Is it safe for a (very obviously - ie very tall and white) westerner to visit the Colombian Amazon ?
Or is it too dangerous ?

i'd really suggest obtaining this information from the colombian embassy in your country, or your own governmental sources. i'd trust that a lot more than the opinion of a bunch of computer geeks...

Acid_kewpie

I thought that some of the computer geeks, might be from that area. Also I think that a Goverment might lie and say that an area is safe when it is not. (I am sure the UK goverment would).

Life is short, take risks and always keep your life insurance policy on you..

Personally, I would go as I wouldn't even bother to worry about the risks of safety, I'd go to judge for myself to determine if its safe or not but besides that, I'd go for the many other reasons to go.

Generally it is the other way round. Western governments, and more particularly those in the US and the UK, tend to exaggerate the security risks *way* too much, especially in the less privileged countries

They like to put fear into people, yes. Just look at our fake Terrorism Warning crap our government put up after 9/11.. such a joke, but that's another subject so I won't go off topic..

hi there,

ok, first of all i am not colombian. i am brazilian.it means that i don't know exact the region.
anyway i think i can give you some tips. the big thing is: you should not go alone.
go with a group: tourists or friends. at least one should understand the language.
the region is not really friendly but i agree with trickykid, take risks. it is a nice experience for someone from here to take a look down there.

my

regards

slackie1000

I've a friend who has just spent the last year in Colombia. He reckons the cities are pretty safe, people do travel in the amazon and equally there are surprising amounts of tourists there. Theres a certain rawness about colombia which appeals to some. In terms of street violence he reckons that you'd see more on a saturday night in london . .

Theres always a risk with travel, and you could go to much safer, stabler countries in latin america. However colombia has some mad wild landscapes and by all accounts some of friendliest people in latin america - which is pretty surprising given the years of violence they've had to suffer.

I just watched motorcycle diaries the other week and now i can't wait to make a visit to Latin America again

slackie1000,

Thanks for the advice, I am going to Colombia to visit my in laws but sadly they do not know the area.
I can speak Spanish and Portuguese, however because of my height and colour I am obviously not Colombian !
BTW maybe other governments are more honest than the UK's but I still do not trust them !

hi there,

welcome!
IMHO, the most important thing is south america, general speaking, is the language.
english is something restricted. you can't arrive somewhere speaking english and expect an answer. if you know spanish and/or portuguese the hardest part is done.
this is just my opinion. i know bogota and cali. these are big cities with a lot of nice people and a lot of bad people. like everywhere. the english speaking part is the minority.
that is it.
i hope you have a good time there.

best regards

slackie1000

In case anyone wants to know, I went there and it is very safe apart from some roads where they drive mopeds both on the left and right ! (I have never seen that before) but it is one of the safest places in South America unless you are allergic to mosquito bites !

there's a general wisdom in asia telling
There might not be enough food on the table for everybody(especially for an oversize one) ,but what's matter is YOU COME and share the same table with us.

as for security issue?
hmm....even there is riot or looting,you can even watch it over the next street if you can "melt" yourself into the masses.Even if you couldn't,don't worry,it still works.Trust me.

so YOU COME