Kader drives us to the airport and take-off is exactly at 09.00h. Police and airport administration is more efficient than switzerland; everybody seems to know that we are friends of abdelkader and we get treated accordingly. They even don‘t want to see rainer‘s custom‘s declaration that he left in the airplany.
We fly on 6‘500 ft and below is the huge desert! Crossing into niger after one hour and we decide to do another sightseeing flight; this time over the aïre mountains. Flying low again we admire the black mountains as they are also referred to. We also see a huge uranium mine which is the reason for some domestic trouble. The government in the south gets all the resources out of the ground herein the north but also all the money goes to the south.
It is already over 30 degrees on 2‘000 meters!! Even our experienced captain tom has never seen this before. The landing is very smooth (compliments to the pilot) and when we roll to the terminal area, a fire truck is following us along side. When we get out of the plane, it is 46 degrees!! And this is pretty hot!!! Immediately a lot of people are around us but everybody is very friendly and again very efficient!! Fuel is filled before we can unload the plane, immigration does not want to see no passport and custom‘s is not interested in our baggage. We have to push the plane a few meters forward to tie it down to the ground; and we realize that the wings are too hot to touch!!! A young, sporty man introduces himself as the chief fireman of the airport and as our designated driver to bring us the the hôtel de la paix. It turns out he is a 3rd dan in tae kwon do and the chief instructor here in agadez. Of course we talk immediately about martial arts and he is impressed by my 6th dan.
The hotel is ok except the big dead cockroach in mr. Frey‘s bathroom. We have lunch at the hotel‘s panoramic restaurant: the little meat the chicken has is tough as hell and it looks like somebody had it already before. Air-conditioning is working in the rooms and we decide to take a rest since it is simply too hot to got outside! During my beauty sleep i decide to switch of the air-con and after one our the room temperature is up to 35.8 degrees. When taking a shower, i try to turn off the hot water; realizing that it is not working anyway and the cold water is hot… Tom checks out the internet cafe around the corner but it is really slow. It takes rainer half hour to log in; so no uploading for today‘s webpage – sorry folks.
Ali, our driver, picks us up again at 18.00h. It is a bit cooler now and we drive through agadez to the camel market. Now we really feel like we have arrived in africa!! The neighborhoods are very poor but people seem happy and are very friendly. Again, most of the people seem to know our guide again. Ali explains that he has over 400 children at his karate school and around 100 youths and adults. So he is very well connected! Monthly charges for training are € 1.– to € 2.– but many students do not have the money to pay the dues. Uniforms are locally made and the poor students buy them second hand or get them for free. Ali does all this because he believe it is good for the children and for society.
At sunset we arrive at the camel market and are just overwhelmed! The people, the animals, the smells, the colors, the kids running after us; but everybody is again very friendly and happy to see us. We decide to cancel dinner in the hotel (collect the food there and give it to some of ali‘s students) and have the meal instead at one of the local restaurants. Unfortunately it is too late to visit the famous mosque but ali tries to arrange a visit for tomorrow; he knows the watch man. Then we visit ali‘s tae kwon do school and are very impressed by the discipline and hard training. I am getting introduced and it is like in every good do jang (training room): one feels immediately at home and wants to train. We watch the students and then i demonstrate them a hyung (form) that they don‘t do. They seem to be impressed and thank us with a short speech.
The dinner on the roof top terrace is very good: brioche avec des frites. Wedding parties are speeding by on the motor bikes and the military police starts their patrols. Ali brings us back to our hotel; it is still over 30 degrees. We are happy to learn that this day is even hot for the natives here!! But again: what a day we had today!!
Niger is the second country in our transafrica 2010. It‘s one of the poorest country in the world. It‘s dangerous to travel overland outside the big cities – and it is hot there!
In niger we met very friendly people and were treated like friends.
