The world is no longer safe for solo travellers

“I miss travelling,” I said to my husband last Saturday. Ironically, it was the worst weekend to travel as seen all across my social media.

For starters, this past week, a YouTuber with the channel Best-Ever Food Review Show, shone a light on Egypt over alleged corruption and harassment of filmmakers and tourists in general. Sonny, the guy behind the channel, narrated his ordeal with the aid of some secretly recorded videos.

On arrival in Cairo, Sonny and his team were stopped at customs for their shooting equipment. After hours of being harassed, trying to reason with the officials and producing documentation, they were finally released. Upon checking in at the hotel, Sonny said they had to go through another security check, worse than the airport, where their cables triggered the alarm. They opened the bags and showed the security, who were not pleased. He said they were left in the lobby for hours, forced to open their belongings as security and police went through them one by one.

Finally, customs police arrived and confiscated their equipment, informing them they will receive it on departure. Unbeaten, Sonny decided to buy a new iPhone to record his content. What continued were three days of scams, harassment by police and locals and an overall horrific experience.

By departure time, Sonny and his team had to navigate a series of unfortunate events just to get their stuff back. The series of videos ended with Sonny saying he would not recommend Egypt to anyone. The worst part was that the comment section had even more horrifying stories about their experiences in the country.

The other day, a young woman from Nigeria went viral on Twitter as she narrated her nightmare travel experience in Zanzibar. Zainab Oladehinde took to Twitter to inform the people about her ordeal that took place a year ago. Zainab started the thread by stating that she had to receive therapy to cope with the trauma.

In summary, Zainab travelled to Zanzibar for her solo 23rd birthday trip. She had booked a paradise hotel by the name Warere Beach Hotel. She had been on constant communication with the hotel owner beforehand and she was looking forward to six days of exploring and relaxing. On the second night at the hotel, Zainab woke up to a naked man in her bed caressing her. Paralysed by fear, Zainab thought of the best way out of the situation. She told the man she had HIV and he needed a condom. 

According to her narration the man clearly did not understand English but understood the word HIV. She pleaded with him to get a condom and he left. Zainab left the room and saw two security guards by the pool, but because she could not trust anyone, she crawled on her stomach and hands to one of the guests’ rooms, where she sought help.

Zainab alleges that the police did not help, the hotel owner and all the staff members had turned on her. They had managed to steal $1,000 from her room that night as well. Zainab did not conclude the story as she was overwhelmed by recounting the ordeal. However, her story touched every African as it trended this weekend, while the rest of Africans demanded an explanation from Tanzania. The Commission of Tourism in Zanzibar issued a statement and launched an inquiry into the matter.

Every day I come across thousands of accounts from travellers from across the globe. As a person who enjoys travelling, I like to take mental notes about people’s personal experiences as that affects my choice in travel. I have never travelled alone; I personally do not believe the world is that safe for lone travellers. You just never know…

I would like to see women and men travelling all over the world. I used to encourage my younger nieces and nephews to travel the world and see what there is out there. However, since the world was hit by a global pandemic, the beasts within us were unleashed. People have become crazier and more unpredictable. We might think we are ready to travel the world like we used to, but is the world ready for us?