Drivers Beware: The Most Dangerous Roads in the World

by Martha Edwards on

Living near the Rocky Mountains, I thought I had some experience with dangerous roads. The ones I frequent twist and in turn around, over and under the huge, jagged mountains, through avalanche plains, with only a guardrail protecting your car from plummeting off a cliff’s edge. It wasn’t until I started travelling that I realized that the most dangerous road that I’ve encountered in Canada would be considered a smooth, luxurious ride in other countries.

So if our roads aren’t dangerous, where are the dangerous ones? I did a bit of research and here are the most dangerous roads in the world according to USA Today (click here for the full list):

  1. Bolivia’s The Old Yungus Road, from La Paz to Coroico
  2. Brazil’s Interstate 116
  3. China’s Sichuan-Tibet Highway
  4. Costa Rica’s Pan-American Highway
  5. Croatia’s coastal roads (any of ’em)

Judging by this article on the Old Yungus Road, I think I’ll pass on taking a trip on it anytime soon.

The Five Most Dangerous Roads in the World

by Justin Glow on

Out of the few near-death experiences I can recall in my lifetime, just about all of them involved cars — driving them, being driven in them, being hit by one of them; even when the roads are perfectly asphalted and traffic is flowing smoothly it can still be dangerous. Just think of the times you find yourself in an overcrowded bus on Bolivia’s “Road of the Death,” which landed in the number one spot on this list of the world’s most dangerous roads.

“It runs in the Bolivian Andes, 70 km from La Paz to Coroico, and plunges down almost 3,600 meters in an orgy of extremely narrow hairpin curves and 800-meter abyss near-misses. A fatal accident happens there every couple of weeks, 100-200 people perish there every year.”

Other deadly roads include the Russian Siberian Road to Yakutsk, Russian-Georgian “Military” Mountain Roads and Mount Huashan Hiking Trail in China. Be sure and check out the list, complete with lots of goose bump-inducing photos at the Dark Roasted Blend blog.

Andes Photo Gallery

by Erik Olsen on

Having spent over a year living in Chile way back when, I can attest that the Andes Mountains are a photographer’s dream. The scale of these towering peaks and gaping valleys are like nothing most of us know wen we think of mountains. This hemisphere’s largest mountain, Aconcagua, is in the Andes.

Indeed they are lovely, and so that is why I’d like to direct you to this nice little photo essay over at National Geographic that features a bunch of great pics of the Andes. Rather than hike these massive peaks, however, Henry von Wartenberg covered some 5,000 miles on his motorcycle, cruising along mountain passes through four countries in five weeks. From the salt flats and the altiplano to Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, the series here actually conjured up some vivid memories for me.

Paddle Bolivia

by Erik Olsen on

The world is filled with wonderful places to paddle, and we’ve done our best here at gadling to bring some of them to your attention. But most of these places are on the ocean, from the lovely San Juan Islands in the Northwest to, well, exotic places like The Na Pali Coast.

Yes, in checking back on some of the places we’ve mentioned, I was reminded recently of a piece in Outside that took a group of paddlers to the highlands of Bolivia. It’s a somewhat older piece (2000), but a solid one, that takes readers and paddle fiends to some really wonderful paddle spots from the altiplano to the jungle, some of these spots feature class V rapids, so I’m talking about spots that are not for the feint of heart.

I confess that paddling the altiplano is something I’d never heard of until reading the article by Jon Bowermaster (a gadling favorite) who did it for his Ocean’s 8 project, an immensely cool project launched by Bowermaster to paddle 8 major areas around the world. But this article does a superb job describing the allure and opportunity of paddling in a lesser known country.

Red Corner: On the Trail of Che

by Neil Woodburn on

Che Guevara has always been an iconic figure, and has thusly attracted a rather devoted band of followers, even in death.

In fact, it is his death that even today draws the curious and the dedicated to a remote spot in Bolivia where he was gunned down in 1967: La Higuera

The town of La Higuera has either been blessed or cursed–you be the judge–by the tragic execution of this revolutionary. Certainly most towns wouldn’t want to be remembered for such an atrocity, but on the other hand, it’s great for tourism.

It’s no surprise, therefore, that the townsfolk have erected a Che statue in the main square. In addition, a recently completed Che Guevara Trail traces the journey the revolutionary made from Santa Cruz to the end of the line, La Higuera. It’s not easy though. You’ll need a four-wheel drive jeep to navigate the whole route, but if you’re as fanatical about Che as Che was about his revolutions, I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it happen.