Monday, April 26, 2010

Agadez - the ultimative place in the world

Agadez
Well, I finally made it to Agadez. Quite a few things changed since my last visit 2002/2003. With the rebellion, the bandits and without any tourists, many locals, who had the possibility, left Agadez. Those, who stayed behind, are often the ones without money, without job or education and without possibility to change all this. Lots of families ended up in poverty, as there was no possibility to earn money as there is simply no work.
Desperation can lead to different reactions than normal and it can happen easily that someone ends up at the wrong time at the wrong place. So, I had to promise my friend Eva not to go out by myself, when in Agadez.
Eva’s house had always been a very open house and it still is. It was seldom a problem to find somebody to go with me to get things done in town or to get invitations to do something together with friends. For sure, it was different, I was used now to do whatever I wanted and it was a strange idea to need other people for going out. But I knew it was necessary and therefore okay like this.
On the other side I enjoyed the rest, Eva’s library with books in German language, good food and the visits of friends quite a lot.

Eva, planning the cultural centre
From the old friends of my visit 2002/2003, there were not many left in Agadez. Some took part in the rebellion and still have to hide themselves, others live in the Air Mountains, as there is currently no work in Agadez anyway, and others live in Niamey or even in Europe.
But, as mentioned before, Eva’s house is still an open house and one gets to know all kinds of interesting characters.
There is Assanaga, the driver and friend of the family, with whom I was driving in and around Agadez per motorbike. Abdou, who is good in solving problems with all kinds of electrics, and Bebe, a Marabout with house construction skills. All three of them are masters of the guitar and quite some evenings, we spent in the courtyard drinking touareg tea, playing the guitar and singing. Just great!

Cultural Centre
At the moment, Eva is building a cultural centre in Agadez together with her son Christoph. We spent a lot of time there, the walls and furniture were painted and the bar was installed.
Painting - all help together
When I arrived in Agadez last time, I had the same problem like now – I was in desperate need of a haircut. It was five months ago, I went to the hairdresser in Windhoek…. In 2003, I made the horrible mistake to visit a local hairdresser. Three ladies were arguing about the fact, who would be the one to cut my hair. A somewhat Solomon judgement said, they all will do my hair. Well, the result was simply terrible, the sides of different lengths, the front too short, from the back a real big hole within the hair… It was so bad, that I even refused to pay for this so called work and Eva had to do quite some damage limitation at home. Well, from damage one becomes clever, as everybody knows.
This time, I immediately asked Eva to do the hair cut and the result was a lot better.
Wedding of Yachias daughter
Of course, there is still Yachya, the nice neighbor just a street away from Eva’s house, who produces so wonderful silver jewelry. And it is still the same: of course, at Yachyas place, you find always something to take back home.
Yachya invited me to the wedding of one of his daughters. For sure, things like that are always exciting. At a total of two days with a lot of music, drums and dances, this was a very typical touareg wedding. People came and went as they wanted and because it was, as said, just around the corner from Eva’s house, I could also go by myself. For sure, all that was a very photogenic event, as everybody came beautifully dressed.
Another frequent guest in Eva’s house is Malam, a marabout. These marabouts fulfill an important job in Africa. They are seers, healers, therapists and give religious and spiritual advice. They protect against bad magic and can release also from such. I myself felt this on my own body, as I suffered since october last year from bad pains in the right foot, which did not want to stop. Now, after Mallams treatment, it became a lot better and will soon hopefully disappear completely.
Malam, the marabout
Well, the success agrees with him. When Malam advised me urgently against travelling on tuesday, as I would not reach my destination in good health and, moreover, should think over Benin completely, it was not difficult for me to decide to look for a flight from Niamey/Niger instead of one from Cotonou/Benin. Finally, the flight from Niamey was just a few Euros more and the last bus kilometers decreased with that decision from more than 2000 kilometers to less than 1000.
Unfortunately, Mallam could not protect us against all bad stuff. One night, one or more men climbed the high wall of Eva’s house, sneaked around the dog Shakira, who usually does not led anyone unknown in the house, and stole quite some cash out of our rooms. Camera, laptops, radios and credit cards were still there, they were only interested in cash. This night, as all the others, we all have slept outside, as it is by far too hot inside the rooms. Nevertheless, no one of us has heard or seen the thief, although he or they must have sneaked in just a couple of meters away…
A very uncomfortable feeling, not to mention the stupid situation to be completely without cash….

Old mosque of Agadez
The police came, but as often in Africa, they did not really give the impression to be pleased about this new job….
Besides Malam, we asked some more marabouts for help in search for the thieves. Up to now, unfortunately, without any success.
One of these marabouts advised me to get a Gris Gris, a talisman, which should protect me from bad things. Good idea, with all these things, which happened in the last few months, it would not hurt to have the protection of a strong Gris Gris…
Agadez
After more than two weeks with Eva in Agadez, I started the last part of my trip in Niger: the 1000 kilometers bus ride to Niamey. In 2002, the road between Niamey and Agadez was excellent, but, unfortunately, this has changed. Quite some parts are completely gone, other parts are covered with sand. The trip took 14 hours, a little longer than normal. This was due to the fact, that we had to face a bad sand storm on the way, then it started even to rain. All this reduced the view considerably, so we arrived later than planned in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
Targia
Ibrahim, a taxi driver and friend of Evas son Christoph, was waiting for me at the bus station and took me back home to his house. There, I got a tasty dinner and an urgently necessary bucket shower. As I had to wait some hours for my flight and Ibrahim had to drive taxi, I greatly appreciated his offer for his part of the bed. So, I shared a gigantic mattress with Ibrahims wife and their three children, until he came back at 1.00 o'clock at night and drove me to the airport.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

On the way to Agadez

Because at that time I thought I would fly home from Cotonou, Benin, I had a minor problem, as the only border in between Nigeria and Benin, which is served by public transport, is via Lagos. For several months, if not longer, it did not seem advisable to visit Niger. In 2007, the second rebellion started, which led to the fact, that tourists were advised not to visit Agadez and the areas north from there, which means, that all touristy highlights were out of reach. The non-appearance of tourists had far-reaching consequences, as the main source of income just broke away. Many locals lost their work, as drivers, guides, hotel employees, restaurant operators, commercial owners, etc. For sure, this misery affects not single people, but whole large families.

The rebellion is now officially finished, most weapons are delivered. Tour operators stopped all travels in the area. Those, who had the chance to leave Agadez, did so. The remaining are mostly without a job and without money, often also without a future. A dangerous mixture for everybody, who are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Even more problematic and dangerous are the bandits who appeared at the same time with the rebellion. They are still a problem and terrorize country and people not only in the desert and in the Air Mountains, but also around Agadez. They attack cars, trucks and busses, steal, what they can grab and seldom travellers die during an attack by accident. So, it is definitely not an easy going area at the moment and not a place to hang around by yourself. On the other side, on my last big Africa trip 2002/2003, Agadez was my favorite city. So, my aim was from the beginning to reach also this place on my trip. So, I had to find out, how the situation in Niger is like now, and above all, whether it is possible and advisable to travel to Agadez at the moment.
First, I paid the Consulate of Niger in Kano a visit and asked carefully, whether they issue visas at the moment, and whether trips to Agadez are possible and permitted. The first secretary took my fears absolutely serious, called several authorities by phone and informed me, finally, beaming with delight that the streets to Agadez are sure, however, I cannot go further north or in the Sahara desert. I verified all this with Eva, a friend from Austria, who lives since many years in Agadez. With her I stayed on my last big Africa trip three weeks. She said basically the same like the ambassador. I promised her not to go out by myself, but only accompanied by her or a friend and so, I was very much welcome to come and stay. After that, I put again all pros and cons, then I was sure that I wanted to go. Therefore, there was also the solution how to skip Lagos – in travelling via Niger and from there to Benin!

Though the border crossing between Nigeria and Niger was time-consuming (for only 30 km to Maradi with crossing of the border we needed 2.5 hours and I had to fill six papers at five different places, voila, here it was, the Nigerian bureaucracy), but it was not really difficult. In Maradi I waited just a bit more than an hour for the bus from Niamey, which took me to Zinder. Zinder I already knew from my last Africa trip, when I spent some days here. Of course, a town changes in this time, but the most inexpensive hostel was still Hotel Malem Kalkadanu, close to the bus station. I did not really catch a lot of sleep there, as the room cooled down on 33.9 degrees centigrade by 2 am in the morning, before it was slightly hotter… All that reminded me of a super hot hairdryer… Moreover, the other rooms were booked by students, who without an exception wanted to get to know this while person, who stayed in the same cheap place. Due to the heat, just the thought of entering the room was pure horror, so we all stayed till early morning on the terrace talking and discussing…

At 6 am, the bus to Agadez started. Most African bus stations resemble big, apparently disorganized markets. What looks like the absolute chaos, however, absolutely has a system. In the morning, there is mobile tea shop and ladies with sandwiches. Later, fruit and omelets sellers arrive, boys who sell cooled filtered water from plastic bags and young women who balance cooked eggs in a bucket on the head. Besides, a lot of others have cooled Coke and Fanta or can sell you from the mobile chemist's shop an aspirin or get you a scratch card next door for loading credit on the mobile. For those with more time, there are people who cut finger and toe nails or even a haircut is possible. Already when boarding the bus, it was clearly visible, that this bus was going into Tuareg area.
In Zinder, there are mostly people from the Hausa and Fulbe tribes living, north from there is Tuareg country. It is easy to recognize them with their up to five-meter-long turban, often only the eyes are visible. Absolutely sensibly in this climate with all the sand and dust in the air, not to speak of sun protection. Besides that, Tuareg men usually wear long, wide trousers and a wide shirt up to the knees, all that traditionally in indigo-blue. (The indigo often looses color, so the Tuareg are often called also blue men). The outfit is often rounded by a skillfully worked leather bag, which is worn around the neck to stow money, papers, etc. I was very happy to be on the way to Agadez. In 2002/2003 I spent a really great time here, in the Tenere desert and in the Air Mountains and made friends with quite a few locals. Of course, I hoped to meet many of the old friends. I did not even think about to bump already into one of them in the bus towards Agadez! The turban, which covers also large parts of the face, does not really make it easy to recognize somebody.

Still, at 5 am, it was still completely dark, I was about to enter the bus, when one of the fellow-passengers seemed to me astonishing familiar. Obviously, it was the same to him, as he saved a seat next to him for me. Well, soon it turned out, that 8 years back, he was the one, who took me by jeep into the Air Mountains to meet a group of Austrian tourists. These five Austrians allowed me to travel with them for the rest of their desert trip, which was the last 10 days. It was a great experience. Now, it was just great to meet Ahmed again after all this time. One can imagine that these seven hours to Agadez were passing by in a very short time. Once again I found out that the world is in reality a village! In the early afternoon, we arrived in Agadez, my favorite place of my last Africa trip. Assanaga, the driver of Eva and friend of the family, already waited for me at the bus station and took me by motorbike to Eva. What I found in Agadez and the last part of my journey I will write in the next and possibly last post.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Nigeria -a nice surprise

Traffic in Kano
In life, there are things, everybody agrees. It is the same with travel tales. The worst stories ever told, came usually from Nigeria – too many people (every fifth African is a Nigerian!), chaos, scams, internet fraud, Biafra, religious conflicts, Sharia law, bureaucracy, corruption – the list is anything but entire, but everybody, who has traveled through Nigeria can report about it. What does that mean now for me? I would say another exciting country… Nevertheless, better finding out myself, whether these horror stories tell the truth or whether they are legends and myths….

Zaria
Market, Kano
However, the road connecting northern
 Cameroon and Nigeria is in a very poor condition, just like most streets close to borders in this part of the world. Somewhere in the bush, the minibus leaves the tarred road for a sand track. After half an hour driving in the sand we ended up in a provincial town. Because of the border traffic these little towns often have gigantic markets as goods can be traded on both sides of the border! Passing the border was absolutely not bureaucratic      (I expected a kind of Nigerian paper war) and I was not asked for a gift (so, entering the country is possible without any bribe). It was even very different from what I expected: the officials were happy about my visit, offered me the most comfortable chair (this was with four legs!!!), gave me a cup of tea and asked me politely, on which side in the passport I would want the entry stamp to waste as little space as possible. After that they helped me changing money for a quite good rate… After that the immigration officer gave me a ride on his motorcycle to the motor park to make sure that I do not end up with the wrong car.  It was not really difficult, as there were only two cars, out of them only one to Maiduguri. Nigeria? Yes, I was not on another planet, but had just recently entered Nigeria….


Kurmi Market, Kano
The car was extremely full with 8 people plus driver and their luggage. The landscape was desert like with a few dry bushes and lots of black plastic bags flying through the air. Finally, we reached Maiduguri after four hours driving. Vandi, the receptionist of my hotel of Maroua, was also after my departure from Maroua taking care of me. By phone he had informed his cousin Luka in Maiduguri about my travel plans and had urged me to call Luka, as soon as I reach Maiduguri. Well, I did as promised, and just shortly after, Luka was there and brought me to the guest house of Maiduguri University.


Kurmi Market, Kano
The late afternoon, Luka accompanied me to the black market. Banks in Nigeria are not of great use. Money is better and easier changed on the street or in the market. When changing money, I usually prefer having a local with me out of several reasons. I do not particularly trust moneychangers, above all if one is new in a country and does not know the exact exchange rate. Besides, when changing a bigger amount of money somewhere on the streets is usually not unnoticed by quite a few others. So, these people know by then, that I am running around with quite some cash in my pockets…. So, better being with someone!
The next day, Luka brought me by motorbike to Kano Motor Park. However, it took the minibus four long hours to fill up. We were a nice group travelling together, almost all of us women, so that our trip was very amusing. Wherever we stopped, me fellow travellers bought street food out of big baskets and buckets, which was sold by small girls. They always bought tiny amounts, so that I could try many different snacks! We definitely had a lot of fun!
Kano
After eight hours we finally arrived in Kano. According to the guide book, there are more than 3 million people living here. Whether this number is correct is very doubtful, the government estimated last year 8 million habitants, independent organizations are telling numbers like 14 millions. However – the town is gigantic, there is the absolute chaos on the streets, cars, minibuses and motorcycles are racing like wild bumblebees without recognizable traffic rules through streets lined by blow holes, which are often extremely narrowed by little shops on both sides of the road. In addition, beggars linger in between the vehicles, which stop at traffic lights, water and newspaper sellers go from one car to the other and boys with begging bowls walk through the dusty streets…. In Kano, there are also motorcycles rickshaws which are used above all by devote Muslim women, who would not like to go on a normal motorcycle taxi, which is not considered as a proper means of transport for a woman anyway. All this reminded me very much of some cities in India, of course people look different here.

Indigo dye works
Kano can be very strenuous, so was important for me to have a reasonable lodging, where one can really recover from running around the streets during daytime. With the guest house of Ecwa – Evangelic Church of west Africa, I found one of these places. The room was big and clean with private bathroom, TV, fan and AC – all this for the equivalent of 20 Euros, which is a very well invested money. In Kano, there is quite a lot to see, however, one needs just alone due to the size of the town a lot of time.
Especially interesting is for sure the old part of town. Here, there is a big emir palace, which ordinary people like me can only see from the outside. In theory, one can also arrange a visit of the interior and even a meeting with the emir, but to get the permission needs several weeks. Anyway, there are a lot of other things to see and to do in Kano. The centre of the old town is the big mosque which was built in the sixties in Saudi style, after the emir came back from his pilgrimage from Mecca. Before, there was an old sahel style mud brick mosque at the same place. Close to the mosque, there are the indigo dyeing pits. The holes with the indigo are up to six meters deep. These punches are filled with indigo, water, cinder and acid. Depending on how long the material is dipped there, the color ranges from very bright up to deep-blue. In this hectic town, this was one of my resting places, where I called in over and over again. Simply sitting down on the edge of a not used hole, chatting with the workers about the news of the day, playing with some of the children there, is there anything better?

Emirpalace, Zaria
In Kano, there are two very good museums who are accommodated in traditional houses. It is not only the artifacts, but also the architecture of the buildings in itself, which made the visits of these museums interesting.

Not very far away from Kano, there is the old city of Zaria. By minibus it is possible to reach Zaria from Kano within 1.5 hours – as soon as the vehicle is full. And this can last…. However, we were waiting nearly three hours…. With the minibuses there are different models of filling it up with passengers: most often I had the version 2:4:4:4. This means two people next to the driver, in the rows behind each row four passengers. This is a little bit problematic, as there is only one seat next to the driver, and in the rows behind three seats per row. Children, animals and luggage do not count at all. Well, these minibuses are packed and travelling under conditions like these is not always a pleasure!

Guard
Well, the journey to Zaria was especially problematic, as we had a very big African mama aboard, who clearly needed two seats. For sure, she did not want to see that she should pay the double price… The argument took quite some time. At last, she paid for one seat only, but paid extra for her exorbitant luggage…

Zaria is a very old town with an emir’s palace. Here I was allowed so see the court and some of the rooms, but not the inner ones. There, I got to know Hamza, a very nice employee of the palace, who took great care of me the rest of the day. First, he showed me some parts of the palace and organized a meeting with the first secretary of the emir. Then, he fetched his motorbike and took me to the old part of town. In Zaria, there is a compact old town, which is surrounded by a high wall. Some houses are decorated with great patterns in Hausa style. The thick walls provide cool temperature inside in spite of the glowing heat outside.

Hamza, Zaria
Zaria
In the afternoon, Hamza took me on a tour outside of town and drove me all the way to Amadu Bello University. This is one of the biggest and best known universities of Africa and one can study here all subjects. I was glad to see mosque and church next to each other on the campus, apparently Muslims and Christians found here their place to learn and study. Of course, the northern part of Nigeria is mostly Muslim, but the students here come from all over Nigeria and also from completely Africa. Accordingly Muslims, Christians, Animists and others study and live together here. Religious problems I did not feel here, which does not necessarily mean, that there is none. Kano is the stronghold of the sharia law in Nigeria and the Islamic right is also taught in Zaria University. Personally, I have never had a problem with people here, whatever religion they belonged to. Actually, it was right the opposite. The problems in Jos, where Muslims and Christians are fighting since many years, are according to most Nigerians not a question of religion, but of politics. Christians as well as Muslims have confirmed that the religion is abused by politicians of every religious direction for their purposes and thus the fights break out over and over again.
Family of Mariya

Market, Katsina
From Kano, I continued my travels to Katsina, which is just 30 kilometers from the border with Niger. I wanted to visit Katsina anyway, because there are quite a few things to see, but something else arrived as well: at the hotel in Kanu, I got to know Mariya and her husband Ishyaku, both absolutely charming people. And they invited me to visit them in Katsina. Actually, I thought of staying one or two days there, but these plans were immediately crisscrossed my hosts by introducing a four days program… However, at even this amount of time was not realistic at the end.
Mariya
Not that there would be so many tourist highlights here in Katsina, it was more things like visiting friends and family, attending a big wedding, which was of course incredibly exciting for me. The church service at the wedding ceremony lasted nearly three hours, there was a lot of dancing during the service, there were several choirs singing and of course everybody was dressed in fantastic, colorful traditional clothes. One day, we visited Gobarau minaret in the old part of town, which is a spiral minaret. Spiral minarets are very rare, so people assume that the builders maybe derived inspiration in Samara/Iraq or in Cairo/Egypt. Moreover, there is an old school and of course a lot of old houses and crooked lanes in the old part of town.
Girl at a wedding
Girls at a wedding
However, most interesting was being part of family life with my new friends Mariya and Ishyaku. They have four children; the fifth is on the way. Going to the market, eating together, buying a new TV, going to church – well, just normal life. One morning, I went with Mariya to hospital. She had to attend some tests because of her pregnancy. Hardly anyone in Africa goes alone to hospital. When it turned out, that Mariya had her examination exactly the day I was about to leave, I just decided on the spot to add another day in Katsina to accompany her… However, after five days I really had to leave, which was not easy. Here, I want to say thanks a lot to Mariya and her family for their great help, their hospitality and their friendship. I hope very much, that the idea with England will work out and we will soon meet somewhere in Europe. If this is not working out – then I might just have to come back to Nigeria myself – to the country, I was warned more than just once, and to its inhabitants, I had nothing else but good experiences.

However, I also have to mention, that many Nigerians warned me about their own people. Namely they warned me about people from the southern part of the country. Of course everybody told me not to go to Jos Plateau because of the religious and political problems there. Port Harcourt is problematic because of kidnapping of foreigners. Without exception all north Nigerians told me to skip Lagos, because there is the misery of an estimated 18 million people, the chaos, the survival of the fittest and the corruption rule all means of life.