The one that got away [Country I Want to Visit but Can't]

[Tiki]

As I get older and tick more of my bucket list destinations, especially the ones that have bird watching as the primary goal I was thinking that there was one destination that I won't be able to get to in my travel lifetime.

Venezuela has 1412 bird species and spectacular scenery. I was there briefly in the 80's when I was budget backpacking around South America but I didn't get into birding until the 2000's. I would love to go there and see all those beautiful "lifers" as we call new birds we haven't seen yet. But with the crime and political situation I can't see Venezuela being safe to visit or being taken off the Do Not Travel List in the near future.

So Venezuela is my "One that got away". What country is yours?

 

[Wanderlust_tim]

Syria. Early 2011 i planned Christmas in Turkey. My plan was to go from Cappadocia down to Gazientep, Diyarbikar then across the border and through to Aleppo and Damascus. Then the uprisings began in March and the rest as they say is history. Plans scuttled and i went west from Cappadocia instead undertaking a loop of Selcuk/Ephesus, Pamukkale and Gallipoli to Istanbul.

 

[kpc]

As I get older and tick more of my bucket list destinations, especially the ones that have bird watching as the primary goal I was thinking that there was one destination that I won't be able to get to in my travel lifetime.

Venezuela has 1412 bird species and spectacular scenery. I was there briefly in the 80's when I was budget backpacking around South America but I didn't get into birding until the 2000's. I would love to go there and see all those beautiful "lifers" as we call new birds we haven't seen yet. But with the crime and political situation I can't see Venezuela being safe to visit or being taken off the Do Not Travel List in the near future.

So Venezuela is my "One that got away". What country is yours?

I want to go to Venezuela to see Angel Falls, the world's tallest waterfall!

Angel Falls - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Cossie]

Ukraine, Belarus, Kalininagrad. SWMBO's mother was born in the Ukraine, however she was ethnically German, and her family can be traced back to Catherine the Great encouraging Mennonites to move there in the 1780's.

Doubtful we will get there...

Grünfeld (Schlachtin Mennonite Settlement, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine) - GAMEO

gameo.org

Ukraine: rich history, vibrant witness | Anabaptist World

Panasovich and his congregation are writing a new chapter in the Ukrainian Mennonite story.

anabaptistworld.org

 

[Denali]

St Petersburg, Russia for me

 

[Scarlett]

Been thinking about it for the past 30 minutes @Tiki and can’t come up with anything. Most likely because even the most troublesome of places could be turned around, eventually.
Dictators die or get toppled.
Crime can be brought under control.

I’d happily visit Rwanda or Colombia now; not sure I’d have said that 15 years ago?

 

[RooFlyer]

Sudan - planned but stymied within a few months of travel by civil war; the pyramids and churches! Given up - I'm getting too infirm for what would be required.

Ukraine/Belarus - tour was booked, then covid and war. Small chance; if facilities allow, I'd go to support the economy of Ukraine.

Libya - Leptis magna etc. Hoping, hoping, hoping ...

I’d happily visit Rwanda or Colombia now; not sure I’d have said that 15 years ago?

Same for Cambodia and Laos, for those who remember the Vietnam War.

 

[Tiki]

Been thinking about it for the past 30 minutes @Tiki and can’t come up with anything. Most likely because even the most troublesome of places could be turned around, eventually.
Dictators die or get toppled.
Crime can be brought under control.

I’d happily visit Rwanda or Colombia now; not sure I’d have said that 15 years ago?

I do remember when Colombia was on the DNT list and I did finally go there in 2016 for bird watching when it had been safe for a few years. It's more that the purpose of my desired travel to Venezuela is bird watching that requires some level of fitness to go hiking in rugged conditions, traveling over rough remote roads in rainforests, all things that don't get easier as one gets older.

Post automatically merged: Thursday at 10:44 AM

Sudan - planned by stymied by civil war; the pyramids and churches! Given up - I'm getting too infirm
Ukraine/Belarus - tour booked, then covid and war. Small chance; if facilities allow, I'd go to support the economy of Ukraine.
Libya - Leptis magna etc. Hoping, hoping, hoping ...

I would love to have even a day trip in Libya. There was a brief window of opportunity about 12ish years ago when some cruises were stopping there but that didn't last long.

 

[jase05]

I’ve been fortunate that have been to Russia and the Ukraine plus Syria in better days.
Probably Libya and Yemen are the two id love to visit but probably won’t get around to anytime soon.

 

[n7of9]

St Petersburg for me also. There was a cruise I wanted to do from Copenhagen to Sweden, Estonia, and 2 nights in St Petersburg. Russia is currently the only place I want to visit but cannot.

 

[Lynda2475]

I would expect Russia to become feasible for safe travel again when Putin is gone.

I am optimistic about out-living both Putin and the current Ukraine war, so am sure i will get to visit both one day.

I've been to Colombia, no issues at all if you fly between certain cities and avoid driving through a few problematic drug cartel regions. Medellin and Cartegena were my favourite cities, Tayrona NP and the Andean coffee plantations were stunning.

 

[JohnM]

Chad - for the Gerewol Festival and some 4WDing in the Ennedi Mountains: The Gerewol Festival & Ennedi Mountains

I had that tour and flights booked for 2020. Well, we know what happened then. That tour, and a massive DONE4, cancelled. I'm still sh!tty on Scare France for not refunding my (fortunately a whY-) Paris-N'Djamena return, given it was covid-induced. They did me for $700. At least that was the extent of my losses for 2020 plans.

I remember reading an article on the Gerewol Festival in National Geographic many years ago and thought at the time that it would be a fascinating experience. When one of the other pax on my 2018 Sudan trip who is high up in Intrepid Travel mentioned it while we were on a walk in the desert, I knew exactly what she was talking about and ears pricked up. She gave me the tip about Native Eye and it was likely that she would also be in for at least the Gerewol Festival part in 2020.

Changed personal circumstances and age means it will not happen.

C'est la vie.

 

[RooFlyer]

Yemen are the two id love to visit

I got two within 2 km of the Yemeni border when I was visiting Saudi Arabia on business and we were supposed to include Yemen. We are okay, our local host was okay with it and the security guards from Saudi that we stopped at periodically heading towards the border were okay but the Australian embassy was decided not okay with the idea. They forecast an unpleasant return back to Riyadh if we did go to Yemen. Although they couldn’t stop us, our company had the last word and it was a very strong no.

So we just motored down until the last Saudi checkpoint before the border.

 

[kpc]

St Petersburg, Russia for me

Include Moscow if and when you do go,,,,we went to StP and Moscow in 2014...StP is beautiful and some call it the "Venice of the North" but we felt it was very European and we could have been in any European country. In Moscow, we felt we were really in Russia and loved it once we overcame (sort of) the language barrier

I’d happily visit Rwanda or Colombia now; not sure I’d have said that 15 years ago?

We visited Rwanda in Nov 2023 to see the Mountain Gorillas; the Rwanda of today is a very safe and clean country, and has been described as the "Singapore of Africa"!

 

[Cossie]

Ahh, a few more, had a 5 Stans trip booked for this year, but cancelled as not sure if physically we could do it.
Myanmar, got there a few years ago, really wanted to go back. sigh.
I guess we are both lucky in that we did a lot of travelling when young.
Libya, Chad, Ethiopia lot's more, just have to enjoy them through other peoples TR's.

A friend and family spent 3 years living in Kigali, Rwanda recently. He was working at a university, they all loved it!

 

[p--and--t]

Ukraine has been on the list for a few years after I visited several of the other Eastern EU countries like Budapest, Prague, Bucharest, Sofia, Kotor. Sadly given the damage caused during the war, not sure it will have the same attraction.

Others I don’t think I’ll make it to due to a combo of increasing age and either politics, safety concerns, or major attractions damaged/destroyed - Iran, Tunisia, Libya, Venezuela, Uganda, Beijing to Moscow via train, Nepal (altitude sickness), Myanmar.

Its still a big planet with lots to see and I’ll keep traveling until it’s not practical.

 

[boomy]

Iran and North Korea. Sadly, due to where myself and my +1 originally come from (these countries arch enemies) it’s not going to be safe to visit even with an Aussie passport.

 

[p--and--t]

St Petersburg, Russia for me

So glad I managed to get there before all the current cough. The museums full of (largely stolen) artifacts and palaces are amazing.

 

[kpc]

Iran and North Korea. Sadly, due to where myself and my +1 originally come from (these countries arch enemies) it’s not going to be safe to visit even with an Aussie passport.

You cannot visit! When I have decided I no longer want to visit the US (can't get ESTA after going to Iran), I will go to Iran. Does crossing over the DMZ line onto the North Korean side count as having been to NK?!

 

[wandering_fred]

In the late 1970s / early 1980s I managed to visit both Iran and Yemen. Though I did turn down a "back door" visit to Lebanon that would have likely passed through Syria.
Still on my "list" with question marks:
Russia-Lake Baikal/Kazakhstan
Armenia/Azerbaijan
Age is starting to limit the countries that remain "politically feasible".
But the hope is to continue wandering
Fred