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Comment by CodeSheikh | Hacker News Reader

I wonder about highway safety. Say I travel with a local tourist guide and would I be expecting him to carry weapons in the car for protection, granted tourists can't just go and "rent" guns and sickles there? From the pictures as epic as it seems to be it also gives the notion of wilderness.

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I've been driving around Africa for 2.5 years now. Both Congos, Nigeria, Angola, Mali, just to name a few.

Having someone in your car with a gun is not a good idea. Chances are they'll just run away anyway (they don't want to get shot anymore than you do), and if a "bad guy" sees a gun in your car, the first thing he's going to do is shoot, then ask questions later. If you don't have a gun he'll come over and shake hands and scope out the situation.

I've been to 30 countries here now and have never, ever felt the need for a gun. Recently I rolled up on guys guarding their cows with AK47s. They were more than happy to let me hold it while they cycled the selector from safe to semi to full auto... only after that did he check and I saw there was a round in the chamber, and a full magazine!

Wow! I read the book “Around the world in 50 years” where author makes it a mission to visit every single country and territory. If I remember correctly he kept Congo, Niger and Somalia at the last because of very high chance of getting killed/robbed/abducted. In Somalia he was required to have two armed bodyguards 24x7 as condition for visa.

You didn’t faced any of these?

No, nothing even remotely close. I ate a local street-food places, wild camped in my Jeep and walked around whatever towns I wanted to. I have never once felt threatened or concerned. People here are fantastically friendly.

I won't be going to Somalia.

Can't speak for the whole of it, but we travelled from Dushanbe to Khorog and then onwards to Wakhan valley and later turned left into the mountains and away from Afganistan to do a 5 day trek in the mountains. Few hundred of those kilometers are on the border with Afganistan. This was in 2015.

Situations obviously change and cannot say how it is now, but as far as I can tell it is similar to then. Cross-border attacks and kidnappings were rare and we neither had an armed escort nor did we want one.

On trip I worried a bit about road safety (still, not nearly as much as in Nepal) and more about food poisoning (stay long enough and you'll experience it :P), but not really about other kind of threats.

People were generally kind and helpful. We did have local guides to help us.

Would love to return again some day.

My dream is a mountain bike ride through the Wakhan: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/09/across-t...

There is a Russian travel blogger that I follow and he made quite a lengthy video of his trip to Pamir. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPjTa3sJkbM From my understanding, the people are very friendly and welcoming.

I wonder if the Taliban who are across what looks like an easily fjorded stream knew Westerners were travelling that highway might they cross the border and kidnap and hold a few for ransom?

Still it looks like a very challenging drive with very beautiful scenery.

There's some info here about the current situation, after last years attack in Tajikistan. Seems to still be considered somewhat safe.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/travel/were-the-ame...

The inhabitants of the Wakhan Corridor are mainly Pamiris like their kin in Tajikistan or nomadic Kyrgyz. Neither group is sympathetic to the Taliban. Sure, Taliban from further afield could strike there, but there is a reason that generally not only was Tajikistan safe, but for several years after the American invasion tourists commonly visited across the border in the Wakhan.

It's illigal to carry weapons here in Kyrgyzstan. You can however get a hunter license, but it's a painful process.

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