31 Most Dangerous Places in the World
1. Death Valley National Park (USA)
Sitting between California and Nevada, Death Valley National Park is a land of extreme heat. With the highest recorded temperature of 56.6ºC, it’s officially the hottest place on Earth. And the valley’s name is well deserved, with some hikers losing their lives to the extreme conditions in the past.
The sun’s concentrated energy here is deadly and downright uncomfortable, even though over one million visitors head to the park every year to see the Badwater Basin. The Sailing Stones on Racetrack Playa are also a big pull, thanks to their mystery.
But the extremes switch during winter when the temperatures plunge and occasionally reach freezing during the nights. The rainy seasons in the surrounding mountains also bring the dangers of flash floods to the Valley. 
2. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Hawaii)
Getting up close and personal to lava oozing in bright orange bursts of color from the barren black-rock landscape of an active volcano is a thrill, that’s for sure. And there are boat tours and guided lava hikes that specialise in just this. The Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is actually a World Heritage Site and home to Mount Kilauea, which hasn’t stopped erupting since 1983.
But these tours have an element of danger to them. The splashing sea water is often scalding from the constant outpouring of molten rock into its waves. And other hazards like flying rocks and sulphurous fumes have caused casualties and even deaths over the years. So you have to weigh up the risk versus the benefit. 
4. Skeleton Coast (Africa)
From the south of Angola to the northern areas of Namibia, the Skeleton Coast is a barren stretch of coastline with a harsh climate. It also offers almost no chance of survival should you find yourself unlucky enough to be marooned here.
There’s no food or fresh water to be had, and the dry desert winds would dehydrate you pretty fast, combined with the open dunes offering no shade for relief from the sun.
The sands are also littered with the bones of whales, seals, and even elephants along the shores, either washed up already dead or driven to the sea by thirst and dying later on.
5. Gates of Hell (Turkmenistan)
The Gates of Hell sounds like a terrifying place to see, but its geological origins are innocent enough. It’s a natural gas field inside an underground cave which geologists set on fire in 1971 to prevent methane from spilling into the atmosphere.
The result is Turkmenistan Darvaza Gas Crater, 230 feet wide with burning hotspots of orange flames and boiling mud spreading 200 feet long and 66 feet deep. It’s located in the middle of the Karakum Desert near the village of Derweze and makes for quite the sight in the desert landscape at night.
6. Danakil Desert (Ethiopia)
With temperatures that usually exceed 50ºC, the Danakil Desert in northeastern Ethiopia is as uninhabitable as it gets. Three tectonic plates are slowly diverging in this geological depression, so volcanoes abound geysers belch toxic fumes, making both the ground and the air a safety hazard.
Even a short visit would dramatically impact your health thanks to the likelihood of poisoning from concentrated sulphuric vapours. There’s always the possibility of eruptions, too, with the area being consistently volcanically active.
The huge salt pans and hydrothermal fields in bright sulphur yellows and deep blues are mesmerizing, though it’s so remote and dangerous not many tourists venture here. 
7. Snake Island (Brazil)
Sitting snuggly 25 miles off the coast of Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean, Snake Island, or Ilha da Queimada Grande, is fairly small, covering only 106 acres in total. But it has a deadly reputation, to the point that it’s illegal to visit it.
The biggest threat the island poses is its colonies of golden lancehead snakes, which are a variety of pit viper species. One bite will kill a grown man within a few hours, the venom burning through flesh and causing the victim to bleed to death.
Luckily, Snake Island is the only place you’ll find this particular snake, with a population of between 2,000 to 4,000 of them living on this small island.
