Nov 142013
 

Woke up relatively early, because although things had gone smoothly until this point, I was still convinced that airports and flights in Africa could be seriously unpredictable, so wanted to get there in plenty of time.  Check out at the hotel yielded a lower than expected bill – when I put my company’s name on the bill, they reduced it to the corporate rate which I hadn’t expected.  Saved me over 15,000 CFA – $30+ and still a free shuttle to the airport.  Can’t really beat that!

I was excited for this part of the trip.  Ever since I had heard about it when I was young, I thought Ouagadougou had to be the coolest city name ever.  I just hoped it would live up to the hype!

Got to the airport about 1.5 hours before the flight, and check-in wasn’t even open.  There were some chairs in a covered area of the airport, and just a few minutes later they opened the check-in hall.  We were the only flight leaving, and it appeared only about half full, so there would only be about 25 people checking in for the flight.  Check-in was super easy, no problems, and 5 minutes later I was clearing immigration and security which were both also a complete non-event.

The waiting room for the flight was completely empty, but there was also a “VIP” room.  It was nothing more than a couple of overstuffed chairs and sofas – nothing special, and I’d call it a nice quiet place to wait, but the regular hall was pretty quiet itself.  I suppose it was probably a bit different when the Air France flight left, but today it was nice and quiet.  A shot of the waiting hall:

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An ancient Government of Niger 737 right outside on the tarmac:

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Nov 072013
 

Driver picked me up as promised, and we were off to see more of Niamey. First thing on my agenda was the mosque. Built around 10 years ago, it was a gift from Colonel Qadaffi of Libya when he was in his big rah rah I’m the uniter of the African people phase and was lavishing gifts around the continent. Real sorry how things ended for ya bud….

On the way to the mosque, some goats hanging out on the side of the road.

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The mosque’s minaret:

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We walked up to the mosque, and were met by a curator who had keys to show us around.  No money expected, but there were more than enough places we could make a “small donation” to show our appreciation.  So it began… Continue reading »

Nov 072013
 

Lots of pics of my day in Niamey, so I’m going to split this day into two parts to make it a bit easier to read.  Slept in a bit this morning, and definitely needed it. I felt like I’d hit the ground running when I landed in Benin several days prior and hadn’t let up until now. Plus, the room was nice and cool and dark so pretty easy to sleep.

Made my way down to the hotel breakfast, and there wasn’t much there except a few baguettes, a jar of store-brand hazelnut spread (aka imitation Nutella) and some instant coffee. It was pretty sad, but I was starving and it was only 3,000 CFA (around $6.50) so I went for it. Plus, it would allow me to wake up in the safe confines of the hotel while coming up with a plan to tackle my day.

The strategy was to find a driver who I could hire for the entire day who would take me to the sites I had read about online, as well as show me some things I might not consider. After breakfast, I headed out into the courtyard area of the hotel to hang around and see who approached me. Didn’t take long until one of the guys sitting around under the trees asked if I was looking for a taxi. First strategy “sure, how much would it cost to take me to the museum?” “Hmmm, 10,000 CFA” “That’s pretty steep – let’s say we do that and make it the whole morning, how much then?” “20,000 CFA” You see where this game was going. Finally, I asked him a price for “3 hours in the morning” then “2-3 hours in the afternoon after lunch” and finally take me to dinner, wait, and bring me back. “30,000 CFA.” I knew $65 was a fortune for a day’s work in Niger, but considering I was trusting this guy with perhaps my one and only time ever in Niger it would be worth it.

He seemed very happy with the deal, and was very anxious. He didn’t speak a word of English, but was very easy to understand in French, and I feel like even if I overpaid I got some great French and cultural lessons out of it too. Told him first thing I wanted to see was the Niger River. So off we went. The car even had AC, and he had no problem turning it on. It wasn’t very powerful, but just enough to turn unpleasant, dirty, dusty, smoggy air into mostly clean indoor air. I’ll take it!

First stop was the “Pont Neuf” or “Pont Chinois” – the “new bridge” or “Chinese Bridge.”  Built by the Chinese just a few years ago, this was the second bridge in Niamey over the river.  Until this, all traffic was on one narrow old bridge.  Not exactly a picturesque river:

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Not a bad bridge though…

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The mud on the banks of the river give you an idea just now nasty and brown it was. Continue reading »

Nov 012013
 

My driver showed up right on time in the morning, and soon we were off to the airport. About one or two miles into the drive, the car started going slower and slower…and slower…until it completely stopped. I asked what the problem was, and the driver said he didn’t know…but it seemed pretty clear to me that this had happened to him before. He just pulled over to the side of the rode, and flagged down a passing taxi.

He loaded my bags into the new taxi, and said we would go together to the airport. I am guessing since I was paying him a good rate, he wanted to settle at a lower rate with the replacement driver, so he came along.  Clearly, the new driver was pro-America:

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No problems at all, and soon we were at the airport post office to mail my post cards.  After I got them mailed, the original driver walked me over to the terminal so I could check in.  I settled the bill, got a passport check by a security guy, x-ray of my bags, and was in the check-in area.  While I was waiting to check in, there was a very loud (and apparently drunk) man yelling at the security officers.  It seemed, he was claiming, that someone had planted drugs on him and security found them.  Of course, they were asking him to pay a fine on the spot or turn him over to the police…

Finally got to the front of the check-in line, and they said the flight had some problems, and was not open for check-in.  Please step aside for 15 minutes.  ut oh…are we going to cancel?  I went back up to the counter 15 minutes later, and checked in no problem.  Who knows what the original drama was about.

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