Benaulim Travel Guide

In Decemeber 2004 I was staying in Benaulim with a couple of friends. We were planning on moving on to Anjuna in a few days, and as I was bored with lying on the beach there, I decided to take a day trip alone to Anjuna to book some accomodation (at a place I had stayed in 2001). So i took the bus-well 4 different buses actually, to get there. it was a bit of a mission but it was daytime and I knew where I was going. I spent a few hours in Anjuna and then caught the buses back-via Mapusa, Panjim etc. When i got to the final town it was getting dark, and so when i went to catch the final bus home i found that the buses had stopped running for the day. For some reason I had not much money on me, in fact only enough for a bus, not for a taxi. I was stuck and it wasn't looking good for me. I begged a taxi van driver to take me to benaulim and that once there i would get the money from my guest house and pay him. He said yes and so i got in and we started to drive. After maybe five minutes the driver pulled the van over. It was now quite dark. He said to me 'You have no money and i know your type, there is a prostitute ring here, why don't you come work" I couldn't believe what he was saying, so i was "what? are you joking? no way. Take me to Benaulim please, take me to my guest house" We argued and I told him to *** off. He said to me, "get out of my van" I could not believe this, but next minute i was standing in the dark on a deserted road, and he had driven off. I started to walk, feeling disoriented and lost. Then a motorcycle with two local men drove past and stopped. They asked me if i needed help. So i said "Yes, I need help, please can you take me to Benaulim" so i got onto the back of the motorcycle, three of us squashed up. After only a few minutes they pull off the road and stop. They push me off the bike onto the ground. On the ground they start to try and get my jeans off me. At this stage i realised that I was a huge amount of danger and I fought for my life. I kicked and screamed and just saw red. I don't remember what exactly happen but they must have freaked and let me go. I ran to a house with lights on and knock on the door asking for help. The family let me in and called the police. I remember asking them not to, just to help me back to benaulim, but they called the police anyway. The police arrived and tell me that it is me they should put in jail and then handling me quite roughly,throw me into the back of their jeep and take me back to my guesthouse where they demand baksheesh.
I know that I was quite stupid to not have budgetted enough money to get me safely home, and I should have timed by trip better, but I guess i am warning other women to NOT walk on the beach or even the roads alone at night, as safe as you think it is, IT IS NOT.

It is not safe for women to walk along the beach, or between the beach and the town, by themselves at night. A young Swiss tourist was gangraped in 2003, some 20 metres from a restaurant on the beach. The music was so loud, no one heard her screams. She was not the first rape victim, there are reports of rapes every single year. This is not a very touristy town, and men with bad intentions take advantage of this. So be careful, try to avoid the beach road after dark, or have someone, preferably a few Western men you know, accompany you to your hotel.

But don't worry too much, during the day there's no danger whatsoever, and not all men are out to get you! Benaulim is incredible, I have spent quite some time there, as a single white female, and nothing happened to me. It all comes down to common sense, really, and I hope this warning will keep more women safe.