AFGHANISTAN: Elderly Go Where Many Fear To Tread

KABUL, Afghanistan (Gulf Times, Doha - AFP), July 7, 2006: Simone Thibaudeau hates boring holidays and Claude Fievet loves Central Asia. So when they were invited on a package tour of Afghanistan, the woman of 73 and the man of 80 did not hesitate. In a Kabul hotel after three weeks in the north of a country that is more associated with war than tourism, they were tired but inspired. “A trip to Afghanistan was so tempting that we decided to do it practically without hesitation and we have no regrets,” said Thibaudeau, who travelled with her husband despite being warned off by friends and family. Fievet, the oldest in the group, did not think twice when a travel agency offered the trip. “It has been a dream for years,” the octogenarian said enthusiastically. Things started badly when the small group assembled at a Paris airport the day after the bloody May 29 Kabul riots. Three of the 12 retirees scheduled to go to Afghanistan pulled out. The others ignored the French foreign ministry’s insistence that they give up and signed a waiver absolving the government of liability for their safety. The trip was cancelled as an organised voyage with those still wanting to go having to agree to be responsible for themselves, said Explorator Travel chairman Herve Tribot La Spiere, who has been offering adventure holidays since 1971. Was this a tad reckless for a country where many foreigners venture out only after taking security precautions? “Not at all,” said 64-year-old Serge Reneleau, insisting they were all responsible and used to big journeys. The chairman had himself had never set foot in Afghanistan but had done his homework. After two years of research, “I figured in good conscience that we were taking a reasonable, limited risk,” acknowledging the country could be “hostile”. And so began a communal discovery, with a local guide and tourist agency, of this ancient and rugged land. The south and the east, subjected to almost daily attacks as part of the Taliban-led insurgency, were ruled out. Instead the elderly adventurers went to beautiful Bamiyan, where once sat the great 1,800-year-old statues of Buddha that were blown up by the Taliban in late 2001. There were the startlingly deep blue lakes at Band-i-Amir nearby, and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif with its tiled shrine and white doves. The travellers strolled through the ruins of the ancient city of Balkh, once the home of Alexander the Great and one of the most important cities in Central Asia, and the fertile Panjshir Valley near Kabul. Curiously they also visited Bagram, known today more for a huge military base for the US-led coalition hunting down Taliban. The trip cost them a little over 4,500 euros ($5,600) and tourists often slept rough or spent hours being bashed about in a 4X4 or trudging under the sun. But there were no complaints. “For those that are thinking about their comfort, I would tell them not to come to Afghanistan,” Thibaudeau said. “It is not yet ready for tourists, that’s for sure,” she said, deadpan. © Gulf Times Newspaper, 2006