The Trip Home

After we sold the truck in Dapaong, we arrived in Niamey the next day, and we went straight to the Air Algérie downtown office to find out what the tickets would cost. One big question was what to do with the dog. It was going to be really expensive to take the dog back. As it turned out, Andy just barely had the money for a ticket to Marseille, the closest European destination from Algiers. So we booked flights from Niamey to Marseille via Algiers with Air Algérie for later that week.

We had two or three days in Niamey, and we had to figure out what to do with the dog. And we both had malaria. We checked in at the campgrounds, and set up shop in a quiet corner. Andy was worse again, in the throes of another malaria attack. I left him with the dog, to get more aspirin, and to see if I could figure something out regarding the dog.

On our second evening in Niamey we were pretty fed up with this armpit of the Sahel, but we'd heard about a nice Italian restaurant down the road, so we decided we'd have some spaghetti before heading home. During the day the neighborhood where the restaurant was did not seem too bad, but that evening, as we turned off the main drag to get to the restaurant, we noticed that there were very few streetlights and the streets were deserted - which is very suspicious. So when this guy walked up to us asking for a light, we were getting nervous. I was not even going to stop, but Andy did, and before we knew it I was about 20 yards separated from him, another guy jumped on him from behind, trying to get to his wallet, the first guy pull out his HUGE knife, and I come running, yelling at the top of my lungs, shove the guy with the knife away from Andy, into the ditch. At this point, Andy had shaken off the second guy, and snatched his wallet back. Now the fist guy was getting up and third guy appeared, and the three of them were determined to get that wallet. But Andy had finally found his can of maze and pretty much emptied the damn thing into their faces! Good thing there was no wind. As he sprayed I had gotten just a bit of maze on me - and that burned like hell! The three would-be robbers were howling, rolling on the ground, and we ran as fast as we could until we got to the restaurant.

We got there panting and quite shaken up, but high-fiving each other for beating those assholes. The proprietor and a waiter were in front of the restaurant, looking to see what the commotion was all about. As we calmed down, Andy and I also felt a bit sheepish for ignoring all the obvious signs that said "welcome to this bad neighborhood" and "suckers please turn left next alley for basic mugging." The proprietor complained that there's a mugging every night in that street, and that that's really bad for his business. But he was very glad to hear that Andy got the jerks with a good dose of maze. Maybe that'll scare them and there'll be some peace for a while, he said. They are not familiar with maze, so that should really scare these bastards, his waiter chimed in. When we suggested they call the police, they just laughed and invited us in. Later, we had some excellent spaghetti and a glass of Italian wine on the house.

At the table next to us a middle-aged man in a nice functionaire suit was dining with a woman. We started talking about all the crime and how that really hurts business and stuff. He introduced himself as the museum director of the national museum - monsieur le dirécteur. In the course of our conversation we mentioned our plans to fly to Algiers with Air Algérie that Friday. He recommended that we should call Air Algérie to confirm our reservations. He said that there is a lot of nonsense going on with false tickets etc.. Considering the sorry state of our health, eventually he even offered to drive us to the airport. Andy and I were quite surprised by that offer and in no position to refuse it. He also gave us the phone number of a friend of his, who might be interested in buying the dog. After dinner, our generous benefactor even drove us back to the camp ground and he promised, if we'd show up at his place on Friday, he'd take us to the airport.

So the next morning we called the number the dirécteur had given us. We told the person who answered that we had a beautiful, trained German shepherd for sale. He said to hold. A couple of Minutes later, another guy picked up, and he was clearly the Big Man. I described the dog, and he grunted and said he'd be there in a while. I told him where we were and he said he'll find us.

A couple of hours later a kid came running to our tent and told us that someone want to see us at the main gate. We walked over, and there was a brand-new 7-series BMW with tinted windows! As we approached with the dog, the driver jumped out and opened the door for a big, guy, around forty, in a dark suit. He stood there, watching the dog and us, as we approached. He said something to the driver, who started to walk toward us. Andy whispered "Gib Laut!" to the dog and Quattro went crazy, yanking at the lead, barking. That made the driver guy stop in his tracks. Then, Andy ordered Quattro "Sitz!" and the dog was instantly quiet and sat down.

The driver came over, eyeing the dog. He gave us the card of his boss - I recognized the last name: Diori. The family of former President Diori! Wow! We started haggling over the price with the driver, while his boss got back in the car. Finally we came to an agreement and he gave us directions to deliver the dog. As they sped off in a cloud of dust, we high-fived each other. We got good money for the dog, and Andy felt OK about it, because these guys clearly had money for quattro's food. That afternoon we took Quattro to his new home, in a neighborhood full of walled compounds, some with floodlights and armed guards. The driver met us at the gate, handed us the money and took the lead. The gate closed and Andy and I walked quietly off.

On the way back into town, we stopped by the house of a German Development Aid worker who had offered that I could leave some of my stuff at his place. Then we stopped at the Air Algérie office to confirm our tickets. "Pas de problème" - no problem, the guy at the counter assured us. We had valid tickets for our trip home.