Boasting nearly 1,000 years of history and steeped in tales of Sahelian camel caravans, the Ottomans, and the old Songhai imperialists. The town is found smack bang in the heart of the country as a whole, surrounded by the sun-scorched dunes of the Sahara Desert and the endless yellow of the sand sea. It’s formed from a grid of narrow streets and adobe, mud-brick homes.