In 2010 I planned to visit Mt Bangaz in Niger, but it turned out to be
$3000. At that stage I reluctantly had to cancel my plans. 9 Years
later it turned out to be $9950! I knew getting to the mountain basically
meant a tremendous amount of planning, military escort and a lot of money. You only live once! I grabbed the
opportunity with both hands (and an extended bond :-)). I planned on going during winter but was forced to go 3 months later because of a shoulder operation.
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Two little girls in the village
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Niamey: After spending a relaxing evening in Niamey, I was taken to the airport to
catch a flight to Agadez. The check in was done manually and I thought that it was
rather cute! It took 5 minutes to check in each passenger and every
piece of luggage received a very neatly handwritten tag.
I
was having my first Nescafe and Nido when the pilots walked past. An hour
later, whilst enjoying my second cup of coffee, I noticed that there were only
15 passengers waiting patiently to board the plane with me.
60 divide by 5
equals 12. Yep, it made sense. There was only 15 minutes left before departure and
half of the passengers were still in the check in queue - all was well in Africa.
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| Nido with nescafe! |
Flight to Agadez: Finally each and every passenger was
manually checked in, and two small buses was waiting at the exit. A physically
disabled guy in a wheelchair was waiting patiently to be assisted at the one
bus. Another passenger signaled that I should follow him and we boarded the
small VIP bus. In the distance I saw our luggage disappearing and after
the first bus followed, I got worried. 'Agadez?', I asked the guy
who dragged me along and was very relieved when he nodded, confirming that I was in the correct place. It was not long
before we joined the rest, and I was allocated the only empty seat - next to another female traveler.
A "barf bag" was brought to a lady sitting 4 rows from me and I decided it was
about time to start meditating again. An hour later I considered asking for one
as well when we hit turbulence and the cabin member came flying down the aisle
with his coffee trolley. But I relaxed after noticing that every second
passenger was praying.
Agadez: In sweltering heat I was taken to a charming
hotel where I had a quick shower before setting off for the market with Abbaya (the tourism guy) and Malik (the interpreter). Of course, the mosque was first on
the list and even though I have been to lots of them before (and I am not into
history), I enjoyed the company. When it came to ordering my lunch confusion reigned. I hated this part. I think in total there are only 50
different kinds of food that I eat. We settled on tomato salad, bread and hard boiled
eggs - delivered to my room. The tomato salad went untouched since it was
drenched in oil. Tick! and note to myself - no more salad, in future only ask for a tomato!
After a
siesta it was time for another walk through the town where we visited several
families and drank tea. So far the locals have been friendly with great senses of
humor. Abbaya are still amazed by my eating habits but he said that I am an easy customer
who loves the children. I guess it's a huge compliment. I seldom feel like a
tourist whilst travelling through Africa.
After
a good night's sleep (and polishing half of my snacks) breakfast arrived. Malik
arrived on time and then we were off to Abbaya’s house where we waited for the
military guys until 11:00. I was pleasantly surprised when only 4 arrived. At the price I paid I was expecting at least
20 of them but at least everyone was wearing a different colorful turban. Abbaya seemed to found me amusing and every now and
again he gives a chuckle, shakes his head and says “Karen!”. Once I was
introduced to the cook and Malik had to translate that I don't eat onions,
garlic, meat, fish, oil etc. Abbey gave another chuckle and said it is now
between me and Bubukar, the cook.
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| The team |
We
stopped in the middle of nowhere for lunch and I was given a nice colorful salad
and bread. Bubukar definitely had an inclination of my strange eating habits.
Along the way we stopped at the police station. Expecting a hostile reception,
I was pleasantly surprised to be escorted to the General who welcomed me with
open arms. Once we got to our camping spot, my cook immediately started preparing
the next meal whilst I showed Malik how to pitch the tent. The wind was howling
but I used sand to tighten the outside flap. After a fantastic meal, I crept
into bed, quite content.
Day 1. Woke up at 6 and had omelette for breakfast. Visited market where I got an
orange turban and got complimented by the soldiers who reckoned it suited me
better than the navy one. Then we were off to where they were digging for gold
and what a sight. Young boys were working in the dust and doing everything
manually.
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My nice colourful lunch
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| The boys work in dust the whole day |
After watching them, we moved to a section where things were done half manually before moving to the big boys. I was busy taking a video when I spotted a gendarme 2m from me. I immediately put my camera away expecting to be shouted at. I soon realised that it was Ali, my bodyguard. Everyone was friendly and as a South African, I was considered to be an expert on gold. Finally, we left and stopped at Tobar where we had lunch and the locals had a siesta.
At 15:00, they finally started to pack and load up luggage on the donkeys. My heart just could not
take it. When we crossed a dry riverbed one donkeys’ load sagged
whilst another one slipped on the rocks. I just broke into tears. It was the end of
the journey as I planned. I offered to go up the mountain on my own but after a two hours’
deliberation it was decided that we would leave most of the fancy cooking
gadgets and food behind, get a fourth donkey and leave the next morning at 5:00 instead.
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| The donkeys |
I could not have been happier and really did not mind at all that I
would now have to forfeit a visit or two to more villages on top. So here we were
- except for the 2 hour walking around the mine and 2-hours driving, I have
been sitting on my bum reading. Being afraid of dehydration whilst going up the
mountain, I have polished 3 liters of water.
Day 2: Breakfast was served at 6:00 sharp and the donkeys were all packed and loaded.
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| Clearing the path for the donkeys |
By 6:30 I was told to
start walking, because they didn't want me to sabotage the expedition again! We were progressing slowly and I noticed that the one army guy was clearing the path for the donkeys.
I immediately started to help. I had stepped into a piece of glass just before I left South
Africa and could feel it as soon as I started hiking. After 30 minutes my foot was on fire but if
you count slowly to 100, it takes your mind off the pain. Once on top we waited
for about an hour before the donkeys and the rest of the expedition arrived.
After
lunch we got a visit from an old man. His hand was rotting and I gave him some Bactroban. I also gave his son some Panados for a headache. Pretty soon I found
myself surrounded by villagers who wanted to say hello, sell me something or
ask for medicine. I only had tablets for allergy, stomach cramps and nausea left.
It would have to do. The lady with the eye infection got Allergex. The guy with
the toothache got stuff for cramps. Then my gendarme came to my rescue and the
crowd was dispersed. When I asked Malik what the boys put on their face he told
me it was plain dirt.
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| A visit from the locals in the village |
You can never be sure of anything in Africa.
Because of the fact that I delayed the expedition, it was decided that
we would travel further with motorbikes whilst the donkeys rested. Two hours later I was told that it would be
best to go with a 4x4. I was told that the mountain was still too far but nobody was able to tell me how far was far.
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| The first stretch up the mountain |
Day 3: It took us 3 bumpy hours to get to the bottom of the mountain and after
an hours scramble to the top, I hauled out the South African flag. Everyone was ecstatic and ten hours after
leaving the camp, we were back – dead tired but all smiles. There were absolutely no way I would have
been able to hike all the way from our initial camping spot to the top of the
mountain and back – and neither would the donkeys - so all was well in Africa.
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| On top of Niger's highest mountain |
In
Agadez I was welcomed back by the Sultan who gave me too many gifts. Even the
flies were polite – they would leave you alone and only land on your food. This was truly one amazing trip and I found the Tourag people extremely friendly with a great sense of humour!
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| With the sultan |
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| Our map to the top of the mountain |
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| Agadez |
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| I doubt if there were bullets in this gun |
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| Children fetching water at the spring |
