Its Saturday 26^th November and today we are to Niger on our way to Burkina Faso. We don’t know if we can get Niger visa’s at the border and are quite relived after 200kms on good roads, or “Gud Rodes” as the Africans and French say, to have our passports stamped with yet another official entry visas. 

Once over the border we bushcamp again. Alan & Alain heard the grunting hippo’s during the night, close by. We are still on the river Niger, the third largest river in Africa.

By the time we get to the campment Touristique in Niamey, Niger’s capital city it’s still early so we pay a visit to the “Musee National” important for it’s tribal costumes, African crafts, pre-historic remains found in the desert and above all, the last tree from Agadez, which was cut down by a Libyan truck driver! Two branches set into cement tell the sad story.

Niger is quite a large country but most of it is on the edge of the desert so the population is mainly situated in the south near the main cities.

Agadez is more like what you would expect Tombouctou to be. One of the last great ancient trading towns of the Sahara where only the more adventurous go to today. It still has the feel of isolation, dust and magic. From here one can cross thousands of kilometres of towering sand dunes, (from where dinosaur fossils in the Niamey National Museum were found) till you reach the end of one of the great desert routes, Bilma is one of the most isolated settlements on earth.

Today we leave Niger for Burkina Faso. Getting out of Niamey isn’t too difficult as the main town has large roads and modern buildings, mainly official government run, for education, tourisum, electric, Embassies, military, banks, foreign affairs and so on and yet running parallel are streets packed with vendors, shacks, filth and poverty.

Once over the bridge and the Niger river the towns become again villages till we get to the border post of TORODI. Sixty kilometres on we finally get to KANTCHARI in BURKINA FASO. Here the police are exceptionally polite.