Fear, Self-loathing and Visiting Lagos
Hi all,
I'm reluctant to post a question about fear and personal safety as it a sensitive, complex and political issue, and none of us likes to admit their true fears or failures in public. However, I have come to the point in my trip planning that I must confront and understand my own fears about travelling through West Africa.
Of course any non-traveller that I speak to in my day to day life says "you're crazy" or asks "do you want to die?" when I tell them of my plans, and of course I take their comments with a pinch of salt, but I'm hoping to get some help and advice with how to approach this aspect of the trip. How to be more informed about the true risks and separate what is scary from what is dangerous.
With my (Australian) government advising against travel to many of the countries I want to visit, how do I go about assessing and managing the risks that come with West African travel? I'm a fairly quiet, careful person and not generally one to flout authority (of the organised, modern, Western democratic kind at least).
I realise that the above statement on its own makes me sound like a complete rookie, seasoned travellers seem to scoff at "ridiculous" government travel advisories and appear to be able to take chaos in their stride, ambling into war-zones to party with the locals. But the truth is that I am a rookie, and I need help approaching this level-headedly.
I am not asking for someone to make the decision to go for me, but I do want to know from those more experienced than I what resources I should be looking for to help better understand what I'm getting myself into, and to at least know that I don't do anything really stupid.
How have others approached this aspect of a trip into the unknown, and in particular areas of the globe that are considered "no go" by everyone in your immediate circle.
I'm not really looking for "don't worry, be happy" type of reassurance (but I'll take it). There are plenty of ride reports out there that paint a positive picture, but ride reports tend to be written when one feels positive, and is the last thing on the list when things get tough.
In short: I'm scared. Should I be? And if not, what do I need to go and learn about to know that it's just fear of the unknown and nothing worse?
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