Colonialism in Africa was and is, across the board, ruthless and deplorable. Native peoples were made second class citizens on their own soil, their resources were ripped from the very Earth and any hope for competitive economic development with the rapidly growing rest of the world was strangled in infancy. This is all said to […]

Chuoni FC and YPT! Young Pioneer Tours are proud to announce a new partnership with leading Zanzibar Premier League side Chuoni FC. Who are Chuoni FC? Chouni FC was formed in 1984 by a group of students from a Madrassa (Islamic School) and their teachers. The name itself in Swahili, Chuoni means “College”. The club […]

Coronavirus travel update. Welcome to the YPT COVID-19 / Coronavirus travel updates page. With this page we aim to give up to date travel advice on which countries are open to tourism during the current pandemic. As you might imagine one of the most frequent questions we are getting asked right now is which countries […]

Introduction North Korea’s new mass games performance recently kicked off again on October 11th in Pyongyang. The title of this year’s performance is “Great Leadership or 위대한 향도” and coincides with the countries massive celebrations for the 75th Anniversary of the Worker’s Party of Korea. The performances are scheduled to run until the end of […]

**Update February 2024** – There is now a 9pm curfew in effect in Havana. Enforcement does not seem to be strict but in theory anyone on the streets after this time can receive a fine. This does not affect other provinces of the country. In November 2020, Cuba’s international airports reopened and started receiving passengers […]

Kazakhstan COVID-19 Update. At the time of writing it is still not possible to travel to Kazakhstan as a tourist. Some foreigners can enter the Central Asian republic if they have relatives, residency or work visas. With well over 100,000 Coronavirus cases, Kazakhstan is still in the thick of it heading into another wave of […]

Uzbekistan COVID-19 update. Uzbekistan made the media rounds a couple of months ago by making the pretty outlandish claim that if anyone travelled to the Central Asian republic and caught COVID-19, the Uzbek Government would pay the person USD$3000, not a sum to be scoffed at in the land of the som. Well, since then […]

In one of China’s most significant moves since the start of its lockdown due to coronavirus, China has announced a huge, although not complete, opening of its borders. Previously China had announced that those with existing residence permits, such as those on family (marriage) visas and work visas, would be allowed to return to China. […]

Transnistria is arguably one of the most popular destinations amongst our range of Soviet tours. Visiting the least visited region of Europe’s least visited country (Moldova) in search os Soviet relics is a big draw. However, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Transnistria sealed its borders early and managed to keep infection rates to […]

It’s official, Afghanistan is back open to tourists! Almost all embassies/consulates are now issuing tourist visas to those wishing to travel to Afghanistan. At the moment, only a small number of individuals have now received/applied for tourist visas but as it stands there does not seem to be any special COVID-19 related requirements for obtaining […]