A travel vlogger who has visited all 197 countries has named Somalia as the most unsafe destination he has ever experienced, saying he could not leave his hotel room without a military convoy.
Drew Binsky, 34, a US-born YouTuber with over 5.7 million subscribers, said Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, was the worst place he has visited in terms of safety. He described the city as having “no rules, no laws” and noted the presence of Al-Shabab, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, making it a “very, very scary” place.
“Every time you leave your hotel, you have to have a convoy in the front and back with four bulletproof vest military guys sitting on the beds of each truck with huge AK-47s in their hand, scouting out the area before you go,” he said in a recent video.
The other four most unsafe destinations on his list were Conakry (Guinea), Kandahar (Afghanistan), Port-au-Prince (Haiti) and Tripoli (Libya). Binsky described Conakry as his “least favourite place in West Africa”, recounting being stopped by police within ten minutes of walking around and being caught up in a coup. He found Kandahar “very unsafe” with a “tense air”, while Port-au-Prince was “total chaos” where he had to pay off “thugs” in a gang-controlled area. In Tripoli, he said he fell asleep to the sound of bombs in 2018, with his bed frame shaking.
However, Binsky noted that Libya has become safer in recent years and he hopes to visit again. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office currently advises against all travel to all five destinations mentioned.
