Chad is one of the poorest and most corruptly mis-governed countries in the world, with most of its inhabitants living in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers. Due to its distance from the sea and desert climate, Chad is sometimes described as the “Dead Heart of Africa”.
Wet season May-October in the south, and June-September in the Sahel.
The country’s landscape comprises broad, arid plains in the centre, desert in the north, mountains in the northwest, and lowlands in the south. Lowest point: Djourab Depression (160 m/525 ft). Highest point: Emi Koussi (3,415 m/11,204 ft).
The dominant physical structure is a wide basin bounded to the north, east and south by mountain ranges such as the Ennedi Plateau in the north-east. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the remains of an immense lake that occupied 330,000 km2 (205,000 mi2) of the Chadian Basin 7,000 years ago. Although in the 21st century it covers only 17,806 km2 (11,064 mi2), and its surface area is subject to heavy seasonal fluctuations, the lake is Africa’s second largest wetland.
Chad is consistently engulfed in political turmoil and attacks from rebels will probably not happen, but are certainly possible. The situation has stagnated, but it remains a threat. Violence from the Darfur conflict overspills into Eastern Chad from Sudan, a country which shares hostilities with Chad. Any activity outside of N’Djamena is done with difficulty at best. Northern Chad is barren, scorching desert and guides (good luck) and meticulous planning are required.
N’Djamena is relatively safe, although one should be wary of petty street crime and corrupt police/officials. Most border crossings are extremely difficult (Sudan and Libya not being viable options) although the border crossings with Niger and Cameroon are relatively painless.
Roads in Chad are very poor so it takes a long time to see anything. Also security is an issue anywhere outside N’djamena. After communicating with companies about tours, it would appear that traveling here would simply be a flight into N’djamena, see the city, anything close and possibly see Lake Chad or Zakouma National Park.
The travel distances are long and even more time consuming. The safest areas is around the capital.
Note that Chad is one of the few places to get an Equatorial Guinea visa.
Capital: N’djamena
Currency XAF West African CFA franc
Population 11 million
Country Code +235
Language. Arabic and French and over one hundred indigenous languages.
CHAD Sept 26-27, 2022
Awesome desert landscapes in the north and northeast. The travel distances are long and 2 weeks of off-road driving, camping, in a region which is barely inhabited. Very expensive. The safest area is around the capital.
Visa. There is no VOA or eVisa. Passport must have 2 blank and facing pages, LOI (not necessary in Ottawa), hotel reservation, round trip flights.
Available (all same day service). Rabat Morocco, Yaounde, Brazzaville, Bangui.
Washington DC. Brussels. Dubai. Yellow Fever Vaccine required.
Chad Embassy in Ottawa, 350 Sparks Street, Suite 802, Ottawa, ON K1R 7S8
Telephone: (613) 680-3322 / (613) 421-1189 / info@chadembassy.ca / www.chadembassy.ca / M-F 9-12/2-5.
Hôtel La Résidence N’Djamena, Rue 1039, Quartier Aéroport, N’Djamena, Chad $122.80/night
Police Registration is necessary in first 3 days of arrival. You cannot leave the country without this stamp in your passport.
Fly Baghdad to N’djamena, Chad (67EPYH) BGW-CAI T1 @23:15-00:45+1 (Nile Air NP156) / 7’50″/CAI T3-NDJ @08:35-11:50+1 (Egypt Air MS885 4’15” $713)
In Cairo, I had what seemed an impossible situation – I had no boarding pass for my next flight to Chad (it was a different airline), checked luggage and my flight was in a different terminal that required a bus to access.
I went to transfers and a pleasant police officer took me past immigration to get my luggage. Then I waited for a bus a bus and had a 16-passenger bus to myself to take me along the tarmac to Terminal 3. At Transfers, I had my boarding pass in about 2 minutes. So with a very efficient and pleasant Cairo airport staff, it all happened in about 35 minutes, much faster than if I had to go through immigration.
With an 8-hour layover, I put out m sleeping pad and bag and had a few hours of sleep.
Itinerary 2-Day Tour
Day 1 Mon Sept 26. Arrive N’djamena. See some of city
N’DJAMENA (pop 1,093,492 2013) is the capital, largest city, and centre of economic activity in Chad. It is a regional market for livestock, salt, dates, and grains. Meat, fish and cotton processing are the chief industries. It is a port city at the confluence of the Logone River with the Chari River, forming a transborder agglomeration with the city of Kousséri (in Cameroon),
History. N’Djamena was founded as Fort-Lamy by the French in 1900. In the Chadian Civil War, in 1979-80, almost all of the population fled the town to the opposite bank of the Chari River in Cameroon, next to the city of Kousseri. The city was unsuccessfully attacked by rebels in 2006 and 2008.
Climate. N’Djamena has a hot semi-arid climate with a short wet season from June to September. 20 in of rainfall annually due to the area’s very high evapotranspiration. N’Djamena is one of the hottest major cities on the planet.
Views of sunset across the Chari River can also be spectacular.
Accommodation. Hotel La Residence. Expensive but very few options and it is the least expensive option. 6-10 min walk from the airport. Has a pool, a bar and a restaurant.
See
Chad National Museum. See the partial skull of the Sahelanthropus a skull discovered in north Chad and one of the earliest human ancestors. The original skulls are in Paris.
Grand Mosque. May not enter? but persist.
Grand Marche
Place de la Nation Monuments
Handicraft centre.
Day 2 Tue Sept 27.
GAUOI VILLAGE: handicraft village, the closest village to N’Djamenaof. See the old residence of the sultan (visit for 5.000 CFA) and the small museum of civilization Sao.. They used to paint their houses like the Tibelé village in Burkina Faso but because of lack of money, they stopped. They sell primitive pottery.
There are an endless number of kids. Give 500 CFA to village elder to freely take pictures in the village. Have a few 50 CFA coins in your pocket, a bag of candy for the kids and pencils for the school.
Flight Ndjamena – Niamey NDI-NIM @23:30 – 01:45+1 (Turkish Air TK633 2’15” $759.08)
DETAIL
Visa. Citizens of several African countries do not require a visa. For all others, a visa is necessary. There is no VOA or eVisa.
Required documents are passport with 2 blank and facing pages, letter of invitation (not required in Ottawa), photocopy of passport, photocopy of vaccination against yellow fever, two passport-size photographs, E ticket for entering and leaving Chad, accommodation booking (Booking.com), visa application form. An attestation letter from your employer is not necessary. Prepaid return envelope – all labels must have a tracking number.
Other African countries (all same day service). Rabat Morocco, Yaounde, Brazzaville, Bangui.
Chad Embassy in Ottawa, 350 Sparks Street, Suite 802, Ottawa, ON K1R 7S8
Telephone: (613) 680-3322 / (613) 421-1189 / No email address / www.chadembassy.ca
1 month single entry: 150.00 CAD / 3 months multiple entry: 200.00 CAD
Washington DC Chad US embassy (chadembassy.us +1 202-652-1312 +1 (646) 306-4070). They usually waive the LOI requirement. Made a fake hotel and flight reservation. Getting a visa in the EU has been difficult but that may be changing.
Brussels. Same day processing. Dubai.
Yellow Fever Vaccine required.
Tour operators Tours run between Nov-Mar, several agencies, cost depends on the duration. 2500euro – 5000euro. No budgets options here – 300-400 euros a day per 4WD and you needed two minimum in case the other gets stuck or breaks down.
Awesome desert landscapes in the north of the country. Several operators offer this and it would be very unwise to do this by yourself – it’s 2 weeks of off-road driving, camping, in a region which is barely inhabited, so no transportation, certainly not to the parts you want to see.
1. Lupine Travel.co.uk. Goes to the south.
2. The Point Voyages: point-voyages.com. ~2800 EUR for 16 days, includes airfare from Paris
3. Spazi d’avventura well recommended and EUR800 less
4. Societie voyage Sahara svstchad.com. 17 days. Prices are higher than Point Voyages’ and don’t include flights.
N’DJAMENA
Accommodation
1. Hilton N’Djamena and wrote the text of my own letter of invitation from the General Manager of the Hilton and emailed it to him and asked him to put it on their stationery and send it back to me, which he did.
2. Hotel La Residence. Expensive but very few options and it is the least expensive option. 6-10 min walk from the airport. Has a pool, a bar and a restaurant.
3. Irris Hotel. uninspiring and overpriced. It is a walled in complex which does have a swimming pool and nearby outdoor restaurant. It is a favorite with expats living in the capital.
4. Hotel Sherabel is nice, cheaper option…with pool and A/C
Money: money changers will come to your hotel.
Police Registration: You have to register with the police within the first 3 days of arrival and during their opening hours. Adolfo got a plain-clothed policeman to come to the hotel to pick up our passports. The cost was 10,000 CFA per person. We got our passports back the next morning. You cannot leave the country without this stamp in your passport.
Elephant Rock: It is a 2 hour drive each way and involves a lot of paperwork. Two local officials joined us for the day trip.
1. 3-day tour Eyte Tours.Cost: €870 (1), 620 (2), 540 (3), 490 (4). Includes LOI, 2 nights hotel, 4×4 vehicle. No food. Quartier Farcha -N’djamena – Tchad / Hassane Mahamat Saleh (+235) 62777760 / Guasti Adolfo (+235) 62774496 email: info@eytevoyages.com
Day 1 Sun Sept 25. Arrival, transfer hotel. See N’djamena.
Day 2 Mon Sept 26. Day tour of the village of Dandi, lunch (requires a road permit so necessary to have the visa about 15 days before the excursion), visit elephant rock and the nearby village. ON N’djamena.
Day 3 Tue Sept 27. Day tour to the handicraft village of Gaoui, the old residence of the sultan and the small museum of civilization Sao. City tour N’djamena national museum and the handicraft center transfer to the airport
Flight Niamey:@23:30-01:45 +1 NDJ to NIM Turkish Air (2’15” CA$750 on July 25 (wait to book as price should decrease)
ENNEDI PLATEAU In the top ten African landscape is Tibesti and Enneidi with awesome desert landscapes to the north of the country. Several operators offer this; given the terrain it would be very unwise to do this by yourself. it’s 2 weeks of off-road driving, camping, in a region which is barely inhabited, so no transportation, certainly not to the parts you want to see. There are no budget options – 300-400 euros a day per 4WD and you needed two minimum in case the other got stuck/broke down (necessary to pay the equivalent of 6 people). It takes about 3-4 days to reach Ennedi with not much to see. From Faya, perhaps nomads and scarce village here and there. Faya is just a place for supplies. Not much otherwise
Guelta d’Archei is one of the most famous gueltas in the Sahara. A guelta is a pocket of water that forms in drainage canals or wadis in the Sahara. The size and duration will depend on the location and conditions. It may last year-round through the dry season if fed by a source such as a spring. When a river (wadi) dries up, there may be pockets of water remaining along its course. In Western Sahara, gueltas correspond to oases. One exists at Timia in Niger.
It is located in the Ennedi Plateau, in north-eastern Chad, south-east of the town of Fada. Several animals – West African crocodile (Crocodylus suchus; until recently thought to be a synonym for the Nile crocodile, Crocodylus niloticus Laurenti). Middle Holocene remains, as well as rock paintings, indicate that this species once thrived across most of today’s Sahara Desert and in swamps and rivers along South Mediterranean shores. The small group of surviving crocodiles in the Guelta d’Archei represents one of the last colonies known in the Sahara today; the Tagant Plateau colony in Mauritania has likely been extinct since 1996.
Travel to the Guelta d’Archei is very difficult, as it is not serviced by paved roads. It is an approximately four day’s 4×4 drive from N’Djamena.
3. Charter flight to Ennedi in a private Cessna. This is expensive and necessary to make a group. Camp 4 nights with Last Places.
These are contacts for the trip: Last Places contacts: • Bego Colmeiro: +34 626 310 123 (Spain) • Joan Riera: +34 637 814 624 (Spain) • bego.colmeiro@lastplaces.com Phone contacts in Chad: • Hamit Yaya Dakiné (guide and coordinator).
4. 10-Day Tour of Chad: Archel, Ennedi, Desert USD$4,399.00
Day 1 Arrive Ndjamena. See N’djamena: Chad National Museum, Grand Mosque, Grand Marche, Place de la Nation Monuments. Overnight. Hotel Chez Wou
Days 2-4 N’djamena – Ouaddai & Mongo Kalait: 1260 km
Drive from N’djamena through the Lake Chad plains to Massaguet. Visit Bitkine and other villages, Rock Ab Touyour (mountains of the vultures).
Guera region (Mountainous Sahelian area) is marked by granite peaks. Hadjerai ethnic group (the inhabitants of the stone country), farmers and hunters. Drive through the immense plain and the acacia forest known for Arabic gum. Mongo, located below Mount Gueraat (1500 massif of Aboutelfane, hills and inhabited valleys.
Abéchéa. Ouaddaï people. Former caravan crossroads with a large slaves’ market. Start North desert move from sedentary farmers to nomadic breeders. Visit Arada and take an unpaved sandy road to Kalait, the gateway to Ennedi. Camping (3 nights)
Days 5-7. Archei its paintings and guelta: 120 km
Southern part of Ennedi. Semi nomads Gaeda, Tama and Zagawa.
Oued Archeï pond – complex hydrographic system. See: castles, cathedrals, arcs and caves all gigantic. Guelta of Archei, a mythical, sacred place, the nomadic Toubous and their enormous herds of camels. The last living example of Sahara crocodile. Rock paintings site of Terkei – Toukou – Manda Guili Cave, Archei and deli caves. Camping (3 nights)
Days 8-10. Kalait / Abéché /Mongo/N’djamena : 1300 Km
From Kalait, drive back to Abeche. Guerra Massif (Mongo administrative center). See: Different ethnic groups, Mount Abou Telfan and the Peaks of Guerra, isolated villages of Arabic Sara and Sara Kinga village. Drive back to Ndjamena. 1½ days. Camping (1 night) + 1 night at Hotel Chez Wou
5. 7-Day Tour of Zakouma National Park & the Black Mountains USD$3,799.00
Zakouma National Park. Both are a cultural and adventure experience. 1,200 square miles 44 mammals – antelope, elephant, giraffe, lion, primates and wildebeest. Repopulated after poachers. Watering holes for large animals, Night nocturnal species and general night viewing.
Camp at the famous APN camps (Nomad, Tinga, etc), experience at night, and excursions to Abou-Deia, Bokoro and Massaguet, which are not offered by the APN. See ethnic tribes and nomads, the Peulhs and Teda in the family of the Toubou ethnic group.
Black Mountains. Abu-Deia begins where you’ll see granite monoliths along the cliff of Via Dafra village, at the foot of Mount Guera. Sacred Mountain of Guera (Aboutel fan). People live on top of this mountain to protect themselves from Islamic incursions. Testament to human tactical defence.
The construction of this road forced these people to leave the top to occupy the land, but they left the old settlement as the area of worship.
Bitkin. agricultural zone
See the Hadjarai. tribe. share a beer, women’s half-naked dress, animistic people. Women cultivate peanuts and make terracotta pottery.
Get In
By plane. Air France has daily flights from Paris to N’Djaména. Ethiopia Airlines flies to Addis Ababa, Turkish Airlines to Istanbul, Royal Air Maroc to Casablanca, Sudan Airways to Khartoum, Egypt Air to Cairo, and Camair-co to Douala.
By car. Roads are in disrepair and are typically unpaved – there is only one paved road, which runs from Massakory in the north through N’Djamena onto Guelendeng, Bongor, Kelo, Moundou, Doba, Koumra, Sarh, and Kyabe.
Get Around
In N’Djamena, there are vehicle taxis. In some major towns, such as Moundou and Sarh, there are “clandos” – motorcycle taxis – for getting around town.
In October 2018, a domestic Chadian airline was launched, Tchadia Air. It is based in N’Djamena, with regular flights to Abeche, Bangui, Douala, Faya-Largeau, Kano, Khartoum, Moundou, Niamey, and Sarh.
Food. Fish. The captaine fish is very good and available in 3 different ways- with peanut, Provençal and N’Djamena sauce. Laylalina Restaurant was our nightly go to spot.
Try the local BBQ with chicken and mutton. You get the grilled meat, a few lemon wedges and raw onions. It also comes with dip – chilli sauce and vinegar. It cost 8.500 CFA for four people including 3 cokes and 2 banana milk juice so thick they were a meal in themselves.
Karkandji is a warm local drink prepared by boiling hibiscus and adding sugar. It’s delicious.
