Niger is the most amazing country I never expected to visit

Chances are you'll never get to go to Niger. I never thought I'd get to go there either.

It's landlocked and mostly desert. The only non-African cities that offer direct flights are Paris and Istanbul. The desert northeast used to get tourists who wanted to see the sand-dune oceans and oases of the central Sahara, but security concerns related to Libya and Niger have wiped out most voluntary travel.

I went to Niger as part of an International Reporting Project fellowship. I never would have traveled there without a professional reason for going. But the country's mix of peoples, cultures, topography, and wildlife made me wonder what else I might be missing on a planet that's too vast, and too diverse, to see in whole.

The world is full of Nigers: Places that you might not really think about, but that are entrancing and utterly fascinating all the same. Just being able to see one of them was an incredible experience.

Armin Rosen reported from Niger on a fellowship from the International Reporting Project.