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.
