00:00You prepare your next trip, you have to find a place to stay, book plane tickets, and what else?
00:06You make sure you are safe on the road, of course.
00:09However, some tourists are actively looking for dangerous destinations.
00:13The Yungas region, in the west of Bolivia, is the ideal place to go on an adventure.
00:19It houses one of the most dangerous tourist destinations on the planet,
00:23the Road of Death, or Carretera de la Muerte in Spanish.
00:28The Yungas road is about 69 km long.
00:32It connects the capital, La Paz, to the city of Coroico, located in the Amazon basin of Bolivia.
00:38A bus travels the distance in 3 or 4 hours. A little long, isn't it?
00:43The road between San Francisco and San José is about the same length.
00:47And you can drive it in less than an hour by car.
00:50What prevents vehicles from doing the same on this Bolivian road?
00:55There is more than one reason.
00:59If you want to go by car in the Bolivian capital, you will go at an altitude of 1,500 meters.
01:05But once you arrive at your destination, you will be at an altitude of 3,600 meters above sea level.
01:12La Paz is indeed the highest capital in the world.
01:15If these numbers give you the vertigo, you may have to sit down before hearing the following number.
01:22The top of this road, La Cambre, is at more than 4,500 meters.
01:27A reasonable height for parachuting.
01:33The Andes is not the best place to build a road.
01:36But the authorities did not do that for no reason.
01:39It is an important commercial road.
01:41Trucks transport everything, coffee, tropical fruits, etc. along the Yungas road.
01:47And it is almost a century old.
01:49It was built in the 1930s.
01:53In most places, the road is not even paved.
01:56Its surface is mainly composed of a mixture of earth and gravel.
02:00The workers dug it in an almost vertical mountain slope.
02:04Look down and you will have the vertigo.
02:07The elevation is about 600 meters.
02:10It is impossible to think of anything else when you pass through there.
02:14But there are at least two ways, aren't there?
02:16Well, not quite.
02:18Because of the terrain, there is only one way, so to speak.
02:21The width of the road rarely exceeds 3 meters.
02:24For comparison, a Tesla Model S is 1.5 meters wide.
02:29And it is not to mention the mirrors that exceed on each side.
02:33So there is something to feel close to.
02:35But believe it or not, even very large trucks take this road.
02:39Most of the time, there is not even a bodyguard to prevent vehicles from falling into the abyss.
02:48And then there is the weather.
02:50In summer, the dust raised by vehicles reduces visibility.
02:55And there is often fog, which gives the impression of blindfolded driving.
02:59In winter, the situation is not better.
03:02Heavy rains will make the road muddy and slippery.
03:06Torrents can carry whole trunks of the road.
03:09Slippery terrain is frequent.
03:11At any time, a rock can fall on a car without warning.
03:15It is therefore more of an obstacle course than a road.
03:19The only positive point is that you can take a shower on the way.
03:22Along the road, natural waterfalls allow travelers to wash.
03:29Until 2006, this mountain road was the only way to reach the capital from the Yungas region.
03:36This is why buses and large trucks had to squeeze along these cliffs.
03:41Unfortunately, some of them never reached their destination.
03:45On average, 26 vehicles fall into the abyss every year.
03:49The total cost of human life,
03:51200 to 300 people lose their lives every year on the Yungas road.
03:55It's really sad.
03:59The Bolivian authorities were determined to get things moving.
04:03But it took them 20 years to build another road.
04:07It runs along a nearby mountain range.
04:09The new bypass road has two roadways.
04:13It is secured by glaciers and even has a drainage system.
04:17This has reduced traffic on the old road, which was too dangerous.
04:21Today, traffic is much less important than in the 90s.
04:26In 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank had declared that it was the most dangerous road in the world.
04:35And then tourists arrived.
04:37Yes, once the inhabitants were able to cross the region safely,
04:41travelers from all over the world embarked on this difficult road.
04:45Tens of thousands of them flowed there in search of adrenaline, most of the time by bike.
04:50But the road remains dangerous.
04:52Since 1998, at least 25 cyclists have lost their lives on it.
04:57The road is so narrow that you don't have enough space to brake.
05:01Commemorative monuments are erected all along the road in memory of those who perished on bicycles.
05:09But this Bolivian road is not the only dangerous destination taken by tourists.
05:15In Zambia, there is a natural basin on the edge of the Victoria Falls.
05:20It is only accessible during the dry season.
05:23At this time, the water level of the powerful Zambian river drops enough for the basin to appear.
05:30People come here to take pictures.
05:33But danger lurks nearby.
05:35A rocky slope borders the famous basin.
05:38If a reckless swimmer crosses it, the fall is immense.
05:42More than 100 meters.
05:44The danger is therefore very real.
05:46Tourists often forget that they are on the edge of a powerful river.
05:50More than 400,000 liters of water are poured from the Victoria Falls every minute.
05:57The total lack of water can also be dangerous.
06:00This is precisely the case in the Valley of Death, in California.
06:04It is the hottest place on the planet.
06:07The temperatures there reach 54 degrees Celsius.
06:10But tourists are attracted by these extreme conditions.
06:14In 2022 alone, more than a million people visited the region.
06:18Hikes in this desert landscape are very dangerous.
06:22Even driving can cost some people their lives.
06:26If your car breaks down, the heat will soon catch up with you.
06:30Dehydration and heat strokes are real dangers.
06:33And as if that were not enough, there are snakes.
06:36This species of snake lives in the Mojave Desert.
06:41In Europe, Ireland is a very popular destination for travel.
06:45In 2019, 19 million people visited Emerald Island.
06:49It is almost four times the population of the country.
06:54Tourists explore Torc on the coast of Dublin.
06:56But they then want to see the countryside.
06:58And the biggest attraction is as dangerous as beautiful.
07:03The Moher cliffs.
07:05They stand on the steep west coast of the island.
07:08Visitors who try to approach their edge to take a nice picture, risk their lives.
07:13The slope is 215 meters.
07:16One wrong step and it's like you've fallen from the Great Pyramid of Giza.
07:21Unfortunately, this has already happened several times.
07:25New Smyrna Beach
07:28In Florida, there is a place that makes all American surfers dream.
07:32New Smyrna Beach.
07:34But there is a danger lurking under the waves.
07:37Sharks.
07:38These creatures love this region.
07:40A surfer who paddles on his board looks like a seal in the eyes of hungry sharks.
07:45And seals, they love it.
07:48Since 2010, 32 shark attacks have been reported in this area.
07:53This is why this part of the coast is nicknamed the most dangerous beach in America.
07:59It is certainly not the ideal destination for the summer.
08:04Maybe it's better to go to Hawaii.
08:07Or not.
08:08This atoll has its own dangers.
08:11The Hawaiian Islands have been formed by volcanic activity.
08:15These volcanoes attract tourists from all over the world.
08:18But it is not the lava that flows slowly that is dangerous.
08:22What are toxic gases?
08:23Have you ever heard of Vogue?
08:25No, I'm not talking about fashion magazines.
08:28This is volcanic smog.
08:30A mixture of ash and sulfur dioxide.
08:34It is the toxic gas that you breathe when you turn on a lighter.
08:38And when the lava flow touches the salty water of the ocean, you get lava mist.
08:44These panaches can travel up to 24 km in the direction of the wind.
08:49And it brings nothing good.
08:51Your eyes become dry and your throat starts to hurt.
08:55These are the least serious symptoms.
08:58In the space of 20 years, 5 tourists have died as a result of an exposure to volcanic gas.
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