Thread: Landies in Niger

Hi All
Spent part of the long weekend cleaning up my photo archives and I came across these pics which I thought I would share. They were taken in 2008 when I did a couple of trips to Niger doing uranium exploration based out of Agadez, a town in the central north of the country.

As there were no internal airlines in Niger, we had to drive 1000km from the capital Niamey in the south of the country, with the last half of the trip, from a town called Tahoua, in a military convoy. We also had to have military escort in the field, even though the area was going through a period of civil stability. Today its very much a no go zone for westerners.

As usual most 4WD’s were Japanese, but there were a smattering of older Land Rovers to add a bit of variety, which out of interest I snapped. Mostly they appeared to be used by the local people to get to and from their villages to Agadez and the markets. The classic Rangie which was in one of our conveys appeared to be owned by a tour guide, however tourists were non-existent, so we were able to hire a number of local guides and their vehicles for our field work. 80 series Land cruisers were the favoured mount usually purchased second hand from the UN or NGOs operating in the country.




If your 110 wagon hasn't enough room turn it into a ute






The Convoy leader is under the trees




Cheers Steve

Hi Lindsay,

I was there in 2008, did 2 trips totalling a couple of months. There were plans to go back in 2009 but the GFC hit and the Touaregs started attacking the military outposts again, so funding and access closed down at the same time.

If your son is in the south of the country he should be pretty ok.

Cheers

Steve