NIGER

January 2012

Desert tourism has collapsed in the Aïr-Tenere. Since then, elements of the deposed Gaddafi regime have been escaping from Libya across the Tenere which does not bode well for security in this area. Access is much restricted and crossing from Algeria is risky or not possible.

Niger CFA XOF exchange rates
In some places you can pay in euros.

Price of fuel
Diesel 530 CFA/litre, petrol 670 CFA.

Costs
Expensive.

Useful languages
French, Hausa. Arabic is less useful than you think.

Visas
Needed by all except some EU countries. Consulates include, Amsterdam, Brussels, Bonn, possibly UK (see below). Dissuaded in Tamanrasset only to locals. Note the varying requirements on vaccination certificates, return tickets and bank statements.

Getting a visa in the UK

In 2010 the Nigeran consulate was based in Rochford, Essex, 5 mins from the station and those who have not travelled to Niger before need attending an interview in person. The office is located in the building of an organization called MILD. The Public Relations Officer is an Englishman called Anthony Puncher but it's possible it closed down. Web links are all 404s.

Niger Consular Office, Great Britain
Bradley House
Locks Hill
Rochford
Essex
SS4 1BB

Cost of 1 month tourist visa: £132

Documents needed:
• Certificate of Yellow Fever vaccination
• Passport
• Return air ticket
• Completed visa application form (downloadable from website)
• Letter from employer or bank statement
• 1 passport photograph
• Tour agency's invitation letter

 

Border formalities
With a vehicle buy a laissez-passer (local vehicle carnet) and insurance (both cover the whole CFA zone). Flying Paris to Agadez with Le Point charters (for example) is no drama, but when the same plane returns to Paris expect delayed departures and very often not arriving at the same Paris airport you took off from.
Arriving at Assamaka from In Guezzam (Algeria) apparently you can go to Arlit without an escort, although see this from December 2009 (it could have been a one-off) and this from March 2010. Arlit to Agadez and southwards: no more escorts.

Desert pistes
Safe independent travel was always hit and miss in this region even in the good years, and has long required a guide and permits costing from €50 a day in your car or at least three times that in his own car. The mines in the Aïr are said to have been cleared but the risk of banditry remains. No one has been there for a couple of years but as described in the book, the Tenere Loop (as followed on the Eclipse link below) remains one of the best two-week tours in the Sahara. The run down from Bilma to Nguigmi and Lake Chad is initially through heavy dune fields.

The route from El Gatrun to Madama on p.601 in the book was updated in 2005 but was closed by the Libyans in 2006. In 2011 it was the escape route for pro-Gaddafi elements and family members.