Travel activities: Dangerous road trips

Road trip reminds us of so many beautiful songs from Bollywood – Yun hi Chala Chal rahi!! Zindagi ek Safar hai suhana!! And so many more! These roads have been seducing travelers since so long! Road travel is an important part of all the exciting travel activities we plan.

Roads are no more just means of connecting two points. Some travel freaks visit certain roads around the world for the challenge they offer! They are dangerous like hell and yet an absolute hit amongst the adventurists.

Here’s the list of  these roads curated specially for that adventurous spirit in you –

North Yungas Road, Bolivia:

The most visited road in the world is also called the “Death Road”! It has reported around 200-300 deaths a year! This road connects La Paz in Bolivia to the jungles of Amazon. Why do people yearn to go here? The reason being the beautiful nature out here! The thick jungles of Amazon and the deep valleys are highly inviting. The cliffs are so huge that they seem to be touching the sky.

Thousands of cyclists go on an expedition here every year to enjoy this beauty! The roads are so narrow that your bus might peep out of the road at any time while taking the hair-pin turn. Plus the altitude of this road is yet another issue. You are around 15,400 feet above the sea level. The cyclist summit is to traverse 65 KMS on this road with the enchanting views of the Amazon forest. This road gets around 25000 mountain bikers every year and is Bolivia’s most famous tourist attraction.

Atlantic Road, Norway

We generally travel to the islands only by water but how about an island tour by a road? This unique experience is of Atlantic Road! Just drive along the road and you can visit 8 islands in Norway. Although this sounds fun, the road is very risky. The road passes over the sea and the tides splash water on the road making it slippery. Adding to that are the twists and turns which makes it even more difficult for the drivers to drive. Take a peek at it below:

Guoliang tunnel, China:

This unique tunnel is a hand chiseled tunnel which took a mind-boggling 5 years to complete. There are windows made in the tunnel. The tunnel has mountain on one side and a deep cliff on the other. This makes it very dangerous. This tunnel is the road connecting Guoliang village in China and hence is commonly used for transferring goods. Just have a look at this video:

McMurdo South Pole Highway:

This is the ice-ist road (yes, that’s a made up word, but there’s literally no other way to describe this!) in the world and is also known as South Pole traverse road. This highway is full of ice and is most difficult road to drive. It was created by filling in deep crevasses in the Antarctic ice. It is around 1450 KMS long joining the McMurdo station in Antarctica to Scott station in Amundsen.

The road has no proper lanes, it has just the flags patrolled by snowplows to guide. The only vehicles on the highway are specialized tractors which are equipped with specialized towing sleds. This road is used to transport heavy equipment and fuel to the South Pole.

Watch this really interesting video to see how difficult it is to travel on this road:

How do these roads look like? Interesting, scary, pumping adrenaline rush? Would you want to visit them?

Let’s us know about other exciting travel activities you plan on a road trip!

Happy travels!!

You would also like to read about these road travels near Pune and abroad!