Niger is a landlocked sub-Saharan country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It's a former French colony which was granted independence in 1960. The land is mostly desert plains and dunes.

Niger is a poor nation whose economy centers on subsistence agriculture, animal husbandry, reexport trade, and increasingly less on uranium, because of declining world demand.

It is not always easy to travel in Niger. The roads themselves are not the biggest problems; actually they are not as bad as you might expect. But banditism and political strife between different factions can make certain areas unsafe.