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TOURISM IN NIGER | Travels to Niger |
Travel to Niger
Area: 1.267.000 kmq
Borders: Mali, Algeria, Lybia, Chad, Nigeria, Benin,
Burkina Faso
Population: 12.5 million (56% haussa, 22% djerma, 8,5%
peul-fulans, 8% tuareg, 4,3% kanouri, 1,2% arabs, toubou, gourmantche)
Capital: Niamey (750.000 inhabitants)
Languages: french (official), haussa, djerma, fulfulbe,
tamashek
Religions: 80% muslim, 15% animist, 5% christian
National holiday: December, 18th
Time: GMT +1
Telephone access code: 00 227
Money: CFA
Niger is renowned for its wide open desert and its fascinating people. It takes its name from the River Niger which flows through Niamey, the country's capital, a simple African city with a rich mix of old and new. The city is home to a beautiful national museum which houses collections of a wide variety of ethnic artefacts and craft work.
The central market is a riot of colour, sounds and smells where peoples of different tribes and ethnic backgrounds come together to trade. The savannah area in the southwest stretches as far as the central Sahel, which is slowly being encroached by the great desert sands of the Tenere. In the northeast rise the Air Mountains, a huge formation of volcanic rock against which the highest dunes of the Sahara hurl themselves.
The Great River
From the 10th to the 17th century the territory around the River Niger was occupied by a series of great empires; the Kanem-Bornou, the Songhai and the Hausa as well as by powerful sultans. Arab traders took their laden camel caravans across the area, unknown in Europe until the 19th century when the legendary Mungo Park arrived on the banks of the River Niger. Even today this is a little known part of the world, where life is lived to the simple rhythm of the seasons and the 21st century makes little impact. S
everal peoples live side by side in Niger: Hausa, Djerma, Songhai, Gourmanche, Kanouri, Toubou nomads, Arabs, Fulani herders and Tuareg (the legendary ‘blue men of the desert.’). The poor, arid land is dotted with their traditional villages, huts and barns, made of clay and straw and built in an array of different shapes and forms – round, conical, pointed. These lines and dimensions have often fired the imaginations of our modern architects such as, for example, Le Corbusier. Men, women and children walk along the roads and tracks carrying water jars, wood or merchandise to sell at the market. The rare wells are meeting places for herders. Water for their animals is drawn by rudimentary pump or simple buckets often with the help of camels or donkeys. Despite the daily hardships and lack of resources, the people have learned to survive with joy and contentment in this arid land.
The Remains of Historical Legend
History is never far away in Niger. The descendants of the ancient kings and sultans have retained their authority and are honoured and respected by their people to this day. The oldest and most astonishing thing discovered in Niger is a dinosaur cemetery, south of Agadez. Wind and water erosion has shifted the sands to reveal the huge white bones of these mysterious animals which once inhabited the verdant forests, now overtaken by the sands of the Sahara. The coloured rocks thrown out by long extinct volcanoes, the vast sediment of ancient salt lakes and tree fossils are further reminders of a pre desert time.
The famous ‘Arbre du Tenere’, marked on maps north east of Agadez was the lone surviving acacia tree, remnant of a once great forest, until a truck driver managed to knock it down! It has now been replaced by a metal structure which commemorates this famous, old landmark in this difficult and hostile terrain. At Bilma, camel caravans are loaded up with salt ‘cakes’, salt extracted from the desert and molded in large palm trunks which then travel along routes over a thousand years old to Agadez. Once a busy, lively, green and lush oasis, Djado is now a ghost town with an old dilapidated fort, inhabited only by the wind.
The highest dunes of the Sahara at Temet are to be found along forgotten tracks, between infinite flat and rocky ridges and soft oceans of sand. Sand and rock seem to melt into a lunar landscape, until the Air Mountains, known as the ‘blue mountains’ rise in welcome, their rocks eroded by water, wind and sand. The sweetest tomatoes in the world grow amongst the date palms and fruit trees of the picturesque oasis of Timia. There are marvelous stone age drawings, thousands of years old, recalling the lives of the shepherds and hunters from who-knows-where, who inhabited the green Sahara of yesteryear, representations of their prey - elephant, buffalo, antelope, giraffe – all drawn by artists in clear curved lines - resembling a collection of modern art. .
The magic of the Gerewol
Agadez is an obligatory stopping point for anyone crossing the desert. At its centre is the beautiful Grande Mosque, dating back to the 16th century and built in the Sahel/Sudanic style. In the shade of its pointed clay minaret, the Tuareg and Fulani peoples sell their beautifully - crafted leather and silver goods.
The territory of the Tuareg people lies between Agadez and Niamey. The veiled Tuareg men, the ‘blue men' of the desert, are a people of enormous charm and beauty. In the evening when the camels are resting, the men perform the dance of swords around their campfire, to remind themselves of their past as noble warriors, while the women chant and play the tam-tams.
This is also the territory of the Bororo or Wodaabe, who
belong to the Fulani ethnic group. Every year they drive their herds to
the salt plains where the earth is rich in salt. Thousands of animals
are gathered together and hundreds of families meet up to share the latest
news, to arrange marriages and to do business. In the evening, slender
young men dressed in traditional embroidered costumes and incredible white
make-up, dance seductively to the melancholy songs of the desert. After
the performance it is the women who choose the most handsome men for their
lovers. This is the great festival of the Gerewol celebrated amidst the
ancient sands and under the brilliant star strewn sky.
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