TRAVEL AGENCY OFFERS HOLIDAYS IN WAR ZONES

Looking for a holiday with an edge? You could always try Iraq or Afghanistan. A specialist travel agency organizes trips to crisis-hit regions for adventure lovers.

Iraq has a long tourist tradition. Historians see the strip of Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and the Tigris - ancient Babylon - as the cradle of Western civilization. The region is still rich in historical and archaeological sights, but the two Gulf wars all but killed off its tourist trade.

Now tourists are beginning to trickle back in, but they are mainly adventurous individuals. There are no Baghdad package tours. At least, not yet.

HinterlandT ravel is an agency that offers trips to Afghanistan and Iraq. Its boss, Geoff Hann, has regularly traveled across the countries near the Hindukush throughout the past 40 years. He describes his average customer as either an older person who visited Iraq or Afghanistan decades ago, or a traveler who wants to tick off the last two countries on his "must-see" list.

Karl Born, who teaches tourism management at the University of Applied Sciences in the German town of Wernigerode, believes that many travelers are attracted to the world's trouble zones by the frisson of adventure.

Born tells a story to illustrate how he sees the distinction between an adventure holiday and a dangerous trip. Having booked what was described as an adventure holiday, a disgruntled holiday-maker demanded his money back from the travel agency because his life had not been in danger at any point on the trip. The complaint went all the way to court, where it was thrown out.

"An adventure holiday has to be unusual," concludes Born. "But under no circumstances should anyone's life be at risk."

The difficulties facing travelers to the Hindukush can be boiled down to two factors: safety and comfort. There are different rules in countries that were war zones not too long ago, or in the case of Afghanistan, are still actual war zones.

Hann knows these rules, which is why he always reserves the right to cancel parts of the trip for safety reasons. "I say, 'Okay, we're not going any further here, because it's not safe, or, we better go back, or we better fly the next part, or let's do something totally different.' "

Hann is reluctant to answer the question whether he himself has ever been in serious danger. He says it's not always easy to evaluate a given situation, but a little experience goes a long way to recognizing dangers in advance. He also has a unique life insurance policy.

"We always have a few gray-haired travelers with us, which makes clear to the local people that we're not soldiers, or representatives of another organization like the United Nations," Hann says. "That's why we always get a good reception."