Mont Idoukal-n-Taghès

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The Idoukal -n- Taghes is with a height of 2022 meters the highest mountain in Niger. He belongs to the Monts Bagzane, a massif in the south of the high mountains Aïr, and is therefore also known as Mont Bagzane. The crescent- shaped mountain is of volcanic origin.

Name Variants

The mountain is also known as Idoukal -en- Taghes and Indoukat -n- Taglès. As an alternative to Bagzane are the spellings Baghzan, Baghzane, Baguezan, Baguezane and Bagzan in use.

Geography

Location

The Idoukal -n- Taghes located in the north west of the municipal territory of the country in the department of community Tabelot Tchirozérine. In a valley north of the mountain lies the oasis Timia. The nearest large town is the Agadez around 127 km as the crow away. Within the Monts Bagzane rises the Idoukal -n- Taghes in its northern part. The entire massif is not accessible by suitable for motor traffic roads. In 2001 a suitable for off-road motorcycles runway was created that runs from west of the Monts Bagzane. As pack animals usually see donkeys use. For camels the mountain trails are rocky and steep.

Geology and climate

The volcanic origin of the rocky, scarcely vegetated mountain is seen in its form. The outer walls of the caldera rise to even half and form the crescent-shaped ridge of Idoukal -n- Taghes. In the Monts Bagzane there are the remains of three ring -Dykes from Quarzsyenit, which were partly destroyed by later intrusion peralkaliner Granite and Granite porphyry, whose main mafic mineral is aegirine.

In summer, the average air temperature in the Monts Bagzane is about 30 ° C, while it reaches the low-lying city of Agadez around 40 ° C. In some winter nights the temperature in the solid drops to 0 ° C, at Idoukal -n- Taghes as its highest peak, it can be even lower. The precipitate in the Monts Bagzane is 50 to 120 mm per year. He focuses usually on a short but intense rainy season from late July to early August. The rest of the year there is little rain.

History and Culture

By 1929, belonged to the former French colony of Niger, the Tibesti Mountains, which fell this year to Chad. The highest peak in the Tibesti, the Emi Koussi with 3415 m, up to that point was the highest mountain in Niger. Now this has been suggested in the high mountains Aïr, which was not yet fully measured. In 1959, Roger Frison -Roche, the adventurer ascended the Mont Gréboun in the north of the Aïr. Frison -Roche was at its height of 2310 meters. The first ascent of Mont Gréboun, the geologist Conrad Kilian in 1943, had the height of the mountain still estimated at 1850 m to 1875 m. Frison - Roche's information led to the Mont Gréboun was identified as the highest mountain in the country.

In the period 1959-1978 the Institute ( IGN) Geographical location made ​​nationally in Paris topographic maps of Niger, which were based on aerial photographs from the years 1955 to 1963. Here, the IGN came to the conclusion, however, that the Idoukal -n- Taghes 2022 m, Mont Gréboun is only 1944 m high, as is evident from an IGN map published in 1976. However, these findings were hardly any public dissemination and Mont Gréboun was still referred to for years as the highest mountain in Niger. Only since a survey in 2001, which came to the same results, the Idoukal -n- Taghes general and undisputed is considered the highest mountain in the country. The Nigerien presidential aircraft was named Monts Baghzane.

The Idoukal -n- Taghes itself is not permanently settled. In the Monts Bagzane there are a total of twelve villages and five nomad camp, inhabited by Tuareg. The majority of these settlements is located in the south of the mountain range. There is given by sources and koris (temporarily flooded arroyos ) better water supply than in the dry north to the Idoukal -n- Taghes.