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The Travel Guide that Recommends You Don't Go

Peter Moszynski Uganda-Sudan border and north London
SOME places in the world are probably best avoided. One of them is the road between Uganda and Sudan. In recent years, scores of different groups of rebels, defeated and victorious armies and plain old-fashioned brigands nave preyed on passing travellers.
Along this short stretch of road. I nave been attacked by bandits, robbed by soldiers, arrested by Sudanese rebels and narrowly missed kidnap by members of the Lord's Resistance Army, a bizarre Christian fundamentalist sect In Uganda financed by the Islamic regime In Khartoum'.
The first time I went to Uganda, I had just escaped an ambush and four-hour chase by ousted dictator Idi Amin's former troops, and was much relieved to come upon a government border checkpoint.
The greeting I received surprised me. The first soldier calmly and ostentatiously cocked his assault rifle before pressing its muzzle into my nose. "And what have you got for me. mtizungu (foreigner)?" he inquired mena-clngjy.
Forewarned is forearmed, and I had taken a a colleague's advice to "take soap for the soldiers”. I had grave doubts about this strategy, so it was with some hesitation that I announced, gently pushing the AK-47 out of face : "For you. my friend, I have a
piece of soap.'
I was greatly relieved, although still somewhat surprised, when the guy walked off quite happily with his ill-gotten gains.
Good advice and intelligence goes a long way in mitigating possible problems in all Jroublespots. Now, a guidebook has appeared to help with the hazard zones — The World's Most dangerous Place.
Billed as "the book your ipother doesn't want you to read", it is like no other guidebook. The two authors — a travel writer and a war correspondent — have produced a guide to "high adventure. forbidden lands, nasty things, psychologically questionable activities and all those low-down dirty places, you're dying to visit/ '
Co-author Robert Young Pelton says "I have always wanted to write this book for people who either end up in these hellish places because of their work or for the daring who want to push the limit of adventure travel. After all, does the world really need another travel guide to Disneyland?
"It helps to know who kidnaps, murders, scams and deceives in these places. In some places a terrorist could be your best friend, and the local cop your worst enemy."
Pelton argues that details such as the number of landmines in the ground in par-
ticular countries, or where and how drugs are smuggled, or the inside tip on.unsafe airlines, can go a long way towards keeping the traveller .health.
This book is about opening doors for hardcore travellers who seek excitement, knowledge and truth. What's more, it s a hell of a read for armchair adventurers," he says.
The guide gives a detailed background and history to troublespots, together with witnesses' accounts of 29 war zones.
Dangerous Places explains how to anticipate and avoid specific hazards, and provides information on how to set up an expedition, work overseas, become- a mercenary and obtain survival skills for war correspondents.
Appendices give tourism contacts. United States State Department travel tips, and visa requirements for all countries, while pointing out that many of the most dan gerous places do not require a passport or air ticket, and advising against visiting most of the places it describes.
It also lists addresses and background details of se lected relief, rescue, ecological, intelligence and political organisations.
Although US citizens tend to view the world outside as fraught with peril, statistically the most dangerous country is their own. visitors
to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics should be aware of police figures showing the city to have the highest crime rate in North America.
Big cities can be trouble — no matter where they are.
I was once visited in London by my mother on my return from war-torn southern Sudan. She had heard of the recent deaths of several journalists and pid workers in the region, and. like all mothers, asked why I had to go to such dangerous places. I gave the stock response of any inner-city dweller with exaggerated centrifugal tendencies "Nonsense. Its much more dangerous around here."
My sentiments were immediately vindicated by the sound of a huge explosion.
What was that?"
"Don't worry." I said nonchalantly. "It s Just a bomb in the next street."
Before the 1994 ceasefire, my part of London used to be a popular target for the Irish Republican Arm : on a previous occasion I was almost shot hy"anti terrorist police who mistook me for an IRA gunman.
Gpmini News
The writer is a British freelance Journalist who has travelled widely in Africa.
"The World's Most Dangerous Places bv Robert Young Pelton and Coskun Aral
(Fielding Worldwide. US. $19 95).