October 10, 1980

IN-GALL, NIGER
Before our very eyes, the desert was giving way to savanna. Small fields of golden grass appeared, little spiny trees became common, then little herds of goats and camels, then larger ones with people, including women (I’d seen ten in Algeria) and naked black children.

We stopped at a village, the first real community since Tam, (I-n Guezzam is really only a military post.) We’re in Black Africa now and it really looks different. The people didn’t treat us as anything unusual—just went on with their business: making mud-bricks and building a house with them. One teenager had a semi-working motorcycle. There were a couple little shops, but they sold mainly canned food, very little produce.

Shortly after leaving the village, Sidi stopped to raid a burnt-out car. (There were many such carcasses in the desert.) We found some unopened canned food, which we kept for later.

Arrived at In-Gall, Sidi’s town, at 2pm. It was apparent that he wanted to stay a while, so after more passport formalities, he extended his credit at the Café-Restaurant and we nearly went to the moon from the taste of COLD orange juice. We sat around savoring the taste for 1-1/2 hours. Sidi hadn’t found the customs official yet, so he said he’d bring us to Agadez at 9am. He lent us money for dinner and the patron of the café shipped up a dozen plates of dumplings with meat & gravy, then invited us to sleep in his courtyard.

PHOTO CREDIT