Nothing of nothing

Tenere and Air Tenere in the Tamacheck language means "nothing of nothing"; here you can travel for days and days without finding absolutely anything. In Agadez all the preparations to face a week in the desert. We set off with Sidi, friend and owner of a small local travel agency (Pleyades Voyages). No one knows the desert from the Tenere to the Air like him. Son of a local Tuareg chief, Sidi has herds of camels scattered throughout the area north of Agadez. "When you go into the desert never say where you are headed", these are Sidi's recommendations the evening before setting off; the fewer people who know you are leaving, the greater the safety conditions. All the shopping for a week, water reserves, fuel reserves, and off we go, north into the Air desert.

Before the village of Elmeki we buy the ram that will be the basis of our food for the coming week; after sacrificing it according to the Koranic prescriptions, we load it onto the roof rack of the Land Cruiser where, incredibly, it will keep without problems for the whole period. The climate is so dry that the meat does not putrefy but dries directly. The route: Agadez, Elmeki, Timia, Tchintoulu, Valley of Zagado, Arakaou, we enter the Tenere desert, Anakom, Tabelot, Agadez. Overnight in Agadez; the Hotel Tellit is highly recommended and for dinner you cannot miss the "Pilier" restaurant; both the hotel and the restaurant are owned by an Italian married to a Tuareg woman.