NFS Start

Council

Abeokuta

Benin

Ibadan

Ile-Ife

Lagos

United Kingdom

The Nigerian Field Society arranged an overland trip for 17 of us (Americans, Brits, Finns and Germans, with ages ranging from 10 to 70) from Kano, in northern Nigeria, to the area around Agadez, 700 km to the north, in the centre of Niger. This is where the Tuareg live and is a rocky part of the Sahara.The big dunes of the Tènèrè, the ‘desert of deserts’, are to the East. Nonetheless, it definitely WAS desert here as well – hot, dry and desolate.

The mode of travel was four wheel drive Land Cruisers, as ‘roads’ were the full range from well paved highways to deep sand. Leaving Kano at 7:00 AM, police check points, a flat tyre and a long lasting border crossing procedure - as expected - limited our pace. There was plenty of entertainment on the Niger side, however, with swarms of kids and adults. It was already noon when we finally could continue our journey and we had covered only the first 120 km out of 700+ km – a long day was yet ahead.

We arrived in Zinder, where we stopped for fuel and cold drinks. The bad news, however, was that one of the cars had some front end problems which were not fixable, so we had to pack down to four cars. But not long after the stop one of the cars ran into a post, went off the road and on about 50 m into a sandy field. So now we were down to just THREE cars. More adventure!

There was a slow but constant change in the type and amount of foliage - trees got smaller and sparser as we moved north. By the time we arrived at the unpaved section of the road (3 hours worth of driving) it was dark. One more flat tyre on the good road into Agadez, then we were in – past 11:00 PM. As we were all still wide awake from the trip, we descended to the pool and proceeded to polish off the hotel beer supply.

We spent the next morning wandering around Agadez, viewing the mud brick construction of the Sudanese style Grande Mosquee, the covered Grand Marche (market) and vendors/silversmiths stalls. Some took the opportunity to climb the most narrow stairway up to the top of the tower and were rewarded with a magnificent overview of Agadez.

Back to the hotel for a BBQ lunch before heading for the hills (with a full complement of five cars). Our target for the night was the Tuareg village of Abardek, the home of our guide, Tanko - a five hour ride east from Agadez. We met trucks carrying bags of onions, a local cash crop, mostly with a large contingent of people on top. Other traffic were a motorcycle or two, bicycles and camels and donkeys.As we travelled along, we saw villages, usually around storm-river beds, complete with palm trees and crops. No visible water, however.

We arrived in Abardek around 7:00 and settled into the compound of one of the homes. Sleeping was on a foam mat on the ground under the starry firmament in the compound - an unforgettable experience. Dinner was a very good, spicy soup, couscous and some lamb/goat (whatever), supplemented by wine brought with us.

The next morning was either a wander further east or a tour of life in the village. The village tour started with a visit to Tanko’s house and family – tea being served in his home. We passed by the village well, met some young women who enjoyed their digital photos and then visited the schoolhouse. Unfortunately no pupils there today – just the teacher, who told us about the school – classes 1 –3 taught here. The building, furniture and material has to be provided by the village – fortunately we brought quite a bit of stationery as a present

In the meantime the second group headed off in the car for Tabelot. Tabelot is a pretty big oasis, and a staging point for caravans. En route we drove down an ersatz air strip on a flat bit of sand that was used for providing supplies to the area in the Sahel droughts back in the 70’s. Just outside of the village were some fine rock paintings. Back in Tabelot, we saw a camel ‘pump’ well – the camel pulls the bucket up and down.

Both groups went to the silversmiths store in Talat, buying quite a lot of jewelery and other souvenirs.

Lunch was then served before we left for the village of Aouderes, all cross country.

Distances of hours had by now begun to be ‘not far’. On the way we passed by an extinct volcano and climbed to the top. It was a bit of a difficult walk up and down – fairly steep and all the volcanic rock was pumice, and sharp.Great breeze up top and a commanding view of the area. Was worth the effort. We arrived at our stopping point before dark.Aouderes is a pretty big village and sits above a palm-tree lined river bed; a very pretty setting.

The next morning started with a short drive up to an Islamic ‘camp‘ at Abatol, used for just a month or so a year. It was in a truly ‘Biblical’ setting, you could easily envision it teeming with desert people, camels, goats, campfires, etc. There were some caves in the mesa, used by the Tuareqs to hide during fights with the Hausa – as we were told. We then headed off for the rest of the day going cross country, even more so than what we had already been doing. NO idea how our guides knew where to go – sometimes on a track, sometimes turning off the track to head into the bush/ across a riverbed/ or wherever. We only met a few camel riders or small goat-flocks; very few people out here. Our water got warmer and warmer almost not drinkable or thirst-quenching. Finally we arrived at an accumulation of rocks with marvelous life size rock carvings of giraffes and other animals only recently discovered and in best shape–about 6000-8000 yrs old.

We camped near-by – completely out in the desert. This night the firmament was total 180 degrees all over with sparkling stars. A fantastic sun-rise, and then after breakfast a second visit of the rock carvings with better light for taking photographs. Back on the paved road we stopped at a place littered with petrified wood. Then again we went off the road to visit some hot springs in the mountains. A two hour ride brought us into an oasis village. The hot springs are covered by two bath-houses. After a good rest we finally headed back to Agadez – ice cold beer and shower. Last shopping in the late afternoon and a good meal for dinner.

5:30 was the start of our last 12 hour ride back to Kano. We experienced much the same time and discomfort at the border, then another 10-12 check points on the road from the border into Kano. At 5:45 the next morning we were brought to the airport for our early morning flight back to Lagos and had to say good bye then to our outstanding Tuareq guides and drivers.