Madama to Agadez

Wednesday 14th December
We headed back for the tarmac road and shortly reached the final Tumu checkpoint, at the Libyan border. The fuel station looked like it had stopped working a long time ago. The men were all disappointed as they all would have liked some final cheap Libyan fuel. There didn’t seem to be anyone there so we continued on heading east, but after a couple of lorries flashed us it looked like we were heading towards a quarry, so we turned back and this time we found some people at the checkpoint and took about 20 minutes for formalities before we headed on in the right direction, now in Niger. It was a couple of hours before we got to the entry checkpoint at Madama. This proved to be our best entry into an African country. The military were lined up in their uniforms waiting to politely stop up and take our passports. They needed to do quick searches of the car, asked if we had any newspapers for them, but were quite friendly and chatted away. Unfortunately we didn’t have any newspapers. French being the official language meant that it was a lot easier to understand than the previous Arabic. A guy came over to us who was just leaving for Libya in his truck. He recognized Barbara, Lucas and John from the telephone point in El Katrun, Libya. He obviously already done his business in Niger and was now on his way back. One of them who was off duty, so not in uniform spoke excellent English and came over for a chat. A lorry was also being checked – it looked full, but there were lots of baggages and people adjacent to it all waiting to go back on. All the procedures were done within the hour, and John and Karin took a couple of group photos with them before departing. It felt like a nice welcome to the country. We soon stopped for lunch near a couple of acacia trees where there turned out to be a well hidden in a tyre with water only about a metre deep which was quite amazing in the barren terrain. I reread a front page newspaper article from the Independent in August. It also featured an article on the Nigerien president stating that he had bought stability to the country but not wealth in a country rich in natural resources. This seemed a bit wrong as the only resources I’d read about was uranium which has declined in value since Chernobyl and the world was watching who they sold the uranium to. With the vast majority of Niger being desert it isn’t too easy to grow anything except in the south. I was glad I hadn’t given the article to the border guards. We continued south passing no other vehicles. We had the waypoint for the Marbrous well shown on the Mitchlen map but couldn’t find it. We drove a few kilometers from the piste to camp. It had now been quite a few days since a shower! We hadn’t passed any traffic in Niger today but that evening John climbed up to the top of the rocks near us and saw a few vehicles traveling by night.
Thursday 15th December
Today was very windy and the sand in Niger is much whiter and finer. The dust was blowing up ahead before we even got to it. We reached the Dao Timu checkpoint as it was particularly windy and after braving the weather for a few minutes I decided to leave the guys to it and retreated to the car. They all enjoyed the friendly chit chat before we each got another couple of stamps in our passport – at this rate they were filling up fast. After lunch we drove between a couple of outcrops with a couple on small conical hills ahead amongst the sand and tucked behind the outcrop was the village oasis of Seguidine. Here the police point was opposite the school which appeared to be shut for the siesta hours, but there were lots of children who soon gathered around us. They were all busy asking for cadeau, one girl showed me her school exercise book and we took a few photographs. They gathered around to look at their images in the small digital format. With the police stamps complete John decided we would give out the T Shirts that Rob had printed for us. He got Barbara to translate ad hand them over to a nearby woman. At this point the Dutchies, Micheel and Karin left us to explore the Djado village area to the north west. Unfortunately our schedule was getting a bit tight to arrive in Algeria by the dates booked with guides. We may meet the Dutch again in Agadez. We continued south for a little way before camping up for the night.
Friday 16th December
We drove south for a couple of hours towards Dirkou, following a ridge to the east of us and soon an oasis was present at the bottom of the ridge. We stopped outside Dirkou for Barbara to make a phone call to the Algerian Consulate in Agadez to try and arrange visas for Barbara and Lucus to join us in Algeria. The phone call didn’t go to well with the girl at the other end saying she didn’t like to receive phone calls. As they both speak excellent French it was not possible that this could have been a communication error. We hope to get to Agadez early so the visas can be arranged. A motorbike had driven past us and returned to us with another guy on the back. They said to follow them to Dirkou, but we pretty much followed our waypoint to the police station. Here there were the usual formalities that took time and the more formal registering the vehicle entry into Niger. And we got our 4th Nigerien stamp. This was completed in about an hour when we were told to go and see the Mayor next door. This took a lot longer. He insisted that we need a guide to take us to Agadez. This meant a lot more negotiation for us all done by Barbara. He did not look over comfortable talking to Barbara and didn’t look her in the eye. He said that the Minister for Tourism in Agadez insists on a guide, but when questioned if this is for our security he said this was not the case. We had the route and waypoints so we did not need the guide. There was also a matter of tax for the car. After some time he phoned the Minister of Tourism for Barbara to speak to and the guy on the other end of the sat phone insisted we need a guide. The guide would have to come in our vehicles otherwise it would cost a lot more and only Kathy and Steve had a spare seat. The guide that was recommended to us was the man that had appeared on the back of a motorbike outside the village. We’d changed money with a man in the Mayor’s office who’d stayed on to watch Barbara and the Mayor’s debate. The price for a guide came to 80,000 CFA and 20,000 CFA for tax for the vehicles – about 100 in total. We also got fuel through the Mayor – a 200 litre drum for the tree cars. This we’d worked out to be 90,000 CFA, but they wanted to charge 10,000 CFA for the work. John gave them 5,000 CFA where the older man refused to give any of this to the younger helper as we hadn’t given the full amount. They were also unhappy with one of the 10,000 CFA notes which had just been exchanged in front of them with their fellow banker so Barbara went back and got this changed. They were only turning the handle at the top of the drum – it was us that were lifting the jerry cans into the car. #10 for this work would have been lots of money to them. They would have made a nice profit on the fuel too which would have come from Libya and cost about 7 pence instead of the Niger rate of 45 pence per litre. We did find out that the time was an hour behind Libya. Time had become a bit irrelevant to us with sunrise and sunset being the important events, but it does sound worse, now getting up at about 6:30 instead of 7:30. This isn’t too difficult when 9:30 is a late night! The Mayor offered to organize our food shopping for us so we did not get hassle – but we realized this would be very expensive and prolonged! So we went to buy a few essential items which for the group turned out to be bread and cigarettes for some. We then headed to the well for water after picking up our guide and luggage. We then continued south along the ridge to Bilma. As we got near Bilma our guide warned us that the Mayor of Bilma was like the one in Dirkou and would want lots of money so we skirted around Bilma before finding a camping spot for the night.
Saturday 17th December
We awoke to the singing of our guide. Barbara and Lucas were woken more frequently as he seemed to pray most hours. We decided to head back to Bilma to see this famous spot at the centre of the salt caravan trade. Our guide thought we were crazy heading the 15km back and started explaining that he wanted more money as he had spent a cold night in the desert and this would take extra time. Barbara had agreed with the Mayor that the price for the guide was regardless of how long the journey took, so we weren’t happy with this. It also meant that continuing with the guide would mean continued negotiation along the route and in Agadez so we decided it would be best to leave him in Bilma. The guide showed us the way back to the salt mines, to the west of Bilma. One the way back we passed two new aid vehicles heading out of Bilma. As we arrived a small caravan of less than 50 camels was heading off towards Agadez. There were piles of salt cakes lined up in two shapes – most in the shape of a cake, but others in the shape of traffic cones. Mostly the salt was quite brown, although there were a few white cakes. I’d read that the salt here is only used for animal, not human consumption. There were lots of camels waiting around unloaded and some people stitching together loads for the camels to carry. A number of kids gathered around us and asked for cadeau. Some were quite cheeky. Ali in the Sjbchenko shirt loved having his picture taken by Lucas and took lots of different poses and delighted himself by seeing his digital image. Lucas must have a whole films worth of different poses. For this he took his sunglasses and his car keys – but he did give them back! Zara spoke excellent English as well as French. One guy said his csravan was heading to Zinder in the south. The scene was very picturesque against the backdrop of the camels, buildings and ridge to the east of Bilma. As we left we told our guide we were leaving him here in Bilma not Agadez. He immediately wanted more money. 10,000 CFA and then there was the matter of money for the Mayor of Bilma for seeing the salt mines – although no one from Bilma was asking for it. We left him with 10,000 CFA which must have been excellent news for him. Bilma is only 30km from his home in Dirkou, unlike Agadez which was 600km! We then headed straight out of Bilma, not going to the centre or police. The dune formations leaving Bilma are quite unique with rows of dunes running east to west creating corridors. We managed to drift off our GPS route and John and Steve both got stuck. It now was becoming quite difficult to read the soft and hard sand in the bright sunlight and we crossed back over some dunes to get back to our waypoints. Towards late afternoon the hills of Fachi were visible. I couldn’t really see Fachi – an oasis village, which was tucked in between the hills. We continued on, avoiding the south detour to the police checkpoint to just far enough away to set up camp, crossing a couple of dune corridors away from the piste. The distinctive hills of Fachi could still be seen in the distance. That evening Lucas spotted a spider which John thought was the harmful camel spider. I quickly found my shoes and searched my Collins gem SAS survival guide! John changed his verdict and it wasn’t a camel spider. We took lots of photos but didn’t know what it was.
Sunday 18th December
We continued on towards the Arbre de Tenere and Agadez. The piste was now marked with lots of balise, like the one pictured which had obviously been used for a camel stop. I called Nova, my sister to wish her a happy 30th and tried to convince her I was on my way to meet her. She was a bit unsure with all the other surprises she’d endured. Half an hour later and after following some big tyre tracks we saw a lorry and then behind it a construction camp. We stopped and were met by two guys who said the compound was run by a Chinese company looking for petroleum. Steve gave them the few requested paracetemol and we were on our way. We reached the Arbre de Tenere just after midday. The tree was knocked down by a truck in about 1973 and the tree now sits in Niamey museum. Instead they now have a strange monument – which can be climbed, and a more tree like balise. There was a sign marking the completion of a well in May 2005 that can be drawn by camel. Except that the headgear for the well was now broken. There were two wells here and with the water being at least 30-40m deep it wouldn’t be easy to get. The Michelin map notes eau tres mauvaise a 40 m – which didn’t sound too appealing. The arbre de tenere is where our route met the main piste from Dirkou to Agadez that the truck use avoiding some of the sand. From here the landscape changed and we passed individual acacia trees and we left the dunes behind for a stony dusty landscape. We also passed a couple of tourist toyotos. We camped about 150km from Agadez. I stayed up late choosing pictures for the internet site. Well to about 9:45, but everyone had been in bed long ago – Barbara had retired to her tent before 7:30! I didn’t sleep too well. I think I was excited about reaching Agadez and having my first shower for a week. It’s amazing that your hair doesn’t feel very greasy. With all the dust it’s impossible to feel anything but dry!

Monday 19th December
We left at 8:30 for Agadez. We’d passed 10 to 15 trucks within an hour which was lots more than we’d seen in the last few days. There was very soft feche feche type sand for a while which threw up lots of dust behind the vehicles like they were on fire. I was keen to get to Agadez quickly – firstly for a shower, but the scenery was surprisingly interesting. The blue grey silhouette of the Air mountains could be seen to our right and the route was covered with lots of rounded boulders. We stopped at a couple of waypoints we had for some petrified wood and rock carvings. Then we reached an area of rounded huts which were mostly deserted. We were wandering if this was the first signs of the famine. When I asked in Agadez about the huts I was told that these probably belonged to the Tuareg. We then saw lots of goats and donkeys and these looked very healthy. We passed several wells with many animals being fed at them.
We arrived at a police checkpoint, operating out of a car under a dead acacia tree. This was a bit alarming at first as unexpected, but turned out to be just a few routine questions. The arrival into Agadez was quite sudden. About 2.5 km from the Agadez waypoint there was no sign of a town, then suddenly we were there passing many children in the street and into a very lively town. It took us a while to negotiate the streets and find the mosque at the centre. After looking at a couple of hotels, one full we checked in at the Hotel Tidane. Very quickly we ordered our first beer – it had been many weeks since our last beer in Tunisia. Niger beer has a nice label with a couple of giraffe, but not a fantastic taste – or maybe I’d just lost the taste for it. The guys spent a bit of time sorting out the vehicles and arranging with the local Tuareg to change the oils. The Dutchies found us – they’d arrived the previous night after taking a faster route from Dirkou.
After enjoying showers, even though the water was cold, but it was great to be clean we headed out to an Italian restaurant where they did great fresh pasta.
Tuesday 20th December
We started with an early morning visit to the bank to get Euros and CFA. No cash machines, but various queues with Barbara as our interpreter. Barbara, Lucas and John then headed off to the Algerian Consulate to get Algerian visas for Lucas and Barbara. The internet café in town set a new record for being the slowest ever. It was half an hour gone before I’d managed to do anything. There was no icon to load photos onto my blogsite which was quit frustrating as I now have lots of photos to go on from both Libya and Niger and this is what takes the longest time. Barbara and Lucas had to find the Algerian police to arrange for a multiple entry visa to Niger as although they’d asked for it, they’d only been given a single entry visa in Tripoli. They also needed to find a fax machine for an invitation to be faxed from Algeria. Only the fax did not get through by the time the shop shut.
Kathy and I attempted to go up to the top of the mosque in the afternoon – but didn’t manage to find someone who would let us in. The minaret is not very tall, but above the Agadez skyline in a pyramid shape with lots of blocks of wood sticking out the side. Sudanic style apparently. Kathy and I did a spot of shopping – leaving the guys behind for a more relaxing venture. We both got some sandals. These are sold with both the soles sewn together so you can try on one at a time. Once bought, I asked for mine to be separated and was quite surprised when a guy gave them a big tug to split them and the soles were covered in the skin and hair of some animal. That evening John, Barbara and Lucas thought it would be a good idea to go and get some food in the marche de nuit. The Marche de nuit – like a mini version of Marrakesh’s Djemna el fna with stalls cooking hot food was just across the road from our hotel.
We bought some fresh bread, hot doughnuts, yams, potatoes and just what John was dreaming of – a leg of goat! This was expertly but scarily chopped up with a sharp knive. There were some very thin kids hanging around the market. We gave them some of the meat. We retreated to our hotel courtyard where we enjoyed the food. The others went back to the market to give the kids our leftovers and head to the internet café for John to print off Barbara and Lucas’s invite from the Algerian agency. John had phoned earlier hoping an email may be easier than a fax. Only John couldn’t access his email account so it wasn’t possible.