CHAD
Chad, officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in north-central Africa. It is bordered by Libya, Sudan, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria, and Niger. The capital city of the country is N’Djamena. A french colony in the past, Chad became independent in 1960.
MAIN CITIES
N’Djamena
Moundou
Abeche
RELIGIONS
Muslims 58%
Christians 38%
Others 4%
POPULATION
16,395,556
LANGUAGES
French (official)
Chadian Arabic
native languages
ETHNIC GROUPS
Sara 25.9%
Arab 8.6%
Masalit people 7%
Others
CURRENCY
Central African CFA franc
TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS IN CHAD
DOUGUIA'S CHARI RIVER
The Chari River, or Shari River, is a 1,400 Km (870 mi) long river, flowing in Central Africa. It is Lake Chad’s main source of water. The River flows from the Central African Republic through Chad into Lake Chad, following the Cameroon border from N’Djamena, where it is joined by its western and principal tributary, the Logone River. It provides 90 percent of the water flowing into Lake Chad. Much of Chad’s population, is concentrated around it.
TIBESTI MOUNTAINS
The Tibesti Mountains are a mountain range in the central Sahara, starting in the extreme north of Chad, with a small extension into southern Libya. The central third of the Tibesti is of volcanic origin and consists of five shield volcanoes topped by large craters. Erosion has shaped volcanic spires and carved an extensive network of canyons through which run rivers subject to highly irregular flows that are rapidly lost to the desert sands. Tibesti, which means place where the mountain people live, is the domain of the Toubou people.
GUELTA D'ARCHEI
The Guelta d’Archei is one of the most famous guelta in the Sahara. It is located in the Ennedi Plateau, in north-eastern Chad, south-east of the town of Fada. The Guelta d’Archei is inhabited by several kinds of animals, mostly the West African crocodile. 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.
LAKE CHAD
Lake Chad is a historically large, shallow lake in Africa, which has varied in size over the centuries. According to the Global Resource Information Database of the UN Environment Program, it shrank by as much as 95% from about 1963 to 1998, but the 2007 studies shows significant improvement over previous years. Lake Chad is very important as it provides water to more than 30 million people living in the four countries surrounding it (Chad, Cameroon, Niger, and Nigeria) on the central part of the Sahel. It is the largest lake in the Chad Basin.
ZAKOUMA NATIONAL PARK
Zakouma National Park is a 1,864 sq mi (3,000 km2) national park in southeastern Chad, straddling the border of Guera Region and Salamat Region. It is the nation’s oldest national park, which was declared a national park in 1963 by presidential decree, giving it the highest form of protection available under the nation’s laws. It has been managed by the nonprofit conservation organization African Parks since 2010 in partnership with Chad’s government.
ABECHE
Abéché is the fourth largest city in Chad and is the capital of Ouaddaï Region. It has within it the remnants of the ancient capital, including palaces, mosques, and the tombs of former sultans. The city of Abeche was made capital of the Wadai Sultanate in the 1890s, after the wells at Ouara, the former capital, had dried out. In 1909, French troops invaded the Kingdom and established a garrison in Abeche. France took power, forcing the sultan to leave his throne. At that time, Abeche was the largest city in Chad.
LAKES OF OUNIANGA
Lakes of Ounianga are a series of lakes in the Sahara Desert, in North-Eastern Chad, occupying a basin in the mountains of West Tibesti and Ennedi East. It was added as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2012. The lakes are in a hot and hyper-arid desert that features a rainfall of less than 2 millimetres (0.1 in) a year. The lakes exhibit a variety of sizes, depths, chemical compositions and colorations. there are 18 lakes in total and the largest of them is Lake Yoa.
ENNEDI-EST & ENNEDI OUEST REGIONS
Ennedi Region was a former region of Chad. In 2012 it was split into two new regions: the department of Wadi Hawar became Ennedi Est Region and the department of Ennedi became Ennedi Ouest Region. In this area of the country you can visit the Guelta d’archei, the lakes of Ounianga and more. the region has beautiful mountains.
CHAD NATIONAL MUSEUM
The Chad National Museum (Musée National du Tchad) is the national museum of the country. It is located in the capital city of N’Djamena. The museum was established on October 6, 1962. In 1964, it moved to the former town hall, near the Place de l’Independance (Place of Independence). It has a prehistory section that features material from the Amgamma cliff, Paleolithic implements, axes with helve-holes, obsidian arrowheads and more. There are also masks, bronze objects, bone tools, and a collection of musical instruments.
BARDAI
Bardaï is a small town and oasis in the extreme north of Chad (Sahara desert). It is the main town of the Tibesti Region, which was formed in 2008 from the Tibesti Department. The first European who reported Bardaï was the German explorer Gustav Nachtigal.
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