Yes and no. There are direct flights now. If you're creative enough, you can get a license, which is not granted for tourism. Without it, you still have to detour to another country.
You shouldn't be so harsh. Of course, CAR is not a safe place. But don't say things like that. It could hurt people that are on JetPunk and are from CAR. I'm not trying to be mean...
CAR, Afghanistan, Niger, Somalia, and South Sudan are all the worst countries to live in (especially if you're a woman). It's not the people of these countries' fault, these countries are just extremely unstable, dangerous, and quite poor.
Not random: the State Department warns against travel to the Central African Republic due to high crime and great civil unrest. Sadly, it is among the least safe places on the planet.
The countries on this list aren't necessarily forbidden to US tourists it's just that the State Department advises American citizens to not travel to them for any reason. That could be due to high levels of crime, social unrest, kidnapping, civil war, terrorism, breakdown in social services, or when the government of the country has a habit of detaining American tourists without good cause. So the countries are deemed not safe to travel to. There are other levels of travel advisories, which are:
I think they all fit in to one of the four unless the State Department hasn't bothered making a page about them. Maybe some places like the Vatican or Tuvalu?
Small countries like Monaco and The Vatican are just lumped into bigger countries, France and Italy respectively. Tuvalu might be lumped into Australia, but I'm not sure.
It is safe to travel to Somaliland, but not Somalia. It is sad that they're not internationally recognized, but I guess the reasons for is respectable.
I know the instructions say "As of October 14, 2019," but the source you used has since been updated (on November 12, 2019) adding Bolivia to the list.
This quiz is going to be very hard if its annual update is soon. The number of Level 4 countries has vastly increased thanks to COVID-19. Maybe exclude Level 4 countries whose only reason is COVID-19, or format the list into COVID and non-COVID columns, maybe?
I considered it, but because of COVID-19, almost every country is currently on the do not travel list, so until things calm down, I won't update the quiz.
I think I would sooner travel to Venezuela right now than Niger. Though I know there's a risk of kidnapping and a fairly severe breakdown in government services in the former. Niger doesn't seem much safer to me than Mali, Libya, or South Sudan. Though it's still not one of the 30 countries currently on the Do Not Travel list at the State Department website. Meanwhile, Georgia is. Thinking that this was crazy and maybe due to the outbreak of violence with Armenia I looked up why and it's actually due to COVID. Though that still seems odd to me considering the other 160 or so countries that are not on the do not travel list. Maybe it's a combination of the two.
And given all of the above I just commented, even though the complete list is only 30 countries and far from every country, it would still make for a very difficult quiz as many of those on the list seem somewhat random. Probably best to wait until next year to update.
the source you use (https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html/) added like 100 more countries
uzbekistan samoa sudan russia north korea nicaragua malaysia libya ireland iran fiji burkina faso belarus afghanistan ethiopia haiti sri lanka colombia trinidad nepal egypt png sao tome tajikistan turkmenistan syria somalia saudi arabia mali maldives kuwait iraq georgia drc czechia croatia chile belgium yemen vanuatu uruguay tuvalu tonga tanzania sweden suriname south sudan solomon islands slovenia seychelles roc paraguay pakistan netherlands nauru namibia mongolia madagascar lithuania lesotho latvia kiribati jamaica guinea guinea bissau estonia eritrea dominican republic cuba costa rica comoros car ivory coast myanmar brazil bolivia bangladesh bahrain argentina and algeria are all class 4 now (probably cause covid)
Lol, the State Department is officially pathetic. They are still rating Sweden as a Level 4. There are virtually no Covid cases or deaths in Sweden, nor is Sweden imposing any large scale restrictions that would affect tourists. This is just an example. There are dozens of other countries marked as Level 4 for absolutely no reason. This is cowardice, plain and simple. We'll update the quiz if the State Department ever gets their heads out of their butts.
This has now reached peak idiocy. Senegal is currently in level 1 (safest) while Singapore is in level 4 (least safe). The State Department has gone full clown.
You are much more likely to die from COVID than you are from... mongoose attacks or whatever you're worried about in Senegal. Also much more likely to die from this than violent crime. There are about 400-500k homicides worldwide every year. Last year there were 5 million worldwide COVID deaths. But based on several things QM has posted I get the sense that wherever he turns for news has some interest in downplaying the latter.
I think Quizmaster is referring, in large parts, to vaccination rates. Senegal has vaccinated 8% of its population whereas Singapore has vaccinated 82% of its population. While I agree that COVID remains a pretty big threat and that unvaccinated people should not under any circumstance be traveling abroad, I definitely think that traveling in a mostly vaccinated place like Singapore at this point is safer than traveling in a mostly unvaccinated place like Senegal (especially since the former has some of the world's best healthcare and the latter I'm guessing has pretty poor healthcare).
Yes, they actually put New Zealand on 'do not travel' because of Covid, at a time when New Zealand was Covid-free and there was a massive outbreak in the USA.
I don't know if Iran should be on this list (I know you can't choose what the US does, I'm just saying). If you ever have been to Isfahan you'll know what I mean.
The State Department has finally stopped clowning itself so we updated the quiz. Before, they had countries like Sweden on the list because of Covid, even though Sweden's covid risk was much lower than the United States.
Americans, like most people, see dangerous things from other countries as inherently more dangerous than dangerous things from their own country. Even when this is objectively false.
Tonga had a devastating volcano eruption and the country infrastructure is not quite functioning. It's probably closed for tourism anyway, but it's not so much being dangerous but you may not be able to get help if you need it. (Kind of similar with Iran, of course it's generally safe to travel, but if something goes wrong there's little US govt can do for you, plus arbitrary detentions when it's politically convenient)
I was in Central African Republic a couple months ago to see the gorillas and nothing bad happened to me. The Russian mercenaries have inflicted major casualties on the rebel groups there. I was told by the lodge manager that they're the reason the civil war ended in that country.
If you don't mind my asking, how were you able to go there? I'd love to travel more but CAR has been one of those countries that seems impossible to get to (properly).
Also I know Myanmar was killing the Rohingyas but why would Americans not of South Asian descent be in enough danger for the US to tell them not to go there?
Tonga had a volcano eruption earlier this year, so its probably more a of "plz don't go, they're recovering and there aren't a ton a services if some thing goes wrong". Belarus because of their involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war and what happened with than Ryanair flight.
...US Department of State currently recommends US citizens Reconsider Travel to Papua New Guinea due to crime and civil unrest. Exercise increased caution due to unexploded ordinance, ongoing elections, and volcanic activity. Some areas have increased risk
Really enjoyed this, I used to go onto the Foreign Office website at my old job when I was bored to see which countries had areas (or were fully) red, so that travel was not advised.
I'd be interested to see what differences there were with a UK list, slightly fewer countries I imagine.
This challenge led Commander-in-Chief Sr. General MIN AUNG HLAING (MAH) to launch a coup in February 2021 that has left Burma reeling with the return to authoritarian rule, the detention of ASSK and thousands of pro-democracy actors, and renewed brutal repression against protestors, widespread violence, and economic decline.
..In May 2021, the NUG announced the formation of an an armed wing called the People's Defense Force, and in September announced the start of an insurgency against the military junta that has continued into 2022.
... The US Department of State currently recommends US citizens DO NOT TRAVEL to Burma due to civil unrest and armed conflict. Reconsider travel to Burma due to limited and/or inadequate healthcare resources. Exercise increased caution due to wrongful detentions and areas with land mines and unexploded ordnance.
No, what I meant was, I hope countries don't get banned for stupid reasons, remember in 2021 when Sweden was on here for "Covid stuff". If a country like DPRK for example, is actually unsafe, then that's understandable, so are countries that are ravaged by war. But if its for a reason like "Covid stuff" when Covid cases are low, then that's a bad reason to ban a country!
Yeah, the list is bad. Puerto Vallarta is in a Level 3 "Reconsider Travel" area. It's a little silly. There are loads of tourists. It's perfectly safe. Much safer than Chicago or New Orleans.
OMG QUIZMASTER REPLIED!!! Yeah Ur right, the USA government is saying "Oh Kiribati is unsafe due to COVID-19!!!" Yet places like New Orleans or Skid Row have tons of violence and crime, yet are considered "Safer"...
Military coups and militant jihadists have destabilized the already poor country. Reports of violence, kidnappings and mass killings are becoming the norm. The US government would very likely be unable to assist any citizens who find themselves in peril, including NGO and aid workers. It's a tragic situation.
That is funny, on the website you habe to "exercice increased caution" in Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Italy, Spain, Germany or France, the same level as Eritrea, Congo, Peru or Israel. I didn't realize that I was living in such a dangerous continent :D
Russia is WAY more prone to kidnapping American citizens to use as political leverage than China is. I'm guessing that's a big part of why North Korea is on this list actually.
UPDATE: Aug 2, 2023 / The United States Department of State has raised the travel advisory for the Republic of the Niger to Level 4 due to the rising tensions in the country.
ew
Yeah Somalia is fine, except for the all the poor pirates fighting a war in the desert.
Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions
Level 2: Exercise Increased Caution
Level 3: Reconsider Travel
and Level 4, the highest, Do Not Travel
Level 1 : 0 countries
Level 2 : 0 countries
Level 3 : 1 country
Level 4 : 195 countries
uzbekistan samoa sudan russia north korea nicaragua malaysia libya ireland iran fiji burkina faso belarus afghanistan ethiopia haiti sri lanka colombia trinidad nepal egypt png sao tome tajikistan turkmenistan syria somalia saudi arabia mali maldives kuwait iraq georgia drc czechia croatia chile belgium yemen vanuatu uruguay tuvalu tonga tanzania sweden suriname south sudan solomon islands slovenia seychelles roc paraguay pakistan netherlands nauru namibia mongolia madagascar lithuania lesotho latvia kiribati jamaica guinea guinea bissau estonia eritrea dominican republic cuba costa rica comoros car ivory coast myanmar brazil bolivia bangladesh bahrain argentina and algeria are all class 4 now (probably cause covid)
Two words: drop bears.
Also I know Myanmar was killing the Rohingyas but why would Americans not of South Asian descent be in enough danger for the US to tell them not to go there?
...US Department of State currently recommends US citizens Reconsider Travel to Papua New Guinea due to crime and civil unrest. Exercise increased caution due to unexploded ordinance, ongoing elections, and volcanic activity. Some areas have increased risk
I'd be interested to see what differences there were with a UK list, slightly fewer countries I imagine.
This challenge led Commander-in-Chief Sr. General MIN AUNG HLAING (MAH) to launch a coup in February 2021 that has left Burma reeling with the return to authoritarian rule, the detention of ASSK and thousands of pro-democracy actors, and renewed brutal repression against protestors, widespread violence, and economic decline.
..In May 2021, the NUG announced the formation of an an armed wing called the People's Defense Force, and in September announced the start of an insurgency against the military junta that has continued into 2022.
... The US Department of State currently recommends US citizens DO NOT TRAVEL to Burma due to civil unrest and armed conflict. Reconsider travel to Burma due to limited and/or inadequate healthcare resources. Exercise increased caution due to wrongful detentions and areas with land mines and unexploded ordnance.
Covid just made it even stupider.