In-Gall

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In-Gall, seen in 2005.
In-Gall, seen in 2005.

In-Gall (Also: In Gall, I-n-Gall, In-Gal, Ingal, Ingall) is a town in the Agadez Department of northeast Niger, with a year-round population of less than 500.

Known for its oasis and salt flats, In-Gall is the gathering point for the Cure Salee festival of Tuareg and Wodaabe pastoralists to celebrate the end of the rainy season each September. During the festival, InGall's population grows to several thousand nomads, officials, and tourists.

InGall had been a stop on the main roads between the capital of Niger, Niamey (600 km to the southwest), and the mining town of Arlit (200 km to the northeast, 150 km from the Algerian border) or the provincial capital Agadez (100 km to the east). In the 1970s, the main road was repaved to transport uranium from the French-owned mines in Arlit, but the new road bypassed InGall, ending its use as a way station. Since then, its population has dropped from almost five thousand to less than 500.

During the Tuareg insurgency of the 1990s InGall was a prime fortification of the Niger armed forces, and when peace was concluded in 2000 the old fort was reportedly abandoned. [1]

Contents

[edit] Location:

Latitude 16.7861 Longitude 6.9336 Altitude (feet) 1499 Lat (DMS) 16° 47' 10N Long (DMS) 6° 56' 1E Altitude (meters) 456 Time zone (est) UTC+1 Approximate population for 7 km radius from this point: 159 [2]


[edit] Description

"InGall, an oasis town in a semi-desert zone that forms the gateway to the Sahara. InGall is a conglomeration of mud houses, whose gardens, in contrast to the barren landscape in which the town is set, are filled with fruit trees and vegetable patches."

[3]

[edit] Dinosaurs

In-Gall is also famous to outsiders for its paleontological digs, most notably the Jobaria tiguidensis, and the remains of petrified forests dating back 135 million years. [4]

[edit] Urainium Mining

In 2004, a Canadian corporation was granted a government license to mine for uranium in the area. Northwestern Mineral Ventures was awarded the Irhazer and Ingall concessions, each 2,000 km². (772 square miles) in size. Mines will reportedly be "open pit" strip mines. [5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_17/letters/nigerltr1.html
  2. ^ http://www.fallingrain.com/world/NG/1/Ingal.html
  3. ^ Iain Gately, Sunday Times, 2004.
  4. ^ See The Dinosaurs of InGall http://www.projectexploration.org/niger2000/feature_12_03_2000_e.htm
  5. ^ http://www.stockinterview.com/nwt.html

[edit] Other Links


Coordinates: 16°47′N, 6°56′E

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