In modern terms, Niger is one of the world's two least-developed countries. Outside of the towns, there is no electricity or running water. People live and work as they did 100 years ago. Men from diverse ethnic groups still apply makeup and dance to attract young brides, dress in desert robes, carry swords and lead their camel caravans to the salt fields. For Westerners, a virtual time machine waits a few miles from the capital of Niamey.
Villages measure their prosperity by full grain bins and fat animals.
As the Sahel region approaches the Sahara Desert, survival becomes a daily concern as nomads search for water holes and adequate grazing grounds for their herds. Still, many Tuaregs and Fulanis who have been obliged to find more prosaic jobs in the south or go to the coast for work would return to a nomad's life if they could gather and sustain a herd. Economically depressed for the last few years, Agadez is slowly coming to life as tourists find it safe to return and sip mint tea while negotiating for silver jewelry, leatherwork or carvings. Skeletons of a rare dinosaur species remain scattered in the desert near In'Gall south of Agadez, awaiting the return of the University of Chicago paleontologist who first discovered them. A local designer created an international fashion show among the dramatic sand dunes in nearby Tiguidit.