The 18th of December is the national day in Niger. It’s a HUGE event (reminding me of the 17th of May in Norway…) as it marks the day that Niger gained autonomy from France!

Today, Niger’s 50th anniversary as an independent nation will be celebrated in Tillabery and for weeks on end, the city has been preparing for the visit.

Two years ago, Zinder had the honour of being the host city, and I will never forget what an event that was!

The city had been preparing itself for months (Zinder is the former capital, so the pressure was on!) and the celebrations began a few days earlier:

From the 14th of December, 2006:

The president is coming here on the 18th December, to celebrate Niger’s national day. Horses and camels from every vicinity of the country have arrived and are currently camping at the race track, where they will perform on the National Day. Yesterday, Sofia and I got ourselves a slight shock as we rode out there on Arwen and Snövit. The camels (twice their size) coming in full speed nearly scared them to death; and so today, I went out with Arwen by myself and Sofia went by car together with Elisabeth and the boys. Good thing they brought their cameras, because there was much to see…

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The next day, there was even more activity:

From the 15th of December, 2006:

Yesterday, the horses practiced their parade and today, it was the camels’ turn. Mmmm, those animals have been created for parades! They absolutely love it!! And I can’t believe how peaceful they are; you put five camel bulls side by side and they walk with their heads together - no fighting… [...] I sure wouldn’t want to race my horse against them! Once the camels have found their speed, they are incredibly endurant. It’s amazing how easy they make it look, “flying” over the deep sand…

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By the 17th, the president had arrived and was given the grand tour of the extensive preparations:

Today, we went to the camel camp behind the race track with Aïssa. Her family had come from Tanout bringing their camels with them, and we were heading out for a ride… We were not the only ones to visit the camp, because on our way there, we were passed by some “very important vehicles”. It turned out that the president, Mahamadou Tandja, was there as well! Needless to say, it was a very pleasant surprise because people had put on such a display…

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The National Day itself started with an amazing parade at around 9am. My cousin Sofia (who was visiting me at the time) and I were lucky to be given good spots just opposite of the President’s seat. Further up the road, Renate was let her camera work up a sweat as well!

We went out at about nine o’clock this morning, not knowing exactly what to expect. Seeing the soldiers on our street, we figured the president and perhaps even the parade would be coming our way, but the soldiers told us the parade would probably not reach our street and that it was best to move towards the Tribune, where it was all going to start…

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After spending three hours in the sun watching the most amazing parade I have ever seen, we went back home, had lunch, dressed up and then followed the parade over to the race track, where people and animals from all walks of Niger showed off their most exquisite sides!

In the afternoon, we headed out to the race track where there would be a big show with lots of horses and camels. [...] The opening ceremony was grand and adventurous for many, as most people in Niger have never seen soldiers drop from the sky before. [...] The crowd was huge, and at first it looked as if we would not be able to see anything else but the camel riders on top of their huge animals… Eventually, Sofia and I made a move and decided to walk into the crowd and see if we could see some of the action…

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It will be interesting to see what kind of a show Tillabery puts up this year, but in my case, and as for most of my fellow Nigeriens, it will be an event experienced through television!