I -4 March: Back to Africa

Early on Tuesday morning  and again I was in the lounge at Vienna Airport waiting for a flight.This time it was the Austrian flight to Paris for the onward Air France connection to  Niamey in Niger.  I was part of a party of three from work - we were on a mission to gather data and hold discussions with our counterparts and then help draft the early stages of the next Techncial Cooperation programme.
The journey was fine and all in daylight for once. Our arrival in Niamey was unspectacular and the weather was hot, very different to the sub-zero temperatures we had left behind in Vienna.
We were met by our host and taken to the Hotel Gaweye, one of the best in town1 A little tired and  and surrounded bby guards the hotel has seen better days one feels. The sign over the lifts said it all.....

..........................needless to say we used the stairs throughout or stay!

The hotel is on the banks of the Niger, one of the great rivers of Africa. Last year I saw the source of the Nile and so this was another one ticked of the list! Thew view from the room was overlooking the bridge - the only bridge until they open a new one and the traffic is consequently continuous.

The river is quite wide and seemed to be high and flowing fast

We were working at the Ministry of Mines not far from the hotel and  spent all day in the office aprt from odd sorties out to check on visasa and airline tickets and visit other Departments. Whilst out we stopped for a quick cup of tea with our counterpart...

 

Our work days ended with a beer at the poolside bar before dinner, a Niger beer of course.................

My two colleagues enjoying a beer at the end of the day. We could also watch the fishermen on the river in their small boats

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All too soon the work was done and we had a short outing to the Zoo and a craft centre to look for souvenirs

The lads bargaining for a few local handicrafts........................

That evening we were away again  for the overnight flight back to Paris and Vienna . Again it was Air France and Austrian  who transported us and we were back in Vienna by 1000 on Saturday morning.