The Foreign Office (FCDO) has revealed a list of the world’s most dangerous countries, with 30 of them being in Africa.
The second-largest continent is made up of 54 countries and spans an impressive 11.7 square miles. It’s home to 1.3 billion people, making it the second-most populated continent in the world.
Out of these 54 countries, 11 are completely off limits, and 19 are partly off limits for reasons including the threat of terrorism and unstable political environments.
The entirely off-limits countries are: Chad, Niger, Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Mozambique.
The countries that are partly off-limits are: Algeria, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Tunisia, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire.
While Brits are free to ignore the FCDO advice and travel to these countries regardless, this may cause travel insurance policies to become invalid.
The FCDO regularly reviews and updates its travel advice and recently added nine new countries to its red list: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Iran, Sudan, Lebanon, Mozambique, and Mayotte. and New Caledonia.
Currently, a total of 25 destinations are completely off-limits for British travellers, 44% of which are located in Africa. There are also 47 countries partially off-limits, with 40% being in Africa.
According to the FCDO, plenty of African countries are completely safe to visit, so travellers shouldn’t write off the continent entirely.
The vast land mass contains an array of stunning beaches and jaw-dropping natural landscapes, such as Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe and the dunes of Sossusvlei, Namibia.
The countries that are safe to visit are Morocco, Cape Verde, Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leon, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Eswatini, Rwanda, Madagascar.