Chad

Middle Africa

A vast country running from the Sahara through the Sahel to Central African savanna. Its north holds the Ennedi Massif of sandstone arches and the Guelta d'Archei, the volcanic Tibesti with Emi Koussi, and the UNESCO Ounianga Lakes; the south holds Zakouma National Park, where African Parks has led one of the continent's great elephant recoveries. A do-not-travel advisory applies, but established local expedition operators run the desert and the park in the cool season.

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What you can do in Chad

Overlanding / Expedition Driving

Ennedi MassifJan Feb Mar Oct Nov DecThe Ennedi is one of the great desert landscapes on earth, and the only way to see it is a 4x4 expedition out of N'Djamena or Faya. Over a week or more you cross a sandstone labyrinth of arches, pinnacles and slot canyons, the most famous being the Aloba Arch and the amphitheatre at the Guelta d'Archei, a deep permanent pool where Tubu herders water their camels while a relict population of desert crocodiles lives in the shadows. Between the rock formations lie galleries of prehistoric paintings and engravings of cattle, hunters and long-vanished herds, some thousands of years old, that give the massif its UNESCO listing. This is expedition travel in the fullest sense: you camp under the arches, carry your own fuel and water, and rely on a seasoned local crew who know the pistes. Almost no one else is out here, and the silence and scale are the whole point.

Wildlife Safaris

Zakouma National ParkJan Feb Mar Apr DecZakouma is the great comeback story of Central African wildlife, and one of the last places to see the savanna ecosystem of the region intact. After poaching cut the elephants from thousands to a few hundred, African Parks took over management in 2010, and the herd has climbed back while lions, buffalo, roan, tiang and the rare Kordofan giraffe have stabilised or grown. In the dry season the animals concentrate around the shrinking pans in enormous numbers: buffalo herds a thousand strong, giant flocks of red-billed quelea that move like smoke, and one of the finest concentrations of large birds anywhere, from crowned cranes to Abyssinian ground hornbills. You explore on game drives from a small number of camps, the seasonal Camp Nomade being the most intimate, sleeping under canvas in a corner of Africa that almost no safari traveller reaches. This is remote, low-volume, conservation-funded wildlife travel, and the money goes straight back into protecting the park.

Best months at a glance

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Overlanding
Wildlife Safaris