James Whitmee

I am in Niamey in Niger. I came here via Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso and arrived in Niamey very tired.

Like Ouagadougou, Niamey is a bit of a surprise in being calm and seemingly much better organised than some of the coastal countries in West Africa. The roads are good, with street lighting, there is relatively light traffic, and the supermarkets are well stocked and the food good. Niamey is also surprisingly green and low-rise so it is difficult to get a good cityscape photo (see below).

Apart from aid and the diplomatic sectors there is not much happening here in terms of international commerce, although I did notice that Nestle has a presence, as they do in a lot of Africa. Some of the embassies are huge - obviously the US and France, but also China and Libya have very large facilities. I also noticed a lot of Libyan investment whilst I was in Burkina Faso.

Below are some photos which include some dinosaurs under an awning near an artisanal market which look as if they have recently been reconstructed. They appear complete and are quite spectacular. I was told that they were found at Agadez which is around 900 km to the north east of Niamey.

I am staying here for the weekend and might try to get out of the city tomorrow. On Monday I am flying to the Cote d'Ivoire for the week.

            Niamey from the main bridge on River Niger (second bridge under construction - almost complete)

                                                                 Dinosaurs from Agadez

                                                                          River Niger