Travel Guide Ayorou

There you come to the Sunday market where you meet the Tuareg of the river. Many nomads from the border area come on their camel or in large painted pinasses who go back to Ansongo every week to Ansongo. This market is known to amateurs of terracotta beads that sell themselves by packets of long collars. You can go by canoe to see the hippos in the middle of the river and go back to their encounters along the rice fields to the island of Firgoun, a little wonder: beautiful terraced houses and spherical barns emerge from the concessions closed. The largest number of hippos in Niger (85% of individuals) is in the province of Ayorou. So to see these creatures, Ayorou is the destination par excellence, where the masters of the river provide travelers a magical visit, at the rhythm of the pole that drives the canoe forward to the families of hippopotamus amphibius, this species that people Niger. Later, after the border crossing of Niger-Mali, on the island of Koutougou, you must admire the fully painted houses. The zébus herds cross the river, the pleasure children on the back of the beasts. The passage of the canoe flies from the shores to the aquatic birds looking for food: martins-fishermen, cormorants, hérons herons, crested, casqués ducks, poules… The island is inhabited by the Wogo, fishermen and farmers whose ritual rituals (rite of possession) are still in force. You don't need to get too close to the hippos, especially the females whose little ones are not far away: piroguiers know them well and consider the risks, and we must be guided with confidence.