A long trek through the desert of northeastern Niger takes the visitor to fortified villages of salt and clay perched on rocks with the beleaguered Saharan sands below, one of the most amazing and rewarding sights in the Sahel.
Generations of travelers have stood before the “ksars” of Djado, marveling at their crenellated walls, watchtowers, secret passages and wells, all testifying to a skillful but unknown hand.
Who chose to build this outpost in a parched and desolate region – and why they built it – are questions that have never been fully answered. And just as tempting is why it was abandoned.
No archaeological excavation or scientific dating has ever been conducted to explain the mysteries. Djado is located in the Kawar oasis region, 1,300 km (800 mi) from the capital Niamey, near Niger’s highly troubled border with Libya.
Once a crossroads for caravan trade across the Sahara, today Kawar is a hub for drug and arms trafficking. Its grim reputation scares all but the most determined traveller.
“There have been no foreign tourists since 2002,” said Sidi Aba Laouel, mayor of Chirfa, the municipality where the Djado sites are located. “When tourism was good, there was economic potential for the community.”
A blessing of sorts happened in 2014 when gold was discovered. It saw an influx of miners from all over West Africa bringing life and some economic calm, as well as outlaws settling in the mountains.
Few newcomers seem interested in visiting the ksars. The mayor speaks carefully about local history and acknowledges the many knowledge gaps.
He points to old photocopies in his closet of a work by Albert le Rouvreur, a colonial-era French military officer stationed in Chirfa, who unsuccessfully tried to shed light on the site’s origins.
The Sao, present in the region since ancient times, were the first known inhabitants of Kawar and perhaps established the first fortifications.
But the timeline of their settlement is hazy. Some of the ksars still standing have palm roofs, suggesting they were built later.
Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Kanuri people settled in the area. Their oasis civilization was nearly destroyed in the 18th and 19th centuries by successive waves of nomadic raiders – the Tuaregs, Arabs and finally the Toubou.
The arrival of the first Europeans in the early 20th century marked the beginning of the end of ksars as a defense against invaders. The French army took the area in 1923.
Today, the Kanuri and the Toubou are heavily intermixed, but the region’s traditional chiefs, called the Mai, are descended from the Kanuri lineage.
They act as authorities of tradition, but also as custodians of oral history. But even for these keepers, much remains a mystery.
“Even our grandfathers didn’t know. We have not kept records,” said Kiari Kelaoui Abari Chegou, a Kanuri leader.