More likely her progressive, idealistic view of the world, caused her to refuse to believe she was kissing a rattlesnake
I saw that first hand while in Israel. Once in a while we had groups coming over from the States, and we had to watch them all the time just to keep them alive. They were so naive, it was incredible.
One group decided that they were going to drive from Tel Aviv to Cairo. My head almost exploded. Are you insane!? Do you have any idea how freakin dangerous that is? You are actually planning to drive through the Negev and then through the Sinai desert, and then through the Egyptian desert to get to Cairo? These are all some of the most dangerous places on Earth. And if you breakdown, you're screwed. But they didn't know.
They thought driving to Amman Jordan or Cairo Egypt from Tel Aviv was the same thing as driving from Jersey to Philadelphia. And I was surprised at how much convincing it took to stop them. They were oblivious to the idea that there are people in the area who would love nothing more than to kidnap or kill them. There is a damn good reason that almost every Israeli is armed all the time.
Some people 'get it' and some people don't, and never do. These Swedes, like most Leftists, were obviously in the don't get it category. Anywhere in Africa is dangerous for any Westerner. They should have known that. Even the Africans themselves usually travel with armed bodyguards.