Where the time stopped...

The most famous popular ensure that the centuries in this corner of Africa, not really ever go. Travel, charitable purposes, less tourism in the heart of the country, a land of color and people prepared to divide the void in which he lives

 

E 'a silent world that the Niger desert. A silence made of clay mixed with straw, walls crumbled, dunes and ocher yellow sand meets the rocks black. A world populated by craftsmen who forged glittering jewels and women washing cloths and fabrics with a thousand nuances. A universe is mysterious but ready for who knows how to listen, to reveal the most incredible stories: those of adventurers, merchants and slave traders, exploration without return, of people swallowed by the desert and vanished forever. Stories but also borrowed from everyday life. As the meeting with crowded oasis of date palms, zeribe villages, and fennec moule moule. All of the tracks crossing dell'Azalai, the famous street of the salt that is still unchallenged reign of the Air Tuareg. It 'a long journey by jeep - a Toyota KZJ 90 three-door, equipped with tires BF Goodrich All Terrain and camping equipment Ferrino - covering more than 8000 km (half on dirt) through Tunisia and Libya before reaching Niger, one of the most fascinating countries in Africa, and finally traced Algeria. A whole month in the land of the last free men, where time, as one that "has decided not to move ever" ...

Madama, Niger:

The official entry in Niger is a Madama (coordinates 21 ° 57 'north and 13 ° 39' east), 500 meters above sea level, where the remains of an old military fort dominating on a huge expanse of sand that d 'winter home to dozens of trucks loaded with men, women and goods of all kinds. On the left, continuing on the route, mount Emi Fezzan us towards the first real destination of the trip: a tour of over 200 kilometers between the sands of unexplored Tchigai of Plateau, where rock pinnacles rise from the white sand iridescent surface that leaves in surface flint arrows and stone perfectly smooth round black, old Neolithic tools. A splendid sand with palms and tamarisk, then a lunar landscape, similar to that of Mars, they discover signs of the passage of men and animals: the way that leads to Dirkou, including stony and soft sand is like talcum powder which strain on the off-road, we meet "the caravans of mosques and the remains of old stone buildings, perhaps to repair dromedaries and goats. Behind the characteristic shape of a pan of sugar Pic Zumri, see the palm trees of dell'oasi Seguedine (20 ° 12 'north and 12 ° 59' east) that borders to the south. Then at 50 km from a beautiful oasis Dirkou predicts what the landscape will be constant until one of the most typical villages of Ténéré: date palms and giant tamarisk. Nothing has changed since the last time we were here: to welcome Dirkou is the post of military bloc with the horizontal stripes flag that moves in the wind and the military with miter and sunglasses. This time we are guests of Mohamed Boubacar Djaram's new mayor of the country - and his family - which invites us to spend the day at his home, where a straw roof and fragrant mimosa trees provide a valuable shelter from the heat. At sunset, walk the streets of the country, curious among shops displaying colorful fabrics, freshly baked bread, dates, spices of every kind and fried grasshoppers. The atmosphere of Dirkou, with the muezzin calling to prayer, the children in the street to run the old rusted tin toys and women smiling, leave really speechless. Just like that dell'oasi of Bilma, 30 km south of Dirkou, where the off-road cross the fortified village and palm grove. E 'then the turn of Zoo Baba (18 ° 14' north and 13 ° 03 'East), charming oasis located in a valley of golden sand where the shade of two large acacia meet women of the village. As we show arrows of flint and obsidian, necklaces with amulets, knives finely chiselled, small containers of straw and "coloquintide" (the famous pumpkin desert), under their clothes colorful glimpse of the lively and smiling eyes of the younger children.

Towards the dunes:

The next goal towards which we go is the oasis of Fach with its salt marshes and the Koranic school. Dunes are constantly guilloche soft "whale backs" and moving between stony passages where the 90 step model house out of Toyota, seems to be really at ease. A Fach (18 ° 09 'north and 11 ° 36' east), one of the most beautiful sites in the Sahara to the Niger countryside, the caravan of dromedaries and other ethnic groups, where we visit the salt working men and women of the village. The brine - says a young Tuareg - provides bright, dall'ocra to dark brown, with tanks squared and framed by a white border where the film of crystals which forms on the surface is broken several times with a giornpo big stick of wood. Observe women trying to pull and wrap the loaves in cylindrical and round the salt is intended to oases of the Sahel - the slain of Faci the most important of all, because the oasis is the point of stopping dell'Azalai, that the caravan time immemorial carrying salt from Agadez to Bilma and then be exchanged for tea, millet and tissues - is really a scene of the past. Before leaving from Fach can not miss a visit to Koranic school attended by about sixty students, mostly males. Colored clothes, the bizarre hair styles that leave on the head shaved only a few blacks tuft of hair, a smile that makes the white stand out of the teeth are the children dell'oasi. Going to school with their wooden tablets written in black ink, from right to left. An ancient writing, as in local Koranic school, perhaps one of the last oasis in the world to use it. From the chair - a rectangular clay - the marabutto directs its students to sit in a semicircle on the ground reciting a verse from the Koran. E 'on their way to say hello and hope a good return.

Them where there was a tree:

The next step of the journey brings us to the mythical Tree of Ténéré, a huge Thala - indicated on the Michelin 953, old African travelers - eradicated in 1973 by a Libyan truck driver. Today, in its place there are two copies tristi metal history while the tree trunk is kept in the museum of Niamey. It 'time to go into a rectum. The cave of graffiti Anakom, where hundreds of rocks are witnesses of millions of years ago, we observe the shapes of ostriches, elephants, giraffes and people of that time. A spectacular landscape that offered by Kori Anakom where between yellow sand, dark rocks, bushes and acacia trees, the frogs croak timido somewhere reveals the presence of water. Ten miles and the scenery continues to amaze: we are at Agamgam, famous for its clear water and fresh, set among palm trees and rocks. With off-road to enter Arakaou, magnificent natural amphitheater known as the "crab claws" for its shape: massive dunes, high up to 200 meters, were located inside the caldera rocks made of black granite Takolokouzet . Driving along the busy trail of trucks full of old Mercedes means loads of people and goods, we head to Agadez. After the village of Anguezziz, with its characteristics of straw huts and shops on the edge of the road, 40 km from Agadez we come across marshes and pools of water, because of the intense rains of the previous days, we have to overcome with long detours. We are no longer among the dunes and rocks, but rather in the midst of a marshy area with bushes, trees giant capers, flocks of goats and cows.

The Cross of Agadez:

Agadez (16 ° 58 'North and 7 ° 59' East) welcomes us with its streets crowded with people, with houses in raw land dried in the sun and the flat roof, its hotels (including the Hotel de la Paix, a four star hotel on the Avenue de Bilma opened in June 2002 by the President of Niger Escale camping or on the road that leads to Arlit). Among the visits do not miss the Great Mosque in Sudanese style, built in 1500 with the minaret, which boasts wooden beams, classic example of architecture of the Sahel, the crowded market for Tuareg and the labyrinth of narrow streets of Vieux Quartier. Shops in the city you can buy typical products of local handicrafts in Niger: sandals and leather cushions, saddle from dromedary, silver jewelry (including the famous Cross of Agadez), saponaria stone objects, sculptures in wood. The city is also the starting point for a new tour that the i through the villages of Azel, Sabon Gari, Dabaga (where ongi 15 days is held the largest market of Air) and Abardek port Tewar, a charming country 865 meters above sea level, nestled between the mountains Baguezane. Destination with the friends of non-profit Kebira el Sahara "to bring local school children of school supplies, clothes and games. These Ahmed, Director of School of Tewar together all'anziano village head, accompanies us to the discovery of a small town: the new school built with the help of "Children in the Desert", the garden grown onions and a Roman mile the automated sinks, the date palms and a giant acacia, venue of the inhabitants of the village, renamed "Gao".

On the way back:

Back to Agadez, a gigantic mountain of black rocks, a group of baboons seem to want to greet. The trip to Niger is about to end. Walk the 220 kilometers which separate us from Arlit before reaching the border of Assamaka, after another 180km on a piston soft sand mixed with stones. The entry into Algeria from In Guezzam, then Tamanrasset, the Assekrem, El Golea and the border of Algeria Taleb Larbi. We enter into Tunisia from Hazoua to head towards Tunis. Behind us we leave the oasis with date palms, the villages with the people, the spectacular sunsets, breathtaking dunes with the confidence to come back soon. Because as an old Tuareg said: "It can also sometimes live in a tent, but it's best to sleep under the sky to look into the eyes of the stars ...".