As far as any of your current admins know, this turned out to be the toughest quiz ever. If anybody remembers another one that got no answers until the hint, please let us know in a comment. The hint, as some of you doubtless realized, was full of qualifiers and made some assumptions that might not have occurred to everybody, or even be right. We had Beau Geste in mind from the get-go, but Fort Zinderneuf turned out to be problematic. A web page (Where is Fort Zinderneuf ) suggested “far north of Zinder” Zinder being in present day Niger. There is not a lot to go on in that part of of Niger, so we decided that Agadez was “far north” and did the measurement, and compass bearing from there. Long story, we know.
Anyway, here are some pics of the place:
French soldiers overlooking the lake:
Looking north along the lakeshore
The gas station at Ounianga Kebir:
Chadian soldiers, goofing off, Lake Yoa in the background
Ounianga Kebir
Despite no one getting it, I think this was a quintessential WOGE contest location, yes it was hard, but it was eminently findable in different ways, either by grid searching or by keyword image searches. I remember flying over the lake, but the North African desert scale is deceptive, I just didn’t go low enough to see the fort. I know they all cant be difficult, but this was a well crafted location, I hope there are more like it.
Contest #267 answer: Aokigahara forest, Minamitsuru District, Japan
Nobody found it without a hint
Also Contest #206 but that was originally blewn so no wonder nobody could find it without a hint
Contest #189 answer: Nuclear waste repository, Olkiluoto, Finland
I think 3 is just enough to show that you can post places that are almost impossible to find without a clue…