daily photo niger

synthese

Let's go somewhere in a taxi. The taxi system here is cool. You flag one down, and if it's going in your direction you hop in. The driver picks people up and drops them off as he drives you to your destination. The price is 200 to 500 cfa, fifty cents to a dollar, to go anywhere in town you need to get. No air conditioning though, and worst of all for the American psyche, no seat belts.

Please notice the two guys to side of the road. That is what Niger is like. Everyone standing around talking to each other all the time. I love it.

zoo housing

There are architectural samples at the zoo. And a number of people who actually live in the zoo. This hut is just used for storage though. I think this will be our last zoo picture. Let's go do something else tomorrow.

cuir

Good leather work available at the atelier at the musee too.

lit

If you need to pick up a calabash lamp, the zoo is the place to go.

jeweler apprentice

There is an atelier at the zoo with some of the best artisans in the country.

beaucoup de batiks

The zoo has some of the best shopping in town.

nigerasaurus

There are lots more animals, but check out these dinosaur bones! The zoo has three complete dinosaur skeletons--amazing really, any museum in the world would be envious. The bones were all collected in northern Niger and I predict in the future this will be one hot spot for dino-tourism. They have a treasure-trove of undiscovered bones up there. These don't even have labels, sit out in the weather all year, and people can touch them. Don't know how long these treasures will last.

ee-po-po-tom

nigerienne

Our trip to the National Museum starts at the lion cage, which is really the first thing you see when you go in the main gate.

national musée

A number of animals live in the zoo portion of the National Museum. All are native to Niger, all in small old-fashioned cages of the Curious George style. Artisans work in an atelier section of the musée, doing leather work, silver, weaving, and there is a shop of people making lamps out of calabashes. There are samples of local housing, tuareg tents, huts, houses made of local bricks. And most interestingly, there are a number of people who live at the musée. Like a village within the zoo. This week, we'll tour the National Musée.