Why Niger?
Niger at the crossroads between the Maghreb and Black Africa, is not yet a highly developed tourist destination but this is certainly not due to lack of interesting sites.
Melting pot of races and ethnic groups, Niger lies in the center of the Sahara, the most renowned and mysterious desert on earth.
Niger abounds with striking landscapes which provide the traveller with constant visual surprises: endless vistas of the Sahara with its amazing chains of towering sand dunes; magnificent plains and beautiful valleys, contrasting dramatically with the Sahelian steppe land; volcanic peaks and isolated palm-fringed oases; Neolithic rock art and 110-million-year-old dinosaur middens; the great rolling dunes of the Ténéré Desert, "the desert of deserts" often referred to as the most picturesque region in the entire Sahara; the grandiose Aïr Mountains, the bastion of the Tuaregs; the quality of the light; the picturesque market in Agadez, the local festivals and the encounter with the different inhabitants; Kanouri, Haoussa, Peul, Bororo, Tuareg, Tebu: Niger gets the magic experience to meet the latest camel caravans crossing the desert, the Azalai.
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General informations
Capital City : Niamey
People: Hausa (55%), Songhai-Zarma (22%), Peul-Fulani (10%), Tuareg (8%), Beri Beri or Kanour (4.3%)
Language: French, Hausa, Fulah, Tamashek
Religion: Muslim (80%), remainder indigenous beliefs and Christians
Visas: Visas are required by everyone except nationals of some West African countries. There are few Niger embassies around the world so getting a visa requires careful planning, but they can be obtained in a limited number of West African countries.
Time Zone: GMT/UTC +1
Dialling Code: 227
Electricity: 220V ,50Hz
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When to Go
Niger is uncomfortable pretty much all year round, but the best time to go is in the cooler months between November and February. You might get a bit of sand in the face from the dusty Harmattan winds in November, but it's not totally unbearable. It's also the best time to visit Parc W, Niger 's game reserve, which closes during the wet season. If you find yourself there a little earlier, in the month of September, you can catch the Cure Salée.
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Events
The Cure Salé is one of the brightest and biggest celebrations in West Africa . It occurs just before the rains come, and is a hurly-burly of socialising and catching up, as herders meet around the salt pans of Ingal and rest and wait for the blessed rain. One of the highlights of the Cure Salé is the gerewol festival held by the nomadic Wodaabé tribe; a race of tall, lithe, physically beautiful people, with elegant, feminine features...and that's just the men! In fact it's the Wodaabé men who participate in a male beauty contest that lasts for hours, and which involves hours of pre-concert preening, dancing, and face-pulling, for the benefit of the female judges. The gerewol takes place in September.
The other large festival celebrates National Festival Day , in mid-April, with a week of dancing, wrestling, and camel racing. If you're in Niger at the beginning of August, check out Republic Day at Dosso. There's a famous cavalry parade with both riders and horses decked out in all their colourful finery. In the city of Agadez , during the Islamic celebrations of Tabaski , the Tuareg whoop it up with one of their favourite pastimes; camel racing. The cavalcade is a mad harem-scarem dash on camel, through the narrow crowded streets of the town, to the square in front of the Sultan's palace.
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Attractions
Niamey
Niamey has grown in leaps and bounds over the few decades, and has a number of modern government buildings, streetlights, and tarred roads, all courtesy of the uranium-funded boom of the 1970s. But despite its modern veneer the city still has an African ambience and charm.
As the city cools down at night it's easy to sit and shoot the breeze with someone, have a meal and a drink, and gaze at the stars overhead. As with everywhere else in the desert this is when you'll most appreciate being there. The Grand Marché is one of the best in West Africa .
Agadez
With its wide sandy streets and Sudanese architecture, Agadez is one of the more interesting towns in Niger , and is one of those strange towns that ebb and flow on the tide of history. In medieval times it was a flourishing city at the edge of the desert.
It overflowed with camel trains, caravanserai, slave traders, and gold transporters. By the mid-19th century Agadez looked all but doomed, but since then the population skyrocketed twice - with the discovery of uranium, and again when drought drove thousands of dispossessed people here in the 1970s.
Parc W
The Parc National du W, or Parc W for short, is one of the better game parks in West Africa , with a wide range of carnivores including lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas and jackals. There's also the other wild animals that the carnivores prey on - the antelopes, duiker, baboons, and birds.
Then there are the ones even the lions might think twice about before taking on - the elephants and crocodiles. The park is in the dry savannahs of the south; the best time to go is at the end of the dry season (March to May) when the animals congregate around the water holes.
The South
Stretching in an arc a little over 200km (124mi) long is a string of southern towns that are all worth visiting. Dosso (named for the Djerma spirit, Do-Do) is an important Islamic citadel. It is home to the Djermakoye, the most important Djerma religious leader.
The Djermakoye's Sudanese-style compound can be only be visited with special permission. Today the town itself is a crossroads town, with roads to Benin and western Nigeria , but it still plays a role in the nation's life - Dosso hosts the celebrations for Republic Day.
Zinder
Zinder, once capital of Niger and an important 19th century stop on the Agadez-Kano route, is still Miger's second town. In its heyday, it was host to the opulent splendour of the Sarkee of Zinder and his harem, and the brutality and savagery of the slave trade, the latter financing the former.
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