Mention the North Yungas Road to most people and you probably won’t get much of a reaction, that is until you explain that this infamous 70km stretch of asphalt and dirt is commonly known as the Most Dangerous Road in the World or ‘Death Road’.
From an altitude of over 4,500 meters in La Paz, it winds its way precariously through the Amazon to the town of Coroico some 3,000+ meters below.
This might not sound too bad until you add in other factors like fog, rain, and dust, reducing visibility in some areas to just a few meters. Throw in the extreme drop-offs which can exceed 600 meters in some places, no guard rails, uneven road surfaces with a width of just 3 meters and you have a recipe for disaster.
It has seen the deaths of some 200-300 people annually and is attributed to one of Bolivia’s worst road disasters where a bus toppled off the side killing more than 100 passengers.
Ironically the danger of the road has drawn thrill-seekers from around the globe. Thousands of mountain biking enthusiasts flock to Bolivia to take on the Death Road each year and this has tragically resulted in a number of tourist deaths. One of these incidents occurred on the 9th of May 2004 and you can read more about the tragic event at www.liebreich.com.
Our friend Scott MacKinnon recently experienced this thrill ride for himself and we have featured his crazy video below. If you would like to take on the ride of your life then you can check out Gravity Bolivia.
Thanks once again to Scott for sharing his video and we pray for the safety of anyone wishing to try out this adventure for themselves. Here are some amazing pictures taken from Flickr under creative commons.
The Yungas Road is one I would love to see. Although I will admit, I would feel much more comfortable walking than I would riding a bike or car.
There are some more similar roads I want to visit as well, seen in http://www.10deadliest.com/worlds-10-most-dangerous-roads/
here is no way that you would get me on a bike riding on that road. What if the brakes failed? No way!