Last update: Monday, September 05, 2005

Yes! What about safety in the countries we're planning to visit ? In general we heard and read all sorts of positive sounds from people who've visited the Middle-East. In fact we don't worry about this subject too much.
In the years of traveling we've picked up a daily routine and generally use common sense to avoid places and situations which could put ourselves in danger.

To be honest the places we experience as relatively risky area's are the ones with the highest tourist count. Anyway that would be the place where we would look for potential victims if we where the bad guys :-)

The northern part of Yemen close to the Omani border is probably the most hazardous area we try to pass. We'll probably have to travel through this region with guards as we heard from others who've been there.  The following links supply travel advice:

• Dutch government:
• Iran
• Yemen
• Turkey
• German government:
• Iran
• Yemen
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Jordan
• Egypt
• British government
• Travel advice

A few tips for spending the night in the 'wild':

• Use your intuition; don't stay when you've got a bad feeling about a spot. You will be sorry for the rest of the night if you decide to stay anyway.
• Check the ground where you're about to camp out. Lot's of tire marks, cigarette buts and chewing gum could indicate a spot where (young) people like to hangout at night. Specially on Friday and Saturday nights !!.
• The same applies for animal tracks, spending the night between sheep can be quite noisy. Not to talk about an angry shepherd!
• Be sure the place isn't one where people log trees or do any other kind of work or business the following day. An angry woodcutter or farmer isn't what  you want at 5 am.
• Don't leave any garbage out or under the car. You will surely get visitors at night.
  Only leave your footprints when leaving.
• Choose a spot out of road-sight. Avoid attracting too much attention.
• Don't take out too much stuff indicating you might be preparing for a serious camp out. Leave chairs and stuff inside.
• The parking space of a swimming pool, museum, the start of a hiking trail, restaurant (eat there!), hotel, petrol station is a good spot to spend the night.
• And always be prepared to leave when you don't feel sure about the area. So don't drink too much wine or beer while camping out in the wild.....