A man who has travelled through all 197 countries in the world has revealed the ‘worst’ destination he visited, where he was told not to go outside.
Drew Binsky, 34, has spent the last decade visiting every country and shares his travel content on YouTube with his 5.7 million subscribers. So far, he has accrued more than one billion views.
In one video entitled ‘Top five places where I felt the most unsafe as a traveller,’ the American blogger revealed Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, as the very worst place he’s visited.
Describing Mogadishu as ‘miserable’, Drew said that the city has ‘no rules, no laws’. He adds that the ‘offshoot of al-Qaeda,’ Al-Shabab, operates there, making it a ‘very, very scary’ place to travel.
Binsky said: ‘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.’
The other four cities in the list are: Conakry (Guinea), Kandahar (Afghanistan), Port au Prince (Haiti) and Tripoli (Libya).
Describing Conakry as his ‘least favourite place in West Africa’, the global explorer recounted walking around the capital city for less than ten minutes before being stopped by two policemen. He was also caught up in a coup.
He said it was a ‘complete mess’ with ‘nothing to do’ and is ‘very, very hostile’.
Drew Binsky has spent the last decade visiting every country and shares his travel content on YouTube
Drew called Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, the very worst place he’s visited – branding it ‘miserable’
He explained that the founding city of the Taliban, Kandahar in Afghanistan, feels a ‘very unsafe place’ and recounted seeing a ‘big barbed-wired complexes’.
‘You can just feel the tense air,’ he continued.
While he noted the ‘cool and traditional markets’, he said that there is ‘this layer of intensity’ and a need to ’look over your shoulder where you walk’.
Binsky continues to describe Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, as ‘total chaos’.
He explained how he entered a ‘gang-controlled area’ near the airport with a guide and was told at times to put his camera away.
‘It was just total chaos,’ he said. ‘Thugs that were controlling this area – I had to pay them off.
‘Gangsters with big guns in their pockets taking me around.’
The final destination on Binsky’s list is Tripoli in Libya, which he visited in 2018.
He called Conakry in Guinea a ‘complete mess’ with ‘nothing to do’, adding that it is ‘very, very hostile’
The founding city of the Taliban, Kandahar in Afghanistan feels a ‘very unsafe place’ and recounted seeing a ‘big barbed-wired complexes’.
He said: ‘I will say I heard it’s safer in the last few years, but back in 2018, I was falling asleep to the sound of bombs in my hotel room.’
The traveller revealed how his bed frame would be ‘literally shaking’, but hotel staff would brush it off as happening ‘five miles away’.
He added that it was ‘very hard’ walking outside without police, who weren’t used to tourists, asking him questions.
‘I heard nowadays it’s easier to go to Libya and it’s more open without civil war, so I hope to visit again,’ Binsky added.
The FCDO currently advises against all travel to all the destinations mentioned.
