Gadoufaoua

Gadoufaoua is a stretch of the Ténéré where Cretaceous beds are exposed at the surface and bones lie in the open sand, and it produced Sarcosuchus imperator, a crocodilian around eleven metres long, along with Ouranosaurus, Nigersaurus and a great deal else. French expeditions worked it from the 1960s. The name means the place where camels fear to go. Collecting is prohibited.

The landscape

• The exposed bones - Cretaceous fossils lying at the surface in the sand.
• The Sarcosuchus beds - the deposit that produced the eleven-metre crocodilian.
• The scale of the site - fossil-bearing ground running for kilometres.
• The Cretaceous landscape - beds laid down when this was river delta.

When to go

November to February is the cool season and the only practical window. Summer heat is extreme with no shade. Wind exposes and buries material continually.

Before you go

Collecting or moving fossils is prohibited and the site has been badly looted. Access needs permits, a guide and full desert self-sufficiency. There is nothing at the site but bones and sand.

Nearby

Agadez is east, and the Ténéré runs northeast.

Key facts