Djado Plateau

On the Djado plateau in Niger's far northeast stand the ruins of fortified mud towns, Djado and Djaba among them, blocks of tight-packed towers and walls raised above palm groves and salt-crusted pools, abandoned long enough that nobody is certain who built them or exactly when. Malaria in the oases is usually given as the reason they emptied. The plateau is otherwise almost uninhabited.

Background

Beyond its ruins, the plateau is known for cave art, much of it showing large mammals that disappeared from the area long ago. Djado's ruined city and ksar stand at its southern end, at an elevation of 450 metres, inside a small oasis whose water is brackish. In 2012 the commune of Djado had 876 residents in total. Gold was found in 2014, drawing as many as 20,000 people, who came from Niger, Chad, Libya and Sudan, and the mines were closed in 2017.

Source: Wikipedia, "Djado Plateau"

What's there

• The mud fortresses - tight-packed towers and walls above the palms.
• The palm groves - the oases the settlements were built over.
• The uncertain origin - ruins whose builders and date are not settled.
• The emptiness - a plateau with almost no population left.

When to go

November to February is the cool season and the only practical window. Summer heat is extreme. Access depends on conditions and permits at any time.

Good to know

This is one of the hardest places to reach in the Sahara: multi-day crossing, convoy, permits and full self-sufficiency arranged long in advance, and access is not always granted. The structures are unstable. There are no facilities of any kind.

Nearby

Bilma is southwest, and the Ténéré runs west.