“It’s completely blown me away,” said Dylan Harris, founder of Lupine Travel. “It’s the last place I expected to sell so well.”
The destination: Afghanistan, a country that the UK Foreign Office warns is “extremely dangerous”.
Mr Harris told The Independent: “Unbelievably this year, Afghanistan is our most popular destination.”
The Wigan-based extreme travel firm previously operated to Afghanistan, but dropped the country when the Taliban took over in 2021.
“We expected it to be up to a decade or more before it would be safe enough to travel there,” Mr Harris said.
“But it turned out in the end that it’s actually safer to travel there now than it was before, because the people who we were trying to avoid before are the people in charge.
“One of my staff members went over in September to do the initial research trip. That went well. Last month we put three trips on sale for next year. They sold out immediately.
“Now we’ve got eight trips next year and they’ve all completely sold out.
“There was always demand for it prior to the Taliban [takeover], but I think a lot of people were worried about safety. Whereas now people aren’t as concerned about the safety issue.
“The only thing: there’s a lot more red tape than there used to be. So every time we move from one city to the next, it’s a case of getting all the paperwork checked out.”
All eight tours for next year are sold out, with two tours available for 2025. The price of £2,250 covers 10 days of travel, taking in the capital, Kabul; the historic city of Herat; the Buddha niches in Bamiyan, where the Taliban destroyed the giant statues in 2001; Band-e-Amir National Park; through the Hindu Kush to Mazar-e-Sharif; religious sites in Balkh; and attending a traditional game of buzkashi – a distant cousin of polo, in which horse riders attempt to score by propelling a calf or goat carcass into a goal.
Flights are extra – involving travel via Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Istanbul.
The FCDO advises against all travel to Afghanistan. It specifically warns:
- “There is an ongoing and high threat of terrorist attacks throughout Afghanistan, including around airports.
- Travel throughout Afghanistan is extremely dangerous.
- There is a significant risk of detention of British nationals.
- Our ability to provide consular assistance is severely limited and cannot be delivered in…
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