The Most Dangerous Places in the World

Generally, I always give you plenty of tips on where your next vacation should be. Today is a bit different - I will introduce you to the places that you should never visit in your life: Discover with me the most dangerous places in the world!

At first glance, some places look like absolute dream destinations. But nothing is as it seems, and the locations discussed in this article all hold a terrible secret. From dangerous cities to creepy islands and toxic lakes - everything is represented here. Here are the most dangerous places in the world!

Burning City | Gateway to Hell

Island of Death | Deadly Road

Murderous Natives | Burning Earth

Nuclear Test Site | Dangerous Waters

Plague Island | Contaminated Ghost Town

Islands, cities, and volcanic craters - dangerous places can be found all over the world. Before I reveal what these places are all about, you will get an overview of where the most dangerous places in the world are located on this map.

Centralia in Pennsylvania was once a small mining town where its 2,000 residents led a quiet and industrious life. Just a quaint, typical American small town as seen in the movies. A town that you might have liked to visit - until a few years ago when everything changed.

On May 27, 1962, the local landfill caught fire. It is still unclear whether it was arson, an accident, or a planned fire. What is certain is that the fire spread to the mines that run beneath the entire town, creating a blaze that continues to this day. There have been some elaborate but unsuccessful attempts to extinguish the fire. Residents had to flee their homes. Today, Centralia is a ghost town with barely more than ten residents. The streets are cracked, smoke rises from the dark depths, and almost all the houses have been torn down. Therefore, Centralia is also considered one of the scariest places in the world.

Staying with the theme of fire, we move from the burning city to the Gateway to Hell. If there really is a hell, then this is definitely the entrance: In the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, the surface of the earth opened up in 1971. Initially, there were only exploratory drilling planned for gas in the middle of the desert, but the workers drilled exactly in the wrong place. The ground collapsed and a huge crater with a diameter of 70 meters formed. The situation was more than dangerous, as methane gas began to escape, leading to the decision to ignite the crater. But the fire didn't just extinguish after a few days...

For almost 50 years, flames have been raging in the Derweze crater. Since the entire region around the namesake village Derweze is rich in natural gas reserves, one is walking on dangerous terrain - also because temperatures soar in the summer.

In the turquoise waters, one can see a breathtaking island from afar, right in the South Atlantic off the coast of Brazil. No humans can be seen; you'd want to make a stop on this lonely piece of land right away, wouldn't you? But that's not just a bad idea; it has been officially forbidden since 1985. The Island of Death isn't as uninhabited as it seems. The 'inhabitants' here are not human.

On this 43-hectare island lives a species that only exists here. The island lancehead viper is found nowhere else in the world, a type of snake that can kill small animals with its venom within seconds. It is also far from safe for humans, as its venom can be fatal to us too. So, if anything is dangerous, it is entering Queimada Grande, especially since around 3,000 specimens of this snake are believed to still live here. Every few meters, one of the vipers could cross your path.

Moving from the most dangerous places to the most dangerous road in the world, the Yungas Road in Bolivia. From afar, everything still looks exotic and beautiful: A road winds through the Andes from La Paz to Caranavi amid dense jungle.

But the road, also known as Camino de la Muerte (Death Road in English), is best admired from a distance. Because on the road itself, the pretty curves and bends turn kilometer after kilometer into treacherous hairpin turns and dangerously narrow sections. The highway is muddy, at times there is only one lane and no guardrails. But right beside the road is a steep gorge, making every evasive maneuver a fight for survival. The many crosses along the roadside confirm a sad fact that you can probably already guess: Here, people regularly lost their lives. You can find even more risky roads in my article on the most dangerous hiking trails in the world.

When it comes to dangerous islands, this one absolutely must not be left out: North Sentinel Island in the Indian Ocean, part of the Andaman Islands. Here, you won't have to deal with fire or poisonous animals - the beautiful island hides another dangerous secret. White sandy beaches and a dense green jungle that suggests many fruits and animal species initially give no hint of danger. What could possibly be dangerous here?

Here on the beach, you will surely be observed already, and it will be by the inhabitants of North Sentinel, the Sentinels. They are the most isolated people in the world, having had no contact with civilization and refusing it. All attempts to make contact with the outside world have been met with violence by the Sentinels. Anyone stranded here has no chance of survival. This happened to a missionary in November 2018, who did not return from the island. To protect travelers from this fate and to protect the Sentinels from civilization diseases, access to the island has been prohibited.

In deserts, it is known to be barren and hot. But the conditions in the Danakil Desert in North Africa surpass everything you've known about vast seas of sand. Thanks to the Dallol Volcano, the Danakil Desert is unique - but also hostile to life. Here, temperatures can reach up to 70 degrees Celsius, and even in winter, the thermometer often climbs above 40 degrees.

The volcanic craters create dangerous salt lakes and sulfur landscapes. However, that's not the only reason you should avoid staying here; although tourists continue to flock to the desert, it's actually madness - the Foreign Office warns against traveling to the region, where there can be robberies and kidnappings. Even though the natural spectacle on site is unique in the world; why not just look at my photos instead of exposing yourself to danger.

Let's move on to a coral reef with stunning lagoons in the South Pacific. Now imagine a restricted area with huge drilling rigs. What's going on? I just described the same area. Hard to believe, but in the South Pacific, on the route between New Zealand and South America, not only unique natural wonders like the Cook Islands can be found, but also dangerous places like the Mururoa Atoll, which belongs to French Polynesia. But why is such a beautiful place dangerous? The explanation is grim: From 1966 to 1996, almost 200 atomic bombs were detonated on the islands. In the '60s, the French chose the atoll as a nuclear test site. Although atomic bombs are no longer detonated on Mururoa today, there are immense amounts of radioactive waste in the massive drilling shafts, making what should be paradise one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Still waters run deep and can sometimes be dangerous as well. The journey to the most dangerous places in the world takes us to the border between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Here lies Lake Kivu, which is almost 500 meters deep in some places. And within those depths lies danger: The externally beautiful lake conceals a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane in its depths.

Through tremors such as earthquakes, dangerously high gas bubbles could rise to the surface, which would have devastating consequences. Millions could suffocate on the gas: Something similar happened in 1986 in Lake Nyos in Cameroon, where nearly 2,000 people and countless animals died. The gas mixture in Lake Kivu is far more dangerous: a dormant threat that could trigger a disaster.

Don't be shocked by what I have to tell you now: One of the most dangerous places in the world is right here in Germany. Just five kilometers from the popular vacation island of Rügen and only separated from the mainland by a 50-meter long bridge, lies the island of Riems in the Baltic Sea. And this small idyllic island with green meadows and many animal species is a restricted area; it is classified as biological safety level four! One of the greatest dangers to humanity lurks there. The Friedrich Loeffler Institute is located on the small island, where the world's most dangerous pathogens are researched.

In addition to pathogens like the avian flu and West Nile virus, it has become even more dangerous here since summer 2017: Researchers are working on highly contagious diseases for humans, such as the dreaded Ebola virus or the Nipah virus. The latter often leads to fatal brain inflammation. Although the Baltic island is of course secured with all possible means, what lies behind the walls and fences definitely makes it one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Since the nuclear disaster in April 1986, nothing has been the same in the city of Prypyat near Chernobyl. The people fled the city in a panic, leaving all their belongings behind to protect themselves from a danger that spread explosively and almost invisibly over the north of Ukraine. The nuclear radiation that has since radiated from the damaged nuclear power plant remains a concern for Europe for years.

Today, more than 30 years after the catastrophe, the ghost town of Prypyat is not only one of the scariest abandoned places in the world, but also still quite dangerous. The radiation around the reactor, which was encased in concrete after the disaster, is still significantly elevated, and so a longer stay is strongly discouraged. However, Chernobyl and Prypyat can now be visited on guided tours, and there is even a hostel in the former exclusion zone. Whether such trips are interesting and important or merely satisfy the curiosity of disaster tourists is something everyone must decide for themselves.

Do you need to digest that for a moment? These places are truly hauntingly dangerous and are best avoided. If that wasn't enough, I've also compiled a list of the most dangerous airports in the world in my travel magazine. Do you know of other places that should better be avoided? Let me know and write them in the comments.

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