The murder of eight tourists in the Virunga Mountains of Uganda is a tragic consequence of ignorance and unscrupulous travel agents who will go to any lengths to satisfy thrill-seeking naifs wanting an "adventure vacation."
In this case, they went looking for mountain gorillas and found guerrillas.At least 15 were taken hostage and eight were killed by Hutu rebels as they marched them through the Impenetrable Forest near Bwindi National Park.
Two Americans, four Britons and two New Zealanders were clubbed and hacked to death with machetes. Six escaped and some are missing.
Your average tourist may not know a Hutu from a Tutsi, but one would have to be living in a lead-lined box not to know that the Great Lakes region of Africa is one of the world's most dangerous war zones.
Rwanda and Burundi, where the larger Hutu tribe was once enslaved by the Tutsi minority, have suffered seven tribal genocides since the Belgian colonial government departed in 1962. The worst occurred in 1994 when Hutus, who then ruled Rwanda, slaughtered 800,000 Tutsis in a three-month rampage that ended only when Tutsi rebels seized control and began massacring Hutus.
Thousands of Hutu extremists, including former soldiers and the infamous Interahamwe militia, fled to the eastern Congo and established a stronghold in the chain of mountains that straddles the borders of Uganda and Rwanda. Now men without a country, they roam around killing and robbing in a locale that also harbors 600 mountain gorillas.
Diane Fossey and the film "Gorillas in the Mist" made them a popular tourist attraction. But Fossey herself was repeatedly raped by rebel soldiers while studying the great apes and finally murdered by killers unknown in 1985.
The hazards of gorilla-watching became readily apparent last August when Hutu rebels kidnapped four foreigners and seven Congolese guides. A Canadian and all the Congolese were subsequently freed, but two Swedes and a New Zealander are still missing and presumed dead.
Besides the Hutus, who may be trying to destroy Uganda's tourist industry because President Yoweri Museveni supports the Tutsi-led government of Rwanda, at least three other guerrilla groups are fighting to topple Museveni, himself a former rebel who seized power after a long insurgency. That makes Uganda a dicey destination at best.
Yet, no Third World nation eager for tourist dollars is going to admit that it's too dangerous to visit. The State Department's travel advisories are usually issued after the fact, as in Uganda's case. So it's up to travel agents and tour operators to let people know what they're getting into. And many ignore or downplay the risks.
Although Islamic fundamentalists have been waging a terrorist war in Egypt for years, firing on Nile River cruise boats and blowing up hotels, it remains popular with tourists. In 1997, Muslim militants gunned down 58 of them at the pyramids in Luxor.
Kidnapping of foreigners became so common in Yemen that adventurous Britons actually wanted to be taken hostage by tribesmen seeking better local conditions. They were held for only short periods of time, treated as honored guests and had a good story to tell when they came home.
Until December, that is, when 16 foreigners were seized by Islamic militants protesting allied air strikes on Iraq. Three Britons and an Australian were killed when Yemeni security forces stormed the kidnappers' stronghold.
Four Western tourists are missing and presumed dead in Kashmir and a fifth, a Norwegian, was found beheaded by Muslim separatists. American bird-watchers have been snatched by Colombian rebels and nine Western scientists were held four months by separatists in Papua New Guinea.
Admittedly, the travel industry is catering to a new breed of tourists no longer content with civilized Europe or tropical resorts. They want excitement, exertion, even a bit of danger -- and often get more than they bargain for.
Many of these intrepid travelers have more money than brains. They are unaware of the political, ethnic or religious conflicts in the countries they visit. Or they believe that innocent pursuits, such as looking at flora and fauna, makes them immune to human savagery. Or, even more naive, they think their American passport will protect them.
Forget it, bud. That passport makes you a target in many parts of the world.