Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Recent Sahara Crossing, Niger to Algeria.

Thought some might like to hear about our crossing from Niger to Algeria about a month ago.

refer to
http://www.donkeyandthemule.com.au/May-2010.html for the full write up on our blog at the time.

And here for some pics.

http://www.donkeyandthemule.com.au/Photo-Gallery-6.html
http://www.donkeyandthemule.com.au/Photo-Gallery-7.html

Travelling north through Africa, we applied for visas in Nigeria at the Niger embassy in Kano, where we were promptly told that we could not cross the sahara through niger as the security situation there was unsafe, the consulate told us we could only go as far north as Agadez. We left the embassy pretty disappointed and started to look for an alternative route around western Africa into Europe.

The Sahara crossing was a small part of a much bigger trip, and the alternate way around west Africa was going to add a pretty big distance to our travels, and put our goal of reaching Magadan a long way off schedule (we were already late due to delays crossing the Congo). So after a lengthy debate, we decided to bullshit a little, and went back to the consulate with a revised itinerary to include Agadez but then an exit down near Niamey, and we picked up the visas 2 days later (no LOI).

We rode north from Kano to Zinder, but crossed the border at a smaller frontier, (the name escapes me now) just a little west of the main rd, the border crossing was pretty standard for that part of the world, and we stayed the night in Zinder in a hotel-ish type of place.

We asked lots of people in Zinder about the situation further north and were assured by all that it was perfectly safe… eventually we learned that no one really knows whether it’s safe or not, locals will tell you it’s fine, the Nat guard and military lads running the convoys told us it was fine, but those in command didn’t agree.

So we left Zinder headed for Agadez (450km), but were stopped at checkpoint in small village about half way, and told by the Nat Guard there that we could not travel the rest of the way without an escort, and that there would be no escort for another 3 days… but we could hire one there and then if we wanted to. We were pretty sure this was a scam, but you cant really argue with these guys. They also told us there was another convoy leaving Agadez the following morning, but then none for the rest of the week. Faced with spending 3 days in the village and then another few in Agadez, we decided to part with AUD300 to avoid the delays.

So we followed a landcrusier pickup with 8 guys carrying AK’s and an anti-aircraft looking gun mounted to the rear for the next 3 hours at 80km/hr… The road turned out to be bitumen all the way, pretty easy going really. (The Michelin map said it should have had 150km of dirt in there).

On arrival at Agadez the police wanted to take our passports, but we kicked up a bit of a fuss, and eventually they gave them back having cited the visas. We asked around about the convoy for the next day, but no joy. No convoy for another 3 days. The gendarmerie thought there might be a special convoy the following day that we could tag along with but that didn’t eventuate either. We were still in debate about whether to just go it alone when we bumped into a Nat. Guard guy who works running the convoys! He was having a beer in the hotel we stayed at, and said we’d have no problems, it was all very safe... ok then…

So we headed off the following morning on our own, but only got about 5km out of town where we were stopped at the checkpoint and told there was NO WAY we could travel that road without an escort. So we had to wait in Agadez a couple more nights and then headed off with the rest of the convoy.

We arrived at the convoy meeting point at around 5am, (4 hours before we ended up leaving) but it was really interesting to see all the people, buses, trucks and cars arrive. People from Agadez even rode out there on little motorbikes, or bicycles to set up food stalls for those travelling to eat breakfast and drink hot tea and coffee.

At the meeting point there were 5 or 6 toyotas with enormous machine guns mounted to the rear, but only 2 of these actually accompanied the convoy. The fuel tankers rolled off first, and watching them drive off into the desert reminded me of a scene from Mad Max! Then the other trucks, then buses, then cars and finally when we were starting to think they weren’t going to let us go after all, we left absolutely last with the second Toyota.

The military guys in this car made quite a fuss about telling us that we must stay right in behind them, and then once we caught up to the rest of the cars they waved us past and sent us in behind the other Toyota at the front of this group.

The convoy stopped a few times for prayers, and once for lunch, at which point we were actually left behind while eating something, only to be strongly advised by a French guy that we should get moving and catch up to the convoy because it was very dangerous for us to be alone out there. We took his advice, and fortunately were not too far behind, but it was interesting that having made us wait 3 days for the convoy, they then didn’t really seem to care that we’d been left behind.

About 20km before Arlit the bitumen road ran out and the dirt road was badly corrugated to the point that it made the going pretty uncomfortable even on the KTM’s. For some reason the convoy actually sped up on this bit of road, and we were hard pressed to keep up, riding well out of our comfort zones at between 90 and 100km/hr on pretty shitty dirt road.

At the entry of Arlit we were stopped at the roadblock by very confused looking guys and asked what the hell we were doing there, and where were we going?? We said we’d come for a look, and might try for Assammaka or might just return to Agadez with the convoy the next morning. They sent us to straight to the police station…

At the police station they wanted to see our passports and we thought this might be the end of the road, but they just wanted to check our visas, and wished us good luck if we tried to get to Assammaka. They did make it very clear though, that they didn’t think it was a good idea as there were ‘bandits’ in the area who would rob us or worse if they got hold of us.

We’d come a long way through some dicey parts of Africa, including crossing the Congo a few weeks before, so weren’t too deterred by this latest warning. As we walked out of the police station though, one of the chiefs followed us out, and in a hushed voice told us very clearly to tell no one about our plans. NO ONE.

Ok… so once again, we bullshitted a little to everyone who asked, we booked the hotel for a week, made plans to meet some tauregs in a few days time, asked everyone about the next convoy back to Agadez, and then left the hotel the next morning at 4am headed to Assammaka.

The ride across the desert was pretty nervey, which is a shame because it’s breathtakingly beautiful, but we didn’t see the dreaded bandits, just a few nomads, some other trucks, and one landcruiser ute parked on top of a dune which scared us a little but stayed put.

Leaving Arlit we were told to follow the line of tyres… close to arlit this was pretty clear as they were all in a line along the edge of the road into the horizon. But a little way out the main tracks led a little more to the east, as did another truck we saw. We stopped them and asked if they were going to Assammaka (where else would they be going!?) and so we followed the same track as them. This track didn’t have any tyres along it, only the odd barrel painted blue or black with a white band in the middle, but it went in the right direction and seemed to be regularly used so we stayed with it.

We saw these barrels maybe once every 15 or 30 mins, but as we got closer to Assammaka they were more regular. In Assammaka the locals looked pretty surprised to see us, just 2 guys on bikes without a car or escort, but they were all friendly and we were processed through immigration reasonably efficiently (for Africa…)

The rest of the ride across no mans land was short but great fun, and we were surprised to see a bitumen road at the entry point for Algeria, again the Michelin map did not agree. We had read that there may be no fuel at Assammaka or Iin Guezzem so we asked the guide to bring 80lt to the border.

We used Tanezfouft Tours on the advice of some from here, and our guide Mohammed turned out to be a real gem. It’s compulsory to have a guide in Algeria, and the level of security in there is so high that I wouldn’t contemplate trying to go it alone. We were routinely stopped for document checks, and had to register at all police and gendarmerie offices in each town we went through. Once we were sitting up on a mountainside for a rest and had 5 vehicles with 15 guys carrying automatic weapons come out of nowhere at speed, surround us, take up defensive positions and then ask for documents. We thought this was hilarious, especially when they went to see Mohamed and he was asleep in the 4wd!

The road from Iin Guezzam to Algeria is all bitumen, but we did go out of our way to ride some mountains and dunes which was great fun. Mohammed had some great spots to camp the night, and he cooked us dinner and made tea for us which was a real treat. Having a guide at E110/day makes spending too much time there a little expensive when only 2 people are paying the bill, but I’d love to go back with a bigger group and explore more of what Algeria has to offer.

If anyone is contemplating the same route feel free to email me if you want any info. Contact info is on our website.