Overseas adventure travel often invites some concomitant anxiety about health and safety and vaccinations and visas. In an uncertain world safety concerns logically play a fundamental role in travel planning. Adventure travel overseas seems to antagonize these concerns because most people looking for adventure overseas typically stop short of also looking for danger. International adventure travel operators are necessarily cognizant both of the reality of safety concerns and of their responsibility to address these issues in the planning and execution of their trips.

But there are valuable tools and services and resources to investigate and assess the safety of traveling overseas. The most obvious is the outfitter or tour operator. Companies operating overseas do not conceive of trips by staring at an atlas. They research them in person, on the ground. It is their job to design travel that not only meets the expectation of adventurous travelers, but also satisfies – or transcends – the universal expectation that overseas adventures and international travel is conducted in a safe environment. One of the best resources, therefore, is the company itself.

There is also a seemingly endless array of international bureaucrats who do nothing but assess health and safety concerns in every country, city, province, and even neighborhood around the world. And they are good at what they do. The U.S. government maintains an ongoing list of security warnings and advisories. The State Department issues daily reports covering an impressive range of evolving security issues interpreted by experts in overseas embassies and consulates around the world. The World Health Organization maintains a comprehensive database of health risks, vaccination requirements, emerging and ongoing crises and destination specific recommendations. The Center for Disease Control offers a travelers’ health hotline. And sites like World Travel Direct monitor these outlets to provide an up to date synopsis of current issues specifically affecting overseas adventure travel.

These resources are all offered by people specifically charged with monitoring and interpreting the ongoing issues impacting overseas travel. The information is all available. It is comprehensive, accurate and free.