Tuesday, February 07, 2006

A way away

Well a post has disappeared.... It wouldn't save a few days ago and now it's gone....
I noticed In Niamey all of a sudden how poor the place really was. In fact I suddenly realised that it was the poorest place I've ever been in my life. Perhaps when I left Australia I was prepared all ways but mentally. But in Niamey suddenly I was being followed everywhere by children asking for money, which I didn't really notice on the first day.
I had someone steal my mobile, but I got it back, on my second day in Niamey. There is famine here in Niger, and perhaps the city is overcrowded with people and beggars because of it. It has wide boulevards and nice buildings too.... but the poverty is inescapable.
The museum was rather small, and attached to the zoo. The animals were in resonalble condition I must admit, but their cages were generally far too small. Four vultures in a cage the size of my old backyard avairy says it all.
Then I fell sick and had made an amazing friend who lives in Niamey. I stayed with him a couple of nights before moving on here to Agadez. An amazing town almost exclusively mudbrick, not quite in the middle of the desert but not far from it. Over 900 km from Niamey, I am almost in the middle of the fat bit of Africa.
I visited an animal market with beaucoup de camels, there is an amazing mudbrick mosque in the centre of town, the steets are sandy and it has a wild frontier feel to it. I am heading back to Niamey tomorrow and onto a new country (Burkina Faso) on Thursday. Niger has certainly left a huge imprint on me, more than any country this trip.... not sure what it is yet...

4 comments:

Unknown said...

thanks for the info on Niger. Hope all is well.

Anonymous said...

hello read Niamey News in english on www.niger1.com

Anonymous said...

Bev, I can't get it to work. Hello Andrew. Trying a different technique - hope it gets through. Good luck in AFrica - very adventurous. from Bev I am in Dubbo with Rochelle and Tim for a few days.

Anonymous said...

Bev said
Now I am getting the hang of how this works, I will write a bit more.
With all this typing, have your learnt to touch type in recent years.
Happy travelling