NIGER
GIRAFFES AND DESERT OF TENERE

Niger is situated in West Africa and is bounded to the west by Burkina Faso and Mali, Algeria and Libya on the north, Chad on the east and Nigeria and Benin on the south. With a surface of 1 267 000 km², Niger is the vastest country of western Africa. This country is a vast peneplain and three zones divided it:

- The Southern of Niger is the least dry national part of the territory and includes mainly trays with a lot of sands.

- The Air, in the Western North of the country, is a set of high crystalline and volcanics massifs appearing from an ancient base.

-The Ténéré constitutes the biggest part of the North East of the country. It's a sandy plain which finishes in the East by the cliff of Kanouar, Djado and Mangueni.

The Niger, is the third river of Africa and it crosses the country. These affluents such as Tapoa, Mékrou and Sirba go throw itself into lakes, rivers and ponds :  The lake Chad, Komadougou Yobé… The official language is the French but we can find many dialects and the most present are Haoussas (49,6%) and Zarma (20.8%). The Niger will offer us cultural, fauna and landscapes diversities. From the Sand dunes of Tera to the multitude of volcanos of Ouallam cross by the Niger river, this country is really superb!

The reserve of W
Between Benin, Niger and Burkina Faso, it's the bigger animals reserve of west Africa, with a superficie of 1 million. It is populated with most of the present species in western Africa.

From the XV centuries, Songhaï escape to the Touareg and Mandingue domination to form the great empire of Mali which ended in the XVI century. Further to a defeat inflicted by the Pasha Djouder, the Haoussa states are then going to take advantage of it to get back the businesses of Songhaï and put in place their influences until the beginning of the XIXéme century. During this century the holy war took place throwm by Ousmane Dan Fodio against Haoussa States. His objectives was to convert to Islam some part of the west Africa.

Then the colonial period began. First, it was a military country and the capital was Zinder. In 1922 to 1946, it was a colony ( Niamey capital in 1926) of french republic.

The independance was pronounced on August 3rd, 1960. The first president was M.Dioro Amani but he was knocked down by the lieutenant-colonel Sevni Kountché in 1974. At the beginning of the gouvernment of Amani, a lot of persons attempted to destabilize the new regime but it was not a problem for the president and gradually, he opended the government to the civilians. It have been waited until 1993 to have the first democratic presidential elections. This period of stability was short because in 1997, another seizure of power was put in place by the colonel Ibrahom Baré. After some months, he was elected like a president. The last seizure of power, in date was in 1999 and once again it was following by election. It was the victory of the president  Mamadou Tandja, who is the current president.