The Most Dangerous Places to Visit Around the World

Death Valley, California, USA

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Deadly hot but drop-dead gorgeous, Death Valley National Park lures visitors with its surreal landscape of undulating sand dunes, rock-salt spires and salt flats. But it’s wrought with hazards from extreme heat and flash floods to rattlesnakes, scorpions, black widow spiders and a chance of stumbling into illegal marijuana cultivation sites.

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As the hottest and driest place in America, there have been numerous heat-related fatalities in Death Valley, which was given its foreboding name by a group of pioneers who got lost in the remote wilderness in the 19th century. The US National Weather Service measured a record temperature of 54.4°C (130°F) in Furnace Creek in July 2021. However, according to the National Park Service, the main cause of death in the park is driving, with single-car accidents causing the most fatalities.