Palais du Zarmakoye de Dosso

The palace is located in the center of Dosso, near the main road Zinder-Niamey, which is also the most important road for the whole country. It is quite easy to find although the photos available in the Internet may be misleading – they show different palace in Maradi, not the one in Dosso. Sultan’s palaces may be found in almost all bigger cities in Niger, but the one in Dosso stands out a bit and, out of around five I saw during my trip, is the one I liked the most. It is very nicely painted, though its architecture from the outside is typical. We tried to enter but could reach only the first room – which had something like a wooden dome. The sultan was not home and the guardian perhaps saw “visitors” for the first time – he was literally scared that somebody wants to enter the palace in the absence of sultan. Overall the place does not deserve WHS status, but as a serial nomination of „Sultans' palaces in Western Africa” might be worth considering.