Zakouma National Park was our main destination in Chad.
Founded by the French in colonial times as a hunting reserve, it was abandoned during the 30 years of war, except for a small group of committed local rangers who chose to keep trying to protect its wildlife against poaching. It is thanks to them that the herds of Elephant, Giraffe and many species of antelope weren't completely wiped out. Unfortunately, Black Rhinoceros did disappear from Chad.

Nile Crocodile

After 1987, the European Union started to fund a plan for recovery that after a few years brought most of the park's species back to their original numbers. The only reintroduction was of Nile crocodiles, when a large farm which operated in the north of the country was shut down and all its "inmates" released within the park. Today the Bahr Salamat River has a sizeable population of crocs, with some enormous individuals.

African Rock Python

It takes two days to drive from N'djaména to the entrance of Zakouma at a reasonable pace. The road is unpaved for the most part, but relatively easy during the dry season, and traverses many kilometres of semidesert and scrub before reaching the very scenic rocky hills around Bitkin. From here the landscape gradually turns into open savannah. Along the way, large herds of cattle congregate around shrinking waterholes, often followed by vultures. At one particular point, we saw all vulture species found in the country, plus Tawny Eagle, congregated around a donkey carcass. Other birds seen on the road included Palearctic migrants like Montagu's Harrier, Orphean and Melodious warblers and Northern Wheatear; Pigmy Sunbird and Chestnut-backed Sparrowlark.



Granite hills near Bitkin

The park is open to visitors during the dry season. You can drive your own car, as long as you take a local armed ranger with you (2,000 CFA per day). These are knowledgeable and nice people, and soon one forgets the fact that there's a loaded AK-47 in the front seat. Alternatively, the park offers open top vehicles, best used for night drives.  Tinga Camp lies some 7 km from the village of Zakouma, and has been recently refurbished to offer very nice accommodation and food. Many waterbirds and Red-throated and Carmine Bee-eater congregate along the banks of the drying rivers around the camp, and can be seen from the restaurant veranda.


Tinga Camp

The 305,000 hectares of the park are made of intact Sahelian savannah and scrub, gallery riverine forests and extensive grassland, all of which is almost completely flooded in the rainy season. This renders the whole area practically inaccessible from June to September, which has contributed to preserve it. The birdlife is typical of the Sahel, quite similar to the one found in Northern Senegal.

Particularly impressive is the abundance of birds of prey, and the huge numbers of Black Crowned Crane, Great White Pelican, Knobbed Duck and Spur-winged Geese that congregate in the remaining water areas as the dry season advances. Chad has no endemic bird species, but the highly sought-after Black-breasted Barbet (Lybius rolleti) is found only in Chad, Sudan and narrow areas of the Central African Republic and Uganda; it has been seen within the park, but I wasn't so lucky.

Black Crowned Crane

The most emblematic animals of the park are elephants and giraffes, the former with a censed population of 4,000 (!). Groups of 40 or more giraffes aren't difficult to see throughout the park. They are the preferred prey of poachers, who hunt them on horseback using lances. Sadly, all they use from the animal is the hair in its tail, to manufacture magic charms and ornaments. The whole carcass is left to the vultures. Cape Buffalo and Hartebeest are also very numerous, and Zakouma is one of the best places in Africa to see good numbers of Roan Antelope.


Lion

Spotted Hyena

All these ungulates support a healthy population of predators, from striped and spotted hyenas to lions. Male lions lack the exuberant manes of their East African counterparts, probably due to a hotter climate. Leopard and Cheetah, present in smaller numbers, are elusive and difficult to see.

As a result of years of heavy poaching, and the fact that the park remains inaccessible to humans during the rain moths, animals are little accustomed to people and cars, and far less approachable than in the large game parks of East Africa. However, this adds to the untamed, wild feeling that prevails over Zakouma. Night drives around Tinga Camp are surprisingly productive, with Serval, Ratel and Wild Cat regularly seen, apart from Civet, Genet, Mongooses and Jackals (see Mammal list). Long-tailed Nightjar was seen every night.

Serval

When driving the park's trails, the overall impression is one of Africa as it must have been a century ago, with herds of wild animals running at the sight of people and not a single tourist in sight. It's also possible to explore areas of the park on foot, a welcome difference from the more famous East African reserves. The plains of Gara, in the Southeastern limit of the park, support large herds of Hartebeest and Topi, Ostrich, Arabian Bustard, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill and many raptors. The seasonal lake surrounded by the plains holds a good number of waders, including Palearctic migrants like Collared Pratincole and Kentish Plover.

Little Green Bee-eater

Grassland in the Gara plains

On the south-eastern border of the park lies the village of Ibir, at the foot of an impressive granite boulder reminding of a smaller version of Australia's Ayers Rock. Rock Hyrax can be seen in the rock crevices, and Cliff Chat has been reported here, although I didn't see it (luckily, a few days later I saw a pair in Roumsiki, Cameroon).

The view from the top of the rock is magnificent: endless savannah dotted with granite outcrops, or inlselbergs, surrounding an adobe brick-built village that looks as it must have a century ago. Fox Kestrel is the typical raptor of this habitat.



Hartebeest

From Ibir we took the seemingly endless unpaved road to Sarh. It took us around ten hours to negotiate the 300 kms to this town. From there we drove north through Moundou until the Cameroon border, into the major town of Maroua. From here we travelled to Tourou, a small mountain village known from the pumpkins cut in half wore by local women as hats. Every Thursday a colourful and lively market attracts people from all around the Mandaras.


A young male lion keeps watch over his little brother

The village of Roumsiki is the point from where the Mandara Mountains are best visited. We took a ½ day hike from the village (avoiding the hordes of avid "official guides" offering their very unnecessary services). A dense harmattan fog contributed a ghostlike atmosphere to the dramatic landscape. Near the village's edge I saw a gorgeous pair of Cliff Chat. Cinnamon-breasted Rock Bunting, African Grey Hornbill, Dark Chanting Goshawk, and Fox Kestrel were also common in the area.