Niger Trip Latest (From LP)

[Dave The Hat]

Hi guys,

Found this report on the Thorn Tree, apologies in advance if cross posting from another forum is not allowed, but contains a write up of somebodys trip in Niger who is trying to get to Algeria:

Just finished a Niger trip: Info - Lonely Planet travel forum

[priffe]

Sounds like overlanding is a no-go at this time, going north to Algeria out of the question. Not a good time to go to Niger. Not much fun travelling the desert with the army.

"You can get to Agadez no problem, about 15 hours by bus or slightly less, but once you get there, the police take your passport.
Nearly everything in the guidebook is closed, including restaurants. I stayed at the hotel L'air for 10300cfa per night....
The auberge Taguelmoust is open, take a right at the water tower, near the closed airport. It is also a very good fancy hotel, at 25000 cfa per night, breakfast included.... and if you see another tourist in town, they are probably staying here. The owner, mr. Aha, a former rebel commander in the recent tourareg rebbellion, can still arrange trips to the mountains. Most places cannot, or are closed. I worked for a week to get 5 others... an italian ngo group, and we had an excellent trip .... it cost 235 000 each, all included, and this included the two truckloads with twenty soldiers, and a heavy machine gun, plus two toyota 4by4 to drive. I was offered cheaper prices before, 450 000 to take me alone, but went with the cheaper group trip that was more expensive overall."