Agadez, département

   The département of Agadez covers an area of 700,000 square kilometers and has a population of about 70,000. The population consists of Tuareg, Hausa, Fulani, Kanuri, Arab, and Toubou. The département is composed of the arrondissements of Agadez, Arlit, and Bilma and the postes administratifs of Iferaoun and In Gall. Today, what brings outsiders to Agadez are the goods and services of a new millennium-high-grade uranium and high-end tourism. The French-owned mine at Arlit, 250 kilometers to the north along the "Uranium Highway" that connects the Aïr to Niamey, Niger's capital, fuels France's nuclear power plants. On a parallel course are pont d'Afrique charter flights-nonstop air-bridge flights from Paris-bringing tourists in search of the Sahara's most beautiful dunes and exotic, nomadic ways of life.