Abdoulaye Sabiou, an experienced guide, knows the desert well

Sabiou was born in Inwaggar in 1967. After a career as a police officer in Niger, he became a tour guide in Libya for an agency called Atalante, before moving to France, where he acquired French citizenship.  

In 2014, his wife Heike, a journalist with a radio station, was transferred to China and he went with her. Atalante took advantage of this move and sent him to train young tour guides in Mongolia. Today, living in China for two years, the veteran guide feels he has a mission: "I think it is my duty as a Nigerien to try to invite Chinese investors to Niger to create jobs. People need jobs. If Chinese go to Niger and establish companies, they will create jobs and that is beneficial for the population."  

A unique tour concept, In the Footsteps of Chinese Investments in Niger, has emerged from that sense of "duty". Chinese tourists who go to Niger with Sabiou on that tour will have a glimpse of the economic opportunities in the country while discovering its amazing landscapes. 

During the two-week trip, they will visit capital Niamey, other important cities, villages, the desert with its incredible sceneries, and also the places with Chinese companies.  

"Chinese tourists can talk to their brothers," Sabiou said. "They will also meet them in Agadez, and maybe in Niamey, where there are two restaurants owned by a Chinese woman married to a Tuareg."  

Sabiou hopes these encounters and the incredible sceneries will encourage the travelers to invest in his country.       

A breath-taking view of Niger River

"A great opportunity"

Chinese companies have already invested in many areas such as infrastructure in Niger. However, Sabiou is convinced that Chinese investments will grow if the Chinese know Niger better: "[In China], when you talk about Niger, some Chinese immediately [think it's] Nigeria, they talk about football. I realize they don't know Niger. I think it's an enormous land of opportunity, it's really a great opportunity for Chinese but they haven't discovered that little piece of land on Earth yet." 

To make his project of letting more Chinese know Niger better a success, Sabiou, who already speaks five languages (the Tuareg language Tamasheq, French, Hausa, Arabic and English) is now learning Chinese. He finds that the Chinese and Africans have a lot in common: "Chinese eat in groups, men with men, women with women. I see a social life very similar to African life."  

This new understanding of Chinese is encouraging him to promote closer China-Africa relations: "Chinese investments in Niger, as in the rest of Africa, are based on win-win cooperation. And that's a good way to deal with Africans. I think it's positive." 

History, animals and taguella 

To woo investors, Sabiou's tour will also present the cultural and natural treasures of his country. Visitors will be taken to the National Museum of Niger in Niamey before heading to the Niger River, where hippopotamuses can be seen. They will also go to the sites where dinosaur bones were discovered and to the W National Park, one of the largest animal reserves in West Africa. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park is known for its big mammals: giraffes, baboons, buffalos, cheetahs, elephants, leopards and lions. Then there is the trip to the historical city-center of Agadez and its famous minaret, also a World Heritage Site. 

Hippopotamuses bathing in the Niger River are a scene Chinese tourists have probably not come across back home

A trip to Niger would not be complete without a night under the stars,

To go with the "bread of the desert," the travelers will taste the foamy Tuareg tea: "They will try tea that comes from their homeland but something that they have never prepared that way!"  

Opportunities, heavenly sceneries, history and cuisine, the Niger described by Sabiou has something of El Dorado, the mythical city of immense beauty and unimaginable riches.  

The giraffe and other incredible big mammals make Niger a wildlife paradise