Chad
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Chad is a country in central Africa with a population of over 11 million across an area of 1.28 million square kilometers. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with French and Arabic as the main languages. The staple food is millet. Zakouma National Park is a key wildlife area where the Tinga Lodge and Camp Nomade offer accommodation and experiences like night drives to see elephants and other wildlife, highlighting the success of conservation efforts there through African Parks. The Ennedi region features some of the best desert scenery in the Sahara.
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Chad
- 1. CHAD
- 2. CHAD • 11m population • 1.28M SQ KM (x5 the size of the UK) • French and Arabic • President Idriss Deby • 7th poorest country in the world • Millet is the staple food • A space on the map that is little known • And thus unfortunately, little understood
- 7. N’Djamena
- 10. Hotel Meridien
- 13. Chaque Dimanche
- 21. Getting there
- 26. TINGA LODGE
- 32. CAMP NOMADE
- 42. FOOD
- 45. The food is heavenly
- 51. Al fresco night-time dining
- 55. WILDLIFE
- 67. NIGHT DRIVES
- 71. USPs of Zakouma?
- 72. People
- 78. Eles
- 87. African Parks
- 94. Rangers
- 106. CHAD – IN SUMMARY I was deeply excited by the privilege of being there, and being given the chance to communicate your challenges and success to audiences who need to know what you and your colleagues at AP are doing, the rangers, and the power of donor funding to change the conservation agenda in parts of the world others too easily ignore
- 107. CHAD – IN SUMMARY ZAKOUMA • Elephants • Night drives • Privilige idnsight into a conservation success story • Exclusivity ENNEDI • The best desert scenery in the Sahara
- 113. Ant Kaschula
- 116. Chinko in CAR
Editor's Notes
- Turkish via IST. Downside is that inbound touched down in Kano Ethiopian via ADD but usually involves an overnight in Addis. Daily flights NDJ-ADD Air France via CDG
- US$370 per night
- Size = 3,000 sq km = one sixth of Kruger When to go – - Closed June – Oct as rains, waters rise by 1.5m Dec –Apr. Feb March best Early Season (Nov/Dec) - Cool dry season. Large bodies of water remaining & vast flocks of water birds. Game is fairly dispersed but sightings are always good in Zakouma. Low temperatures - below 10ºC (Dec - mid Feb, early am & late pm) Mid Season (Jan/Feb) - Cool dry season. Birds & wildlife become more concentrated as the water starts to dry out. Large flocks of Quelea start moving through the park & roost in their millions in certain stands of trees. Water birds start gathering around the large pans with herds of antelope & buffalo. Average temperatures - 25ºC - 30ºC Late Season (March - May) - Wildlife congregates dramatically around the remaining pans & pools throughout the park & water birds such as the Northern Crowned Cranes, Spur-winged Geese & White-faced Whistling Ducks flock in their thousands on the marshes. You are guaranteed great sightings at these last spots of green. There is a chance of an early rain-shower or two at the end of April/May. High temperatures - above 40ºC in April & May
- 540 km from NDJ 12 hours by road 3 hours by Cessna – 3 people plus pilot - $4k return 2 hours by Caravan – 9 people plus pilot - $9.6k return
- US$150 full board. Does not include drinks
- - 24 rooms but 8 are ‘VIP’
- US$800 full board
- See has mosquito net. But mosquitos not really a problem – in the wet season yes Tsetse further south
- Mohammed and Tigo (French speaking) Private Label Guides
- There are cats. Over a hundred lion and perhaps due to their numbers but more so the numbers of baboon, there are not so many leopard Rhino reintroduction thus closest park to Europe
- The anecdotal evidence from early travelers is of herds numbering a few thousand animals moving across the landscape like phalanxes of ants. Someone spent most of one day in the Bahr-el-Ghazal in Sudan witnessing elephants continuously passing by. Some say they were still more than 300,000 at the dawn of the 1960s. A few years later, Jean Laboureur, a hunter and conservationist who created the Koumbala reserve (now part of Manovo-Gounda-St. Floris NP in northern CAR) witnessed hordes of elephants that made the ground tremble.
- What is more certain is that over the centuries these hunts contributed –besides the need of migrating in search of water and food – to shape the peculiar social behavior of elephants in this part of Africa. In fact, these intelligent creatures discovered that the best way of defending against the raiding horsemen was forming real “walls” of animals and moving together like a Roman phalanx. In fact, in order to kill an elephant, the hunters would have first to isolate it from the rest of the herd, and surround it. Moving as a single mass rendered the hunters’ life much more difficult. And, as we were about to discover, such behavior is so ingrained in their collective memory that also today is one of the main features of the remaining elephant herds in central Africa, including – or especially – Zakouma.
- The wave of poaching that had already been intensifying since 2002 hit Zakouma with an unexpected and uncontrollable force. The strategy of moving in a thickly packed herd, employed by the elephants with some effect against traditionally armed hunters, proved to be counterproductive against gangs of heavily armed poachers mostly coming from Sudan. These were the same Janjaweed that were persecuting the non-Arab population in Darfur. The one thing in common with the hunts of the past were the horses (“Janjaweed” means “Arabs on horses”) and the determination, single-mindedness and tenacity of the poachers. Up to 30 animals of all ages routinely used to be killed in a single attack, with many others dying subsequently of their the wounds.
- In 2010 the Chadian government, in concert with the European Union (a long lasting donor and supporter of Zakouma) approached African Parks, proposing to them that they take over the full responsibility for the management of the park, in a last ditch attempt to halt the ongoing scourge, and Rian Labuschagne was appointed as Park manager (Directeur du Parc).
- Darren Potgeiter – Field Operations Manager - Amazing pilot
- Since then 21 elephants were collared and at this very moment there are 11 collars providing GPS positions of the main elephant herds. A central radio room, manned 24/7 by trained radio operators was established and now monitors elephants’ positions and ranger patrols’ positions throughout the day. With this system, the deployment of anti-poaching patrols is activated from the control room, with new positions given to teams in the field based on the location of the elephant herds or information provided on potential threats. An extensive VHF radio system was also put in place to provide communication within the entire elephant range (African Parks had in fact devised and implemented a broader elephant protection program across a 13,000 sq km zone which included protection during the wet season as well).
- Two aircrafts were deployed for extensive anti-poaching surveillance, aerial monitoring and resupplying of outposts. Additional airstrips were opened up in the extended elephant range to provide support during the wet months when most roads are impassable.
- In relation to the latter aspect, building good relationships between African Parks and the local communities is paramount. Whilst stability and security that the para-military guards bring to the villages while operating in the greater elephant range is seen as an extremely important asset by the communities, the “Elephant School” in Goz Djarat is another step towards building a special rapport between the park (also an important provider of jobs in the area) and the surrounding people. The park management is now in daily radio communication with certain strategic villages around Zakouma and has set up a local-reward system for those providing useful information.
- As a direct result of the major overhaul described above, no elephant has been poached inside the park since October 2011 (the last elephant poaching incident outside of the park was recorded in August 2012 when at least six elephants were killed 90 km to the north of Zakouma).
- Rangers were provided with better equipment and training, and new rangers employed. Patrol methods and intelligence gathering were improved.
- The above success has come with a heavy price, though. On September 3, 2012, whilst attending their prayer at dawn, six rangers were ambushed and killed by heavily armed elephant poachers in a retaliatory attack. Those men paid the ultimate price, and are now commemorated by a monument in Goz Djarat, alongside 17 other rangers who lost their lives since 1998 to protect this jewel of Africa.
- Vanishing footprints. It is probably too early to tell, but one cannot help but sensing a glimmer of hope for these beleaguered pachyderms.
- Ennedi