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.