Zakouma 2015: Returning to Wildest Africa in Style

[TonyQ]

It is fascinating what you get to see with the trail camera - such a variety.

As a bonus we can also see what the temperature was - I notice that some of the buffalo are at 51 degrees C - wow that is hot!

[CaroleE]

@@inyathi

 

Having read this in one sitting as I could not wait to see what else you would see, I am completely overwhelmed.

 

What an extraordinary place. Hard to believe the diversity of species and sheer numbers of mammals and birds.

 

Very good to hear that Camp Nomade is already fully booked for 2016. This shows what a tremendous place Zakouma is to visit. It will also create, what I imagine will be much needed funds. I hope I am lucky enough to be able to visit one day.

 

Thank you for spending the time and effort in putting this trip report together.

[inyathi]

@@TonyQ it was about 10:35 when Squack and I put the camera down by the Salamat while we were on our way back to our fly camp after spending the morning by the pool at Tim watching animals coming to drink. I’d just corrected the clock so the time settings should be correct and I don’t recall seeing any animals by the river when we walked down from the road. During our time along the Salamat we only actually saw a few buffalos we didn’t see a big herd like this so presumably during the cooler morning and in the late afternoon when we were out and about they were mostly off somewhere else grazing as there didn’t appear to be much grass by the river. It would seem that they favour the hottest part of the day for there daily drink, that reading of 51°C was at about 14:30 two hours later at around 16:30 when the waterbuck went past it had dropped down to 43-45 °C even that is still pretty punishing.

 

I said back in post 313 that the camera didn’t catch any nocturnal activity on the Salamat but in fact I was wrong, going back through my photos I see that it did actually very briefly capture one small antelope wander past at 23:30 which I guess is probably a common duiker though it’s hard to sure. By this time the temperature had dropped back down to 27 °C a significant drop but that is still quite hot, nothing else set the camera off after this. I guess it makes sense to go down the river and drink during the hottest hours of the day when the lions are presumably all asleep in the shade somewhere and not likely to be hunting. The camera was only set up on this spot for one night perhaps if it had been there much longer it might have caught other animals going about there business at night. At Rigueik though the baboons and monkeys and warthogs were wandering by during the day all of the main activity was at night in contrast by the Salamat almost all of the major activity was during the day, this is all part of what makes using a trail camera so interesting. Without the camera we wouldn't really have known there was a big buffalo herd in the area.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE2BgZb-Rc8&feature=youtu.be

 

[inyathi]

We never really found a great spot to put the camera when we were down in the south I did put it up for one night beside the track on the pan at Am Souffa but only caught two animals. When you’re putting the camera out it’s good idea just to go through all of the settings first just to make sure they are as you want them and you haven't accidently changed anything. When I collected the camera the following morning I found that the video had gone back to the default setting of 10 seconds rather than the 30 seconds that I like to have it set for so in some ways I’m quite glad it didn’t catch much it would have been very frustrating if it had started to film something and then cut out too soon. I’ve found with the Ltl Acorn that you have to be careful when you are going through the menu because twice now I’ve accidently changed the last setting on the list which switches the language to German as I don’t speak German I was somewhat mystified when this first happened as I didn’t know how I’d done it but now I do know so it’s no problem to change it back.

This I think is just a white-tailed mongoose by the time the camera started videoing it had moved out of shot

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOzmsP3yp1w

Female Buffon's Kob

 

One final note, make sure you remember to collect your trail camera again before you depart

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oK_R_O_hbx8

[twaffle]

That last video is a classic!

[Sangeeta]

@@inyathi - Rob - you have really, really outdone yourself with this TR. It is an all-time keeper and an incredible testimonial for the park. Thank you for taking the time and trouble to put such a comprehensive report together - with photos, videos, thoughts, impressions, links and so much more. What a rich record of your days. For this alone, AP should have you back FOC next yesr Thanks again - Sangeeta

[Safaridude]

@@inyathi

 

Yes indeed you have outdone yourself.

 

The trail camera wide-angle images are quite interesting. And the last video is indeed a classic.

[Alexander33]

@@inyathi

 

Thank you for taking the time to prepare such an in-depth report. This, along with the commentary by @Paulo, is invaluable to those of us who are not such experienced safari-goers, but who nevertheless share the broader ecological and conservation ideologies as you. After all, the first step toward preserving delicate or threatened habitat, not just in Chad, not just in Africa even, but worldwide, is awareness, and but for this report and the equally memorable one from last year, Chad would certainly not be on my radar and I would never have even heard of Zakouma.

 

I've still got quite a few of the more trodden safari destinations to visit before I can feel I'm prepared for something like this, but this report, and the knowledge it has instilled, not to mention the thirst for more information, is a first step.

 

Thank you again.

[Super LEEDS]

@@inyathi thank you not just for posting, sharing and going into so much detail but going to places that most of us can only dream of, as well an hope that will exist in the world for centuries to come.

 

The night drive results and just mind-blowing and I would have been happy with those alone!

 

@@jeremie I've made a post in the camera trap thread so as to no distract from this epic TR which you may find useful - the whole thread if not my comments.

 

http://safaritalk.net/topic/10327-infrared-trap-camera-for-use-at-camps/?p=165860

Edited July 26, 2015 by Super LEEDS

[Anomalure]

@@inyathi

 

Thanks for giving such a thorough overview and report of a visit to this incredible park! The wildlife (esp. mammals and bird congregations!) sounds incredible and I'd love to see some of the unique Sudano-Sahelian species (Western Greater Kudu, Red-fronted Gazelle, Tiang, Pale Fox, Kordofan Giraffe) someday.

 

The night drives alone make a visit to Zakouma worth it for me! Maybe in a few years...

[IamFisheye]

I went to a 2 hour talk 'Future of Conservation with Rian Labuschagne' last night at London's Royal Geographical Society.

 

 

 

 

I most certainly would not have gone if it wasn't for the trip reports and photos of @@inyathi, where I learn't about this amazing place.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I just need to find the time and money to get out there myself. Possibly planning for 2018, if not sooner!

 

[Game Warden]

@@IamFisheye Can you give an overview of the presentation in a new topic? Thanks, Matt.

[inyathi]

I have for some time been meaning to add a few more posts to this report, but it’s taken me a while to get around to it and then I decided to wait until after Rian’s lecture at the RGS The Future of Conservation with Rian Labuschagne, which has given me a few additional facts and figures to add. There will be a couple more posts after this, expanding on some future conservation plans, some of which have already been mentioned elsewhere.

 

As will be apparent to everyone who’s looked into it, visiting Zakouma in ‘style’ with Camp Nomade is not cheap, but then it can’t be and nor should it be, after all the object is to generate at least some of the funds needed to properly protect Zakouma.

 

It is really because Zakouma is so expensive, that I wanted to show with my report why for those people fortunate enough to be able to consider staying at Camp Nomade, it is worth spending the money, to really show what a special place Zakouma is. That it’s not just somewhere to go, to see a different kind of giraffe or a tiang instead of a topi that the number of animals here, really is truly spectacular and that Zakouma does deserve its place amongst the greatest parks in Africa, that it’s not just hype, not that anyone here would think that, if they've already read our report from last year.

 

In Zakouma the rains usually start in May though as we discovered last year, they can come early, by June the rains have really set in and from then until November the park can receive over 850mm of rain. Apart from some inselbergs over in the west of the park, the whole of Zakouma is pretty much as flat as a pancake; all of this water goes everywhere completely inundating virtually the entire park. Elsewhere in Africa for some time now, more than a few safari camps have started operating during the wet season, in parks that formerly would probably have been closed at this time; this will never be an option for Camp Nomade. For the best part of 6 months Zakouma is effectively a shallow lake there is really no way to extend the tourist season. When the rains end, the water drains off into the Salamat and other rivers flowing into the Chari and ultimately Lake Chad, by mid November, the park is just starting to dry out enough, to make it possible to get around but some roads are still impassable.

 

The lodge Campement de Tinga opens on the 15^th of November and then closes again at the end of May, so it has a six and a half month season. Of course if you go to Tinga in November the wildlife will still be pretty dispersed, so while the park will be beautifully green you may not see much, or be able to get around everywhere as some roads may still be closed. Likewise if you go in May you’re taking a gamble if it rains too much, you could find you can’t get around at all, leaving you pretty much stuck at Tinga. All the same it makes sense for Tinga to be open at these less favourable times, because if you are an expat in N’Djamena it’s still worth taking the risk and going to the park for the simple reason that at present Tinga is the only place outside NDJ that you can go and stay, there really is nowhere else to go in Chad. As result Tinga does good business attracting expats, visitor numbers over the last year were around 4,000 people of which 86% were local, 10% were expats, and 4% were international tourists, so 400 expats stayed at Tinga in the last season.

 

Camp Nomade however has a much shorter season opening on the 12^th of December and closing on the 18^th of April, they can’t really open a month earlier like Tinga, because of the possible difficulties of getting around when the park is still pretty wet and if the wildlife is still dispersed, there won’t be much for guests to see. They can’t risk staying open longer either, in case the rains come early, last year our safari was almost derailed by an early rain storm that arrived in mid April. For Camp Nomade rain would be a disaster aside from making it difficult to get around, the main tent is open on all sides and the guest tents are all just mosquito net, so you wouldn’t want to be in the camp in a rainstorm. This means that their season is just four months, a very short time compared to other camps elsewhere, Mwagusi Camp in Ruaha NP in Tanzania for example is open for ten months and is only really closed for the other two because they need to take a break. In one season Camp Nomade can only take around 14 groups of from 6 -10 guests when you then add on to that the logistics of running a high end camp in such a remote area, there’s no way it could be anything other than seriously expensive.

 

If you are able to visit Zakouma, you can be confident that while it is costing you a lot of money, that money on top of paying for an almost unrivalled safari experience, really is paying to conserve this wonderful place, every dollar of profit goes into running Zakouma. Camp Nomade just on its own will cover 20% of the park’s running costs which is fairly remarkable, much of the rest of the money will still come from donors, but anything that reduces the park’s reliance on donor funding has to be a good thing.

Edited March 10, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Right now, Zakouma is without a shadow of doubt, the most important protected area in the whole of the Sahelo-Sudanian savanna region, thanks to continuous and ongoing support from the European Union and especially since 2010 the management of African Parks. Zakouma is home to the last great herds of Central African wildlife, huge national parks like Southern NP in war torn South Sudan that once teemed with animals, have been all but poached out and in the once great parks of northern C.A.R. Manovo Gounda St Floris, Bamingui Bangoran and Andre Felix NPs, wildlife has been seriously depleted in the latter park, I fear little if any large wildlife remains. While Zakouma’s wildlife has for the most part increased each year, the story over to the west in Waza in the far north of Cameroon, is one of decline, I believe that numbers of almost all the larger game species, have gone down and as a result of conflict with local herders, lions are on the verge of extinction there. While Zakouma is a great success, elsewhere in Chad parks like Manda, once home to giant eland have been overrun with livestock and the animals largely poached out, Zakouma is virtually all that is now left which is why it is such an important place. If there is a chance, that in more peaceful times the parks of C.A.R. can be saved, then Zakouma would likely be able to provide the animals needed to restock them.

 

 

Birds and Antelopes at Rigueik

 

 

During our stay at Camp Nomade, we had the opportunity to discuss some of the future plans for Zakouma with Rian and Darren, in particular the reintroduction of black rhinos, for sometime I’d had been meaning to add a post on this, but wasn’t too sure how much to say. It’s never been a secret that AP were planning to bring rhinos to Zakouma, it has always been their intention since they first took over, that they would do so when the time was right. However, as there wasn’t much information about their plans on the web, I felt that perhaps I shouldn’t say too much, but while I pondered how much to write on this @@Soukous beat me to it, with this thread Black rhino to be reintroduced in Chad. Though re-reading the Guardian article linked to. it doesn’t really give away a lot of details, so I think I probably shouldn’t say too much. I could have added the following to that thread, but I thought I would add it here as I’d originally intended.

 

Black Rhinos

 

Since Zakouma was established, the population trend for almost all of the park’s species has been upwards, with two notable exceptions being elephants and black rhinos. While the new security measures introduced after African Parks took over, has almost ended the brutal scourge of elephant poaching, allowing these animals to recover and increase once more, these measures came far too late for Zakouma’s rhinos, they disappeared decades ago.

 

 

The last western black rhino (Diceros bicornis longipes) seen and photographed in the park was in 1972, so it’s likely that the very last of these animals in Zakouma, was killed around then or not long after, in 1980 there were still thought to be 25 rhinos surviving elsewhere in Chad, but not for much longer. Remarkably up until sometime in the 80s, the Central African Republic still held one of the largest populations of black rhinos in Africa, but the seemingly neverending chaos and instability in that country, allowed these animals to be wiped out, their horns likely taken to Yemen to be carved into traditional jambiya dagger handles. A tiny handful of western blacks still survived, in the parks of northern Cameroon into the 90s, by the turn of the century the populations was put at <10 all in the Bouba Njida NP area on the border with Chad. There had been talk at one time of building a fenced rhino sanctuary in the north of Cameroon, as had been done successfully in Kenya, but to do this in Cameroon would have been much more difficult, so nothing ever came of this idea, likely it would have been already too late in any case. It was thought that perhaps at most 5 animals might survive on the border with Chad; one of the best rhino trackers in Africa, Jackson Kamwe from the Save Comservamcy in  Zimbabwe was flown to Cameroon and taken to Bouba Njida, after thoroughly searching the area, he reported that there was no evidence of any rhinos at all. To confuse matters Cameroonian rhino trackers concerned for their jobs, if it was revealed that all the rhinos were gone under their watch, were not only claiming that there were still surviving rhinos, but even went as far as to create fake rhino spoor, their efforts did not fool Jackson, who was helping to train them. 

 

How the Western Black Rhino Went Extinct

 

In 2005 the western subspecies, that could once be found in many thousands from the west bank of the Nile westards to at least the north east of Nigeria and even possibly at one time, as far as the east bank of the Niger River was declared extinct.

 

The western black rhino may be gone forever, but black rhinos will return to Zakouma, African Parks had in fact been hoping to bring the first rhinos back to the park this year, some of the travel articles written about Zakouma, early this year mentioned that rhinos were due to be returned. Three subspecies of black rhino still survive, the East African black (Diceros bicornis michaeli) the south central black (D. b. minor) and the Southwestern or Cape black (D. b. bicornis). For obvious geographical reasons the East African, would be the most closely related. Last year Rian said, that if they did reintroduce rhinos they would most probably bring in Eastern blacks, I understand that African Parks, were in negotiations with KWS to try and obtain some of these animals but the Kenyans were not willing to part with any. As they also, weren’t willing to provide animals for the rhino sanctuary in Mkomazi NP in Tanzania, right on their border it is perhaps hardly a surprise that they weren’t prepared to supply rhinos for Chad. The intention initially is to bring in 5-10 animals; several zoos Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic and Port Lympne in the UK, have sent East African black rhinos to Tanzania, but I doubt zoos could provide 5-10 animals. Also I would think, if they are able to source any East African blacks from zoos, the priority would be to send them to Akagera in Rwanda, rather than to Chad. Apart from being very slightly longer in the leg, hence the scientific name D. b. longipes there was probably very little real difference between the western black and the other subspecies, so with the western being entirely extinct, it is almost certainly academic, which race is actually introduced to Zakouma.

 

The plan had been to fly the rhinos into Zakouma this year, but obviously this could only be done during the short dry season, but having not been able to secure the animals from Kenya, there was no longer enough time. Now the rhinos will be sourced from South Africa, so I presume they will be south central blacks as this is the most numerous race, they will be flown to Zakouma next year and held in a boma prior to their eventual release. It might seem like madness, but at the moment while there are still enough rhinos left to gamble with, it’s worth the risk, in my view without taking risks like this, these animals will never be saved. The craziest thing about the whole idea of flying rhinos from South Africa to Chad, is that 10 years or so ago this would have seemed completely insane, but now not so much, the way things are with rhinos in SA at the moment, there are very good reasons for thinking that these rhinos will be much safer in Chad. To many people perhaps unaware of how bad the situation is in SA, this might still seem madness, but having visited Zakouma twice now, I believe these rhinos will be safer, than they would be in many parts of SA and no less safe in Chad, than they would be anywhere else in Africa, that they could be sent to.

 

Some of the articles mentioning the return of the rhinos, point out that this move will make Zakouma the closest ‘big five’ park to Europe, but I don’t really think that being able to claim this, will really have much bearing on tourism in the park. Except that successfully establishing a population of rhinos in Zakouma, would aside from being a huge achievement for African Parks, also send out a clear message as to how safe Zakouma now is, as some people may still be put off visiting because the park is in Chad. The likelihood, is that at least until the numbers have built up, these rhinos will simply disappear in to the thick bush and woodland only to seen very occasionally, if at all. Even so the thought of being able to sit quietly in the shade overlooking a pool on the Salamat and see a rhino come down to drink has considerable appeal to me, even if the chances of one actually seeing this are slim. Whether or not I return to try and find an elusive rhino someday, I think that this move is an extremely positive step for the park and I very much hope to be reading about the safe return of rhinos to Zakouma, sometime early next year.

Edited March 10, 2021 by inyathi

[jeremie]

Thanks for these very interesting adicional posts

[Marks]

Thanks for these very interesting adicional posts

 

Agreed. Thanks @@inyathi for continuing our Zakouma education. Hopefully the rhino project goes smoothly. You've painted an evocative image in my head of the relocated rhinos slipping safely away into the bush. May it become reality.

I also appreciate that extra-wide pano.

Edited September 24, 2015 by Marks

[inyathi]

Siniaka-Minia Faunal Reserve

 

Just 60 miles or so to the southwest of Zakouma as the crow flies is the 1,640 sq mile/4,260 sq km Siniaka-Minia Faunal Reserve created in 1965 to protect an important population of black rhinos. The plan is that this reserve should be upgraded to a national park which would then also be managed by AP if this goes ahead it would be an extremely important development for the wildlife of Chad and also for Zakouma.

 

Using Google Earth and MAPA (Mapping Africa’s Protected Areas) and Photoshop I’ve created a map, unfortunately MAPA have the boundaries of Zakouma wrong so I’ve had to redraw them and I had to draw on Siniaka-Minia Faunal Reserve having worked out where it is from another website Protected Planet. So the location of this reserve may not be absolutely exact but it should be close enough.

 

 

 

Unfortunately rhinos are not the only animals to have gone from the reserve, giant eland were once also found here but have now gone, populations of other animals may be depleted, but all of the other species that occur in Zakouma, including greater kudu are still present, with the possible exception of elephants.

 

Elephants may now be gone, in 2002 a survey counted 500 elephants, a 2013 survey counted none in the past during the wet season elephants would move from Zakouma to Siniaka-Minia and then return in the dry season. It’s possible that any remaining elephants may simply have left the reserve and moved to Zakouma at the time of the count, however, this would seem unlikely as in 2011 the count for Zakouma was just 454, the likelihood is that they were poached and any surviving elephants that did move to Zakouma would likely have stayed there, recognising that it was now a safer place to be. Where in the past Zakouma’s elephants would have dispersed in the wet season moving south to Siniaka-Minia or north to the Heban area, now they are tending to remain in Zakouma where they know they are safe. If the same level of security that Zakouma enjoys could be extended to Siniaka-Minia and a safe wildlife corridor established then the elephants might again start to move between the two. Recently four elephants were killed by poachers in Zakouma two cows were shot and two calves died later, this was Zakouma’s first poaching incident in 3 years it was expected that something like this would happen eventually. The current population is around 470 and they should have 20-30 calves a year so if the poaching can be kept to this low level then the parks elephants should continue to increase reaching the target population of 1,000 within about 20 years. After that numbers should still continue to rise, so allowing elephants to safely move to Siniaka-Minia again and to recolonise this reserve or new national park will be vitally important.

 

This report African Elephant Status Report 2007: An Update from the African Elephant gives estimates for elephants in various protected areas in Chad and has a map showing where these areas are. while the report is from 07 most of the figures given are from 2002 the figure of 3,885 for Zakouma is from an aerial count conducted by Mike Fay in 2005, in under a decade the park's population was reduced to just 430 and has now increased to about 470, outside of Zakouma the total population is put at only around 500 so there are now just under 1,000 elephants remaining in Chad.

 

I mentioned earlier in the report that wild dogs are occasionally seen in Zakouma ,but they are clearly very rare, I’m not really sure what their actual status in the park is, it may be that there are no packs resident in Zakouma, but that there are a few still living in the surrounding Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve that pass through the park on occasion. However, there are certainly dogs in Siniaka-Minia, because a pack of 20 wild dogs with pups was spotted there in July 2014, this sighting is very good news. Looking at The African Wild Dog: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan published back in 1997 it is suggested there were still a few wild dogs in the Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve in central Chad in the 1980s but these animals have likely disappeared. At the same time in the 80s the were said to be good numbers of dogs in both Manda NP and Siniaka-Minia but the situation in Zakouma was unclear and dogs might still be present there. It would seem very unlikely that any dogs survive now in Manda, because of the amount of livestock in the park, the fact that there are definitely still dogs in Siniaka-Minia is therefore very significant, the only other known population of dogs in Central Africa is in the Chinko Basin in southeastern C.A.R. they were declared extinct in Cameroon a few years ago and very few remain in West Africa.

 

On the 16^th and 17^thof March this year at Tinga a workshop on the conservation of cheetahs and wild dogs was held organised by The Northern, Western and Central Africa office of the Range Wide Conservation Program for Cheetah and African Wild Dogs, in collaboration with Chadian Wildlife Authorities. This was followed on the 18 and 19^th by a training session on the Monitoring and survey of large carnivores

 

Interestingly that report includes a map showing the movements of a collared cheetah in Zakouma, while there are cheetahs in Zakouma and in the Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve they are not often seen, I’m not too sure what the situation is in Siniaka-Minia, remarkably on all the distribution maps for cheetahs I’ve looked at Chad is completely blank. Whatever the case turning Siniaka-Minia into a properly protected park, would be good for any cheetahs that are there or are living nearby in the Bahr Salamat FR.

 

I haven’t been able to find a recent population estimate for lions in Siniaka-Minia, but they are certainly still present there, given the fate of lions across Africa at the moment securing this area would be a major boost for lion conservation in Central Africa.

 

If security can be brought up to the same level as Zakouma, then if the reintroduction of black rhino into Zakouma proves to be a success, sometime in the future they could be restored to Siniaka-Minia which is good rhino habitat. That though if it becomes a possibility, wouldn’t be for some years yet, a more immediate priority would to bring back the Lord Derby’s or eastern giant eland.

Edited March 10, 2021 by inyathi

[inyathi]

Giant Eland

 

The eastern giant or Lord Derby’s eland (Taurotragus derbianus derbianus) is not known to have been present in Zakouma, but It used to occur just to the south in the Bahr Salamat Faunal Reserve and in Siniaki-Minia and Manda NP, but is now extinct in all of these places. Although they were apparently not found in Zakouma, there is some suitable habitat in the park, so the plan was to introduce them, it was hoped that there might be a few surviving animals in Chad that could be captured and moved to safety of the park. However, surveys of areas where they might occur, suggest that the species is now entirely extinct in the Chad, finding a suitable source population to provide the animals for restocking might likely have proved difficult. However, last year African Parks took over the management of the Chinko Project in southeastern C.A.R. which is home to a population of giant eland, they will have control of this very important conservation area for the next 50 years. In recent years the population of giant eland at Chinko has declined, so obviously the priority will be to protect and build up this population, before moving any animals to Chad, I understand that the plan is to start an in situ captive breeding programme capturing about 20 eland and releasing them into a fenced area. Given time this could as well as boosting the eland population in Chinko, provide animals for restocking Siniaka-Minia and Zakouma, an area within Siniaka-Minia could be fenced off to create another captive breeding site, to allow the numbers to be built up safe from lions or other threats. Even though it may take a few years to increase the number of giant eland in Chinko, enough to be able to spare some of these animals, I'm confident in time they will return to Chad.

 

Hippopotamus

 

Parts of Zakouma, for me at least resemble Katavi NP in Tanzania, a park that is famous for its large population of hippos, so it is curious that these animals appear to be entirely absent from Zakouma, when and why they disappeared I don’t know, but hippos are the only other species missing from Zakouma. At present there are no plans to reintroduce hippos, translocating these animals is not that easy and there is still a population at Lake Iro (shown on the map in the previous post) which as the crow flies is under 40 miles from the Zakouma boundary and fed by a branch of the Bahr Salamat, I don't know how many there are there, but they should be able to recolonise Zakouma naturally, without too much difficulty, certainly if these animals are protected.

Edited June 2, 2020 by inyathi

[Game Warden]

@@inyathi Please do consider writing a review of the properties in which you stayed for the new Lodge and Camp review subforum. Thanks, Matt.

[inyathi]

In February of this year African Parks signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chadian government to assess the potential of Ennedi in the north up in the Sahara as a wildlife and cultural protected area. At the moment this area is perhaps more noted for its stunning landscapes, ancient rock art and desert peoples rather more than for its wildlife which in common with the rest of the Sahara has suffered from over hunting. As a first step towards restoring the wildlife of Ennedi, the plan is to reintroduce the red-necked or North African ostrich Struthio camelus camelus, as a species the common ostrich is still common, however, the type-subspecies the red-necked, has become increasingly endangered, becoming extinct or nearly so in several range states particularly in North Africa. In recent years a small number of these birds have been reintroduced to fenced reserves in Tunisia and Morocco and they have also been released into the wild in Saudi Arabia, to replace the Arabian ostrich Struthio camelus syriacus, this Middle Eastern subspecies is thought to have become entirely extinct in 1966. The red-necked race formerly occured throughout most of North Africa and across the Sahel region from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, now in many parts of West Africa, only small remnant populations of these birds remain. One of the largest populations of this race is now in Zakouma and soon some of these birds will be captured and taken north up to Ennedi, for a new life in the desert, perhaps in future other missing desert species will join them.

 

Unrelated to the work being done by African Parks, in the last few years the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi has assembled a special herd of scimitar-horned oryx Oryx dammah a species that was declared extinct in the wild in 1999, the last known wild oryx were seen in Chad. There is a large captive population of these oryx in the Gulf, but to ensure that this particular herd is as genetically diverse as possible, animals from zoos in Europe and the US have been carefully selected to join them. In partnership with the Sahara Conservation Fund, I believe this month October, the first group of these oryx will be flown from Abu Dhabi to Chad, where they will be released into the Oaudi Rimé-Oaudi Achim Faunal Reserve, that was home to the last wild herds of these beautiful antelopes. Over the coming years a total of 500 oryx will be brought to Chad and returned to the wild, scimitar-horned oryx have been reintroduced before in Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal, but all of these herds are inside fenced reserves, the oryx released into Ouadi Rimé will be completely free. the first truly wild scimitar-horned oryx, back roaming the southern fringe of the Sahara. If the first reintroduction does go ahead in the next few weeks I will start a new thread on the return of the oryx.

 

Over the years really very little attention has been paid to wildlife conservation in Chad, it wasn’t seen as a priority by Chadians, who took little interest in their country’s wildlife. The fantastic work being done by African Parks and also the Sahara Conservation Fund and others really demonstrates the importance and benefit of wildlife conservation and will I hope lead Chadians to take pride in their country’s wildlife. At one time Chad was regarded as the best hunting country in Francophone Africa, so there has always been trophy hunting, but the country has never had any sort of photographic safari tourism, really until now thanks to the opening of Camp Nomade. There has really been very little tourism to Chad at all, I remember ahead of last years’ trip reading what the Lonely Planet guide had to say about Chad and this comment stuck in my mind “Long seen by travellers as a place to get through rather than visit” well now this is certainly no longer the case and Chad really is becoming a place to visit. I hope that a small but steady stream of tourists to Zakouma and Ennedi will lead to further tourist developments in the future. Perhaps if African Park’s plans for Siniaka-Minia are realised. there will in the not too distant future be another ‘Camp Nomade’ there.

 

In last year’s report on the subject of birding I wrote the following

 

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While Zakouma is a great place for birding, it will probably never become a major birding destination because not quite all but almost all of the birds can be seen in both Cameroon and Ghana countries that are already established birding destinations both of which have many more species than Chad, 980 as already mentioned in Cameroon and in Ghana’s case 757. Birders wanting to add numbers to their life lists will visit these countries ahead of Chad. Aside from not having enough birds and no endemics, there are currently no bird guides in Chad, no one is offering birding tours to the country and for most birders Zakouma would be either too difficult or too expensive to get to.

 

 

It is I think still true that the country will never become a major birding destination but I am happy to report that I may be wrong otherwise because I’ve just discovered that BirdQuest are now offering a 23 day Chad Expedition though it's actually in two years time as the trip is in December 2017

 

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We will be visiting a series of areas in southern, eastern and northeastern Chad, including Zakouma National Park and Ouadi Rime & Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve.

 

 

In Zakouma they will stay at Tinga and in the OROA and elsewhere they will have their own simple camp, it's great to see that they will be visiting the OROA as well as other parts of Chad besides Zakouma that there are other tourist opportunities in the country. Maybe other birding groups will start to visit Chad as well aside from Zakouma being the best place to see the black-breasted barbet Chad may now be the best place to see the Nubian bustard and the fact that Waza NP in the far north of Cameroon is now largely off limits thanks to Boko Haram is an added reason to go to Chad to find some of the other regional specials. I didn't anticipate that anyone would be offering birding tours of Chad, sometimes it’s great to be proved wrong.

 

I know that few here will be able to visit Zakouma because of the cost of staying at Camp Nomade so it’s worth saying that this BirdQuest tour is twice as long as the Zakouma safari offered by Steppes Travel but still very considerably cheaper. They are not only staying at Tinga but as far as I can see the trip is entirely by road there are no flights so this would further reduce the cost, while this particular trip is for serious birders it does illustrate that driving to Zakouma and staying at Tinga is an option. Perhaps in time other travel agents/tour operators will start to offer similar trips driving to Zakouma that are not birding trips and for those desperate to visit the park but unable to afford Camp Nomade’s prices this could become realistic option to see a bit of the park along with other parts of Chad.

 

I really feel very optimistic about both conservation and tourism in Chad in the coming years, a country that if I hadn’t been there and seen it for myself, I might have written off as just a war torn expanse of desert, with no wildlife left. A country that no sane person would ever want to visit, rather than somewhere that should be near the top of everyone’s safari bucket list and I very much hope a country that will prove to be an example to other countries, in the more challenging parts of Africa.

Edited March 19, 2022 by inyathi

[Rwenzori]

@@inyathi Is the rhim gazelle (Gazella leptoceros) native of the Ennedi Plateau?

 

It is one of the few antelope species that has received almost no conservation attention in the wild so I hope that something can be done in northern Chad.

[Marks]

The price of that birding tour is quite reasonable for 23 days in such a special destination.

You have done a lot to open our eyes to the conservation work being done in Chad. I wonder how much harder these conservation programs have it when they have virtually no publicity compared to the big name tourist parks.

[Anomalure]

@@inyathi I saw the Birdquest tour summary a little while ago too. Surprised to see a birding tour going to Chad. Seems really interesting! Hope they find a lot of the stuff they're after -- it's truly expedition country out there...

 

@@Rwenzori As far as I know, Rhim Gazelles do not currently occur in Ennedi; they mainly occur in the ergs surrounding it and seem to favor sand dunes, not plateaus. The best place to see Rhim Gazelle is apparently Jebil NP in Tunisia. I believe the animals in Jebil are not reintroduced.

Edited October 2, 2015 by Anomalure

[jeremie]

To get further information about the Oryx reintroduction project in OROUA:

 

The scimitar horned oryx page on the Sahara Conservation Fund webpage describes the oryx reintroduction project in OROUA, Chad:

http://www.saharaconservation.org/?Scimitar-horned-Oryx-Chad

This the project proposal:

http://www.saharaconservation.org/IMG/pdf/Draft_Chad_Oryx_Proposal_12-2012_PWP.pdf

[jeremie]

I have two questions for you Rob.

 

APN estimates there is about 120 lions in Zakouma National Park.

 

I am wondering if this number could raise if the buffalo population continues to go up, as I understand that the 10.000 or so buffaloes is a number much lower than the estimations a long time ago. Do you have some information about the trend of the buffaloes herds in there.

 

My other question concerns the Aouk region. According to some maps APN gently gave me last year, it appears there is very few villages to the South-East of the park until the CAR frontier, a region that is nowadays depleted of wildlife. In the long term, is there any possibility that wildlife recover in the area, migrating naturally from the park to this region. This would be relevant to restore the Northern region of CAR. Of course, the process would be very very long.

I have actually no idea if this region is used by pastoralists or if there are some blanks on the map.