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.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.