Arrival : Agadez on march 25
departure : Niamey with Air France flight on April 4th

25 March : Arrival at the Agadez airport. We host you and drive you to your hotel for Overnight. Afternoon- time to visit Agadez. transfer then free time for visits in town. Agadez, the center of activity in the region, is the capital of the land time forgot. Merchants keep shop in streets lined with lean-to stalls.  Visit the Camel market, where sheephearders and camel traders haggle over livestock the same way they have for eons. Tuareg and wodaabe vendors sell handicrafts in beading, embroidery, costume and silver.  Tonight, enjoy dinner at a local restaurant and overnight in 3-star hotel with private bath.

26 March: Early morning departure with 4WD : Agadez - Tiguidit cliff (engravings) - Camel well of Oufaguédout - Bourra Nassaouane - Ténéré tree. Overnight camp. The Tiguidit Cliffs bear rock paintings from prehistoric cultures who vanished several thousand years ago; with the pre-islamic tombs and petrified tree trunks discovered in the same area, they powerfully evoke a very ancient past.
To avoid sinking into the soft sand, drivers let air out of the vehicles’ tires as soon as the ridges of the Ténéré Erg are in sight, long before you reach Arbre du Ténéré. The first giant dunes raise their proud profile against the sky just beyond this historic site.

27 March: erg of Ténéré - Oasis of Fachi (visit of the village and the salines). Overnight camp after Fachi on the erg of Bilma. This is the winter route of the famous salt caravans going to Bilma. Meeting a train of camels plowing majestically through the soft sand is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Driving becomes more arduous for there is no road in this maze, not even the shadow of a track: as the 4WDs wind their way around the huge sand ridges, leaving faint tire marks that vanish with the first breeze, travellers feel as lost as if they were in the middle of an uncharted sea. The Fachi and Bilma Oasis provide exquisitely green havens in this boundless sea of sand. We find ancient ruins in Fachi. The fortified city once housed 30,000 inhabitants in complicated mazes and levels.

28 March: erg of Bilma - Oasis of Bilma (visit of the village and the salines) Overnight camp at the “eclipse camp” between Bilma and Dirkou.
This is the winter route of the famous salt caravans going to Bilma. Meeting a train of camels plowing majestically through the soft sand is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Driving becomes more arduous for there is no road in this maze, not even the shadow of a track: as the 4WDs wind their way around the huge sand ridges, leaving faint tire marks that vanish with the first breeze, travellers feel as lost as if they were in the middle of an uncharted sea. The Fachi and Bilma Oasis provide exquisitely green havens in this boundless sea of sand.
Tonight, enjoy a fireside presentation on Tuareg Astronomy and its interpretations and uses in daily life in the Sahara by Tuareg shamen.  Feel free to set up your equipment early and polar align of the eclipse in the morning. Our camp overlooks a gracious range of blood-red cliffs to the east. Enjoy generator power tonight and bivouac supported showers and refrigerated water.

29 March: Eclipse day. Morning observation - Dirkou - Aney - Seguedine. Overnight camp. A melting-pot of cultures, Dirkou is a major trade route for traders moving through the deserts of Libya and Niger. Here, all kinds of goods are sold and traded in routes used for centuries. The town offers a chance to stock up on supplies too. Street scenes include girls bringing well-water, donkeys turning grain-mills, livestock trading and lean-to merchants. Here, we meet the Tubou people, a tribe proud to be strong and able to endure the dryest conditions.

30 March: Chirfa - the lost cities of Djado and Djaba. Overnight camp
Aney, Seguedine and Chirfa palmtree plantations bloom deliciously green in the shadow of the forbidding Kaouar Cliff. From the proud fortified cities of Djado and Djaba, only ruins remain, silently guarding the memory of their unknown builders. Stand above the ruined city of Djado and look out over the massive and still mountain of Chirfa.

31 March: Stone Arch of Orida - Dissalak Cliff- Ténéré of Tafassâsset. Overnight camp.
At Orida, stone pillars eroded by blowing sand create a fantastic, almost surreal landscape. Over centuries, the merciless Saharan wind has turned Dissalak Cliff into a sculpture gallery: eagle heads, human bodies and abstract figures flower all over the eroded rock.

O1 April : Ténéré of Tafassâsset - Blue mountains. Overnight camp.
This is where you enter the real Ténéré Desert, the Tafassâsset, a flat expanse as boundless, empty and pure as infinity. Nothing to catch the eye, not a sign of life in this kingdom of silence and stillness. To cross this utter wilderness between sky and sand is a deeply humbling experience.

02 April : Adrar Chiriet - Tezirzek (engravings) - Oasis d’Iférouane. Overnight camp
The multicolored Ifiniyane Dunes rush up against Adrar Chiriet, a dark volcanic outcrop fantastically eroded by blowing sand. Near Tezirzek Well, a hill covered with rock paintings evokes the rich fauna that roamed the Ténéré when the desert still bloomed. All those species have disappeared, along with the cultures whose life depended on them.

03 April : Gougâram - Agadez. Overnight hotel.
Our path snakes through the Aïr Mountains, between small rocky outcrops and low hills. Tree-lined oueds provide the sole respite from the sun. At Goûgaram, we leave the mountains to enter the Talak Plain where we find the road running from Arlit to Agadez. Enjoy dinner tonight in the open air restaurant of Le Pillier before overnighting in a comfortable 3 star hotel with private bath.

04 April : Early morning departure for Agadez-Niamey transfer. Arrival in Niamey late afternoon and directly go for luggages registration at the Niamey airport. Then drive to the hotel for day-room and dinner. Evening departure to Paris