An eagle-eyed Google Maps enthusiast is convinced he has discovered a secret military base in the middle of the Sahara Desert.

Aerial footage over Er Roui, Niger, near the Libyan border, shows what looks like a military base – with buildings, an airstrip, vehicles and a perimeter fence, as well as apparently surrounded by land mines.

According to The Daily Star, the google maps user shared the image on reddit and said: “Secret base! (Middle of the Sahara).”

While other Reddit users were blown away by the prospect of a secret military base, off the radar until who knows what, we dug and discovered that this is indeed a military base that is still very active today. .

It is known as Aérodrome Madama, and it is a French military airfield based in the border colony on the north-eastern border of Niger.

Built in 1931, it was previously a French colonial fort. Nowadays, it serves little more than a border post, controlling movement between Niger and Libya.

The Nigerian army has around 100 soldiers from the 24th Dirkou combined arms battalion on the site. And the Google Maps user was also right about landmines; the entire perimeter is protected by barbed wire fences and anti-personnel mines.

Between 20 and 27 December 2014, the French government announced its intention to base 50 French helicopters in Madama as part of the counter-insurgency operation Barkhane.

Madama Airfield consists of a 1300 meter laterite runway and there are plans to expand it, so the base is still active today.

In 2017, the A400M transport aircraft carried out its first operational mission in Niger after landing in Madama.

So this is it. On this occasion, the Google Maps sighting is true – unlike those weird UFO sightings which often turn out to be an oddly shaped hotel or swamp-type cave.

There was also this Google Maps story that convinced people that there were military tanks and that a UFO had crashed in the desert.

And if you’ve ever imagined yourself being a Google Maps pilot, we’ve written an article on how you can do it here.