I’m a ‘danger tourist’ — I was held at gunpoint in Libya and would do it again

A British ‘danger tourist’ who travels to the world’s most dangerous countries spent a month in Libya and was held for seven hours at gunpoint at an army checkpoint.

Daniel Pinto, 26, loves to visit countries deemed “dangerous” to explore areas tourists are never able to see and show what life is like in those places.

He has been to Iran, Iraq and Syria before.

Daniel headed to Libya on May 29, 2024, and spent 21 days traveling around the country — because it was a “mysterious” place he wanted to see.

He travelled by himself to Tripoli, Leptis Magna, Ghadames and the Nafusa Mountains — with a budget of $10 (£7.62) a day.

Daniel hitchhiked his way around the country, staying with locals and “eating a lot of good food”.

He did have “one close call” where he was detained for seven hours at gunpoint by the army.

Daniel, a professional traveller, from Lambeth, south London, said: “I have been pretty lucky, I don’t know if that is because I am tall and have tattoos.

“The worst situation I have been in is Libya — I was hitchhiking.

“Libya is very new to tourists — we got to a checkpoint and we were detained for seven hours.

“We were handcuffed and had a gun to our face.

“That was worrying, being handcuffed to the wall by a militia group is scary.”

On May 29, 2024, Daniel headed to Libya from Tunisia — where he was travelling — as the country had just opened up a new E-visa system in March 2024.

An E-visa is an electronic visa that allows travelers to enter Libya for a specified period for tourism or business purposes.

The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to the country but Daniel wanted to take the opportunity to see what it was like.

He said: “I entered Libya with the new E-Visa system that started in March 2024 and cost $63.

“My first application I did without a sponsor and after two weeks it still hadn’t been approved.

“I then applied again with a sponsor and got the visa in two working days.”

He entered through Wazin, Libya, after leaving Dehiba, Tunisia – having hitchhiked for two days.

Daniel said: “I arrived there at 10pm and was told to wait by the head of police from Tunisia.

“He called Libyan immigration to verify my visa before stamping me out.

“This took two hours as they had to call the immigration office in Tripoli.

“The one person who attempted this before me said it took eight hours so it’s definitely getting better.

“From the border, we drove directly to Tripoli and that took six hours with around five checkpoints with only one asking to see my passport.”

Daniel arrived in Tripoli after a seven hour trek and explored the city.

He said his highlight was the old city with its architecture and “random” Roman artefacts.

Daniel said: “Tripoli is a fantastic city and maybe my favorite city in North Africa.

“Some of my highlights were simply the old city.

“The epic Italian architecture mixed with Islamic architecture and random Roman artefacts.

“The black market is very interesting – men meet up every night in front of the bank and it’s a real life stock market.”

During his 21 days in the country, Daniel visited as many places as he could – inlcluding Nalut, Ghadames, Dirj, Misrata, Houn, Waddan, Benghazi, Cyrene, and Susah.

Daniel said: “Nafusa Mountains – this region is home to Libyan Berbers and it’s interesting to visit their villages.

“Yafran was a cool old city but nothing too crazy.

“Qasr El hajj is an old granary which was impressive and much better than the ones in Tunísia.”

Daniel is sharing his journeys on TikTok and Instagram at: @dnzh.travels