Mike Swick's Excellent Adventure leads him to African drug dealers

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Since UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, UFC welterweight Mike Swick has been on a military tour, visiting U.S. military installations in Germany, Kuwait and Bahrain. He's now in Djibouti, and went on a quest to learn more about khat, the legal drug that is pervasively used throughout much of Africa. On his way, he meets street vendors that try to sell him Osama Bin Laden trinkets and t-shirts.

Khat has been used by Somali pirates, and it was also used by Somalian warlords in the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, where 19 American soldiers were killed. The Washington Post wrote about the unceasing regularity in which khat is distributed, noting that no amount of fighting stopped the daily deliveries of khat.

Swick has already shown that he's fearless in the cage, but probing khat dealers about their business may be the most dangerous thing he's ever attempted. Still, I give him credit for going beyond the tourist traps in Djibouti and learning more about the country's problems for himself.