what about the skateboarder, surfer, sheep and Chernobyl. None of those photos are hosted on your site. Someone else is paying for the bandwidth that your visitors create when they visit this site. I don’t see any attribution. This is an article by your Editor in Chief not your office cleaner.
John, the editor-in-chief wasn’t responsible for uploading pictures, our designer at the time screwed this up – But that’s beside the point. You are absolutely right and I will have our current designer comb through the site to fix this and other issues like it as soon as possible. We are not a one man team and no one gets paid to run Off Track Planet at this point, It’s more complex getting these things all fixed overnight. Like I said, we are trying to maintain proper “web etiquette” as much as possible – we’ve made some mistakes handling technical aspects in the past and continue to improve.
Seems you are still struggling, almost one month later. There are still four photos hosted at other sites. How did you get involved with the “designer”? What is he/she doing now? Exactly who has editorial control on this site?