The Magazine  

No more transits and lots more...

This all started in 2017 as a William Baekeland expedition, back in the day when William Baekeland existed... (and once again, if you haven't read the book on him, get it from Amazon and support a good cause, the book has a higher rating than To Kill a Mockingbird so far!) Indeed, a trip to inner Niger - notably Agadez - seemed doable after a long time of being out of bounds. This was confirmed last year when NomadMania held its succesful expedition to Mali but the price tag quoted was initially exorbitant.

However, it was our dear friend and traveller Tudor Clee who put the pieces of this puzzle together - he made it to Niger and shared lots of useful information, such as the details of 'Junior' (real name Abdoulaziz) who could arrange transport and the fact that Niger Airways not only exists, but has flights linking the capital Niamey to Agadez as well as Zinder. It is thanks to Tudor that this expedition became possible, with 7 people finally signing up for this. This was also our first expedition which didn't break our budget - the total estimate cost of 4 days in Niger, including 2 domestic flights, a drive of 900 kilometres and decent accommodation, was far less than $1,000.

The group met for dinner in Niamey the evening before departure, before then making an early start out of Niamey for a 2-hour flight on a Fokker 50 to Agadez, a World Heritage Site. The town in the midst of the desert is rather safe. Sadly, there are very few, if any tourists, although in terms of infrastructure the place seems superior to, say. Timbuktu or even Mopti perhaps. The old town is justifiably classified as World Heritage and a lot of the mud dwellings have been done up in recent years with European funds.

The group stayed at the homey Auberge d'Azel, right in the middle of town. The owners, Akli (a local Touareg) and Celine (from France) could not have been more welcoming and the well-built place is open for business and ready to welcome you all. There are 9 comfortable rooms here at reasonable prices, and the wifi works surprisingly well. 

Sadly, going out of Agadez into the desert is still a different story. There is very real risk involved, and this would be extremely expensive as well as time-consuming due to the lack of good roads. The Air and Tenere area is a full day's drive away, until the first oasis is reached, but it requires a full security outfit arranged in advance. The desert used to be quite popular with tourists until about 2007 when the troubles started. Now, only government officials and the rare brave journalist seem to venture that far, and many do so in helicopters.

Still, Agadez was really lovely and the locals ever so friendly and surprised to see us. The local sellers in the market were incredibly happy to find foreigners around and predictably were all over our group trying to sell some wares,, even to the extent of almost camping outside the Auberge d'Azel waiting for someone to go out.

On Day 3, Niger Airways, which proved rather reliable, took us south to Zinder, about an hour's flight away. Here, it was Junior who took over and was reliably waiting with two vehicles for a drive of 900 kilometers to the capital Niamey, to be done over two days. Zinder, Niger's second biggest city, has an emir's palace and is a busy, bustling town with a fair amount of happenings. The population here are mainly Hausa, making them culturally very different from the Tuaregs in the Agadez area.

The road out of Zinder to Niamey is, on the whole, a good surprise and overall in excellent condition. Though there are checkpoints, these were never a problem, nor were any bribes ever requested, it seems that the police are genuinely there for safety rather than anything else. The group continued to an area near Maradi, with a lake and forest which is a temporary World Heritage Site where, after driving in the middle of nowhere, we were met by an entire curious village who couldn't contain its excitement at the sudden visit by 7 bizarre Europeans.

After overnighting at an acceptable place in Maradi, the last day of the trip would be a long ride to Niamey, taking in almost every remaining province of this vast country, including the border town of Birni Nkonni, Dosso - where we saw another emir's palace - and then a quick stop by the giraffe park at Koure, an hour from Niamey.

All in all, a fabulous and relatively comfortable trip in an area which is now slowly accessible again. You can find the details of both Junior and Auberge d'Azel under the Fixers section of NomadMania.

Henrik may need no introduction. The young man from Denmark who completed every UN country by the age of 27, Henrik has been a NomadMania ambassador as of January. Today, he tells us a bit about himself and how he sees the world.

I grew up in the Thy-district of Northwestern Jutland, where Denmark later got its first national park, called National Park Thy. I didn't travel much as a child, but went alone to Egypt and South East Asia when I was 17. I have since had travel as my primary focus and sacrificed a lot to travel as much as I have. Almost always I travel alone and very light. I focus on low-cost travel in order to travel as much as I can, and especially like the Nomad Mania list in finding new inspiration after visiting every country in the world.

It is both. It took me approximately 2,500 travel days to visit every country. Some might say it's not enough time to have experienced every country and that is fair enough. With Nomad Mania, I try to go back to almost, if not all, countries again and experience more. It's fascinating, but more like a hobby now. It's really a matter of priorities. Sure, I can get above 1,200 NomadMania regions done if I put travel as the number one priority, but life is also about other things. It's my goal to eventually complete the list of world regions, but not at all costs. 

The most difficult part was Africa by far. Difficult visas, bad infrastructure, pollution, dusty roads, corruption and safety concerns. Also, visiting Syria during the war was a big challenge. I managed to get the visa after a Danish journalist got me in contact with a guy in Syria who was a friend of the Syrian Ambassador in North Korea. So I had the visa, but still, my fixer had a job to do to convince the border guards/immigration officers that I was visiting Syria for tourism (December 2015).

Libya. None of the Libyan embassies was able to help me with a visa, so I contacted the Danish journalist, Rasmus Tantholdt again instead. He provided me with a contact of the responsible for foreign media in Libya. Within 20 minutes of adding him to What's App, he had already guaranteed me a visa and called the airline to offer me a free ticket. Incredible help. In Libya, he took excellent care of me and took me to a press conference where I met the Prime Minister.

Equatorial Guinea. I wasted many hours on the Equatorial Guinea visa. First, their embassy in Pretoria tried to help me, but without success. Then their embassy in Libreville guaranteed me a visa. I waited for one week, but they didn't keep their promise. Other travellers have been able to get a visa by paying an extreme amount, but with my low budget that wasn't an option. Instead, I printed an A4-page about myself and went to their consulate in Lagos, Nigeria where I got the visa on the same day as their ambassador was helpful and interested in helping my project of visiting every country in the world. It's such a beautiful country, but unfortunately so hard to get in for Europeans.

Republic of Congo.Following a trouble-free visit to Brazzaville, I took a domestic Trans Air Congo flight to Pointe-Noire, the second biggest city in the country with a population of around half of Brazzaville's. It is also a beach destination and probably the closest Congo gets to a tourist destination. Trans Air Congo had arranged for me to stay for two nights at Hotel Palm Beach, a comfortable 4-star hotel of international standards and one of the best in the city. I rarely take a taxi when I travel, but in most parts of Africa, they are quite cheap. A taxi from the airport to the hotel cost me only 1,000 CFA (close to 2 dollars), and I was pleased with the quality of the hotel. Contemporary design, free internet that wasn't slow and good, affordable food. The city itself does not have much to offer except the beautiful beach located right outside the Palm Beach Hotel, and this is where the scary story begins. On my day of departure, I decided to take some photos of the beach, but suddenly a man that looked to be a security guard was yelling at me from a distance running towards me. Having travelled a lot in Africa, I knew what this meant. Paying a fine for doing nothing wrong, and if I refuse, I might end up in prison like British adventurer Graham Hughes did in this country. I ran back to the hotel, went up to my hotel room and changed my shirt. I asked the hotel to get me a taxi to the airport to come right to the entrance of the lobby, so I would avoid getting in trouble with the security guard from the beach. If you think this story it scary, just wait. It gets even scarier. I arrived at the airport, and some guys grabbed my passport and wanted to check-in for me. I refused when I found out these guys were not airport staff to check my ticket, but there to make money out of people. At first, they refused to give me my passport back, and then I got upset and got it. Following a successful check-in, a police officer took my passport and began to fill out my departure form and refused to accept my multiple "no thank you." He, of course, wanted money and got upset when I refused to give it to him. I did not need his help, and it was again an awful impression of the city of Pointe-Noire. Followed another bad experience, I arrived at security in this international airport where they threatened me. Some of the worst I have experienced in my travels. The guy did not speak English but wanted to check my entire bag and my pockets including the wallet. He said it is not allowed to bring CFA out of Congo, despite the fact that it's the primary currency in West and Central Africa. I refused to let him see the wallet, and he got very upset and said something in French that felt very threatening. I must admit I got quite afraid if he would call some of his "friends" at the airport to get as much money out of me as possible. While waiting for his permission, to proceed to the gate, I managed to hide my wallet on the inside of my jeans to increase my chance of not getting caught. Eventually, another guy came and also aggressively wanted money, but after a few minutes, I was finally allowed to go to the gate and leave this horrible airport. Despite a trouble-free visit to Brazzaville, thanks to Mikhael's Hotel, I would consider Congo as one of my least favourite countries based on the horrifying experience in Pointe-Noire.

Hospitality at its best. Having successfully obtained a visa for Azerbaijan in Batumi, Georgia I travelled to the border. Unfortunately, it was only valid on the next day so I had to wait until midnight before I could continue my journey. Right after midnight, I get into Azerbaijan, but there was no transport or any people on the other side. I can do nothing but stand and wait in the dark. Finally, a car came, and I put up my thumb. A man and a woman were in the car and didn't speak a word of English. The man made a quick call, talked for a minute and gave me the phone. "Hello I'm an English teacher, my friends are worried about you, can they take you to their house?". They then invited some friends, over and I told my story to the English teacher on the phone and she translated it. The man picking me up then arranged one of his friends to drive me to the near 500 kilometres to Baku for just a bit more than a bus ticket would have cost. I arrived at 6 in the morning and was able to continue my travels as planned thanks to the extraordinary Azerbaijani hospitality.

Scariest experience. Probably the only time I felt in danger for my life. Sikkim is a special region in India that has border control. I tried to hitchhike back to West Bengal, but nobody wanted to take me. I decided to tell my story to an officer, and he then asked a driver to take me. I get in the car with this man that didn't speak English and ahead were some of the most dangerous roads that in itself made my nervous. What made me a lot more nervous was that he stopped the car after just a few kilometres. He then took out a bottle of vodka and drank it all in one go. If I left the car, I would be standing alone on extremely dangerous roads, so I decided to stay. It was very scary, but I got safely to a town in West Bengal after a couple of hours. I should have paid for a taxi, but I had the mindset of saving wherever possible at the time to increase the chance of completing the project of visiting every country.

Egypt

You are from Denmark. The rest of the world tends to lump all Scandinavians into one category. How is Denmark different from its neighbours? And what does being Danish mean to you?

One of the things that sadly comes to mind is life expectancy. Danes on average don't get as old as Norwegians and Swedes, and the main reason is said to be tobacco and alcohol. I read recently In Norway, 3 per cent of 16-24-year-olds smoke, while in Denmark it is 16 per cent. That's a shocking difference for two countries that are otherwise much alike. I don't like the Danish drinking culture, and several other things about our culture, but I am proud to be Danish. It's a great country to live in. Safe and the country generally takes care of its people well. I don't know where I will spend most of my time for the rest of my life, but it might very well be in Denmark. It means a lot for me to be Danish. I like travelling, but I also know where home is for me!

I will visit Brazil next week and might be in South America for some time. Then plan to do more of Europe. One region at a time. I don't know if I can ever complete the list, but it is a nice challenge for sure. 

I really don't know, as I am usually not a fan of sci-fci movies and I don't think it would be ever possible to have dinner with people that have passed away. I try to focus on realistic goals and from our time, a person like Elon Musk would be fantastic to meet, but not a goal and probably not realistic.

The photos in this interview are from Henrik's personal collection and we thank him for sharing his images with us here at NomadMania!

Our next newsletter will be out on April 2!