Chad '22: Return to the Wild

[Zarek Cockar]

Below is an excerpt from a TR I'm writing for a mammal-focused forum: 

 

"Species seen for the first time are in bold-type with the ASM-accepted binomial name italicised in parentheses.

 

Our first night upon arrival in N’djamena was spent at the Radisson Blu, which sits on the banks of the Chari River, looking south.  The following morning, I went out to do some casual birdwatching along the river and saw our first wild mammal of the trip – Common Hippopotamus – emerging from the river and grazing in amongst a herd of cows on the opposite bank.  I didn’t have my camera with me, or the presence of mind to attempt a cellphone photo.  We then flew out of NDJ via Zakouma National Park (to drop off some other travellers) on our way to Ennedi Cultural and Natural Reserve in the northeastern part of the country.  Obviously we saw plenty of wildlife from the plane as we flew into and out of Zakouma, but we didn’t see anything on this flight that we wouldn’t then see later when we actually visited Zakouma, so I’ll keep you in suspense until that part of the report.

By the time we landed in Ennedi, it was close to sunset, and we had a 2 hour drive to our campsite.  While the drivers were pushing hard to get to the campsite before it got too late, I did manage to identify a Gerbillus sp. Gerbil that ran across the road.  We also saw a number of Jerboas, which on another drive on a different day, I was able to positively identify as Lesser Egyptian Jerboas (Jaculus jaculus).  Finally, I was able to identify two Pale Foxes (Vulpes pallida) based on their ghost-like appearance and black-tipped tails. 

We spent 4 nights total in Ennedi, and explored much of the southern region of the reserve, focusing primarily on rock formations, rock art, culture, etc.  I continued birding and looking for mammals and mammal tracks.  While I won’t bore you with my bird lists, one notable bird is the Barbary or Red-necked Ostrich, which was once thought extinct in the area.  A couple of years ago, they were rediscovered in the park, and African Parks (who manage it) have introduced several more from Zakouma in the south to help bolster the population.  We managed to see 4 of these individuals, which was pretty special.  I reckon Ostriches and Crocodiles are “honorary mammals”.

We also had a couple of sightings of Patas Monkey (Erythrocebus patas), and I found their fresh tracks at almost every place we stopped and walked around.  While they’re obviously VERY shy, their population seems to be doing well.  On two occasions, we had distant views of Dorcas Gazelle (Gazella Dorcas), and at one location, I had a good view of a Rock Hyrax (Procavia capensis). The commonness of their presence was confirmed by good sightings of Verreauxs’ Eagles, whose diet consists primarily of hyrax, as well as multiple rock faces with classic hyrax whitewash.

Other tracks I was able to positively identify include Honey Badger/Ratel (Mellivora capensis), African Golden Wolf (Canis lupaster), and Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena).  Also of interest were tracks and quills of North Africa/Crested Porcupine (Hystrix cristata), which neither Mammals of Africa (Kingdon et. al, 2013) nor Stuarts Field Guide to African Mammals show for this area. 

We did one more night game drive before departing, and found more Jerboas, Gerbils, another Pale Fox, and Cape Hare (Lepus capensis)."

[Botswanadreams]

Hi @Zarek Cockar I'm glade you made it to Ennedi as a desert lover like you. This TR brings back very nice memories from our visit to Ennedi and Ounianga in 2019. Have you seen the Crocodiles in the Guelta d'Archei? We unfortunately failed. Was one of your drivers Ahmed Kamé? He was a really nice guy.   

[Kitsafari]

@Zarek Cockar that's interesting to see the variety of mammals (mostly small). i thought ennedi was mainly dry, sandy and rocky and only have limited number of pools. do the terrain support more diversity, and can support more density? 

[Kitsafari]

the rock formations in all your photos are quite surreal. i keep seeing a seated leopard, a silhouette of a lady with bundled up hair in cloth, a parallel row of faces forming that alley that you guys walked through, a Star Wars landscape when Luke Skywalker grew up in perhaps with less sand!

[gatoratlarge]

No more rocks!!! 😁😆😁 I realize that SafariTalk is all about the animals, wildlife and birds so you may be getting weary of all the landscape shots and rock formations but this was our last day in Ennedi and once again there was more spectacular scenery to try to absorb. We visited two areas with towering sandstone monuments rising above the desert dunes. This was a day we passed more burned out Gaddafi tanks and artillery shells on the desert floor, a small herd of Dorcas gazelles (a new species for me) and amongst the sandstone, the stone walled remains of an ancient settlement. 
 

The Ennedi is vast and in four days we covered only a small (but spectacular) portion. If I’m blessed to go back someday I might add one day to the Ennedi portion and do three days in the Bishigara region northwest of Fada and two nights in the area southeast of Fada to extend the exploration of the reserve. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe what we saw!

 

So the last trove of photos from me from Ennedi, @inyathiand @Zarek Cockarmight share some more and then to another highlight for us all of our expedition to Chad: Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim for which this TR is themed: Return to the Wild!

 

I enjoyed watching the nomads and their herds passing our campsite each morning. Here, with camels…

 

a last photo with our crew:

  

periodically we would pass a place where the nomads would stash their stuff like on this tree 😊

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They do tumble over on occasion 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by gatoratlarge

[inyathi]

I had been almost ready to add my next post, on Thursday, only to discover that I had lost my internet connection, my BT hub was flashing purple, this is never good. My broadband comes the old fashioned way via the same underground cable as my landline, a year ago the council I suspect accidentally cut through the cable as it is not very deep, unbelievably they have done the exact same thing again. BT were very quick to fix the phone line but my router is still not working and typically I cannot find the mini-hub that they gave me last year. These things always happen before a weekend, so inevitably BT could not send anyone out to have a look until tomorrow afternoon. 
 

Without being able to connect my PC to the web, I can’t continue uploading photos for a while. I did realise that I can access the web via my phone, I could attempt to post the photos already online, but I’d rather not, I’d prefer my next proper post to be as I was intending it to be, not whatever I might be able to cobble together from my phone. I just thought I would post this, in case anyone was wondering why I’ve not posted anything in the last few days. I hope normal service can resume tomorrow evening, once BT have discovered that the problem is not their router, but their dam cable that is not far enough underground and that they need to dig it up again and fix it properly.Then I hope I can try to catch up.

[gatoratlarge]

44 minutes ago, inyathi said:

I had been almost ready to add my next post, on Thursday, only to discover that I had lost my internet connection, my BT hub was flashing purple, this is never good. My broadband comes the old fashioned way via the same underground cable as my landline, a year ago the council I suspect accidentally cut through the cable as it is not very deep, unbelievably they have done the exact same thing again. BT were very quick to fix the phone line but my router is still not working and typically I cannot find the mini-hub that they gave me last year. These things always happen before a weekend, so inevitably BT could not send anyone out to have a look until tomorrow afternoon. 
 

Without being able to connect my PC to the web, I can’t continue uploading photos for a while. I did realise that I can access the web via my phone, I could attempt to post the photos already online, but I’d rather not, I’d prefer my next proper post to be as I was intending it to be, not whatever I might be able to cobble together from my phone. I just thought I would post this, in case anyone was wondering why I’ve not posted anything in the last few days. I hope normal service can resume tomorrow evening, once BT have discovered that the problem is not their router, but their dam cable that is not far enough underground and that they need to dig it up again and fix it properly.Then I hope I can try to catch up.

We’ve got nothing but time @inyathiso no rush. I look forward to your additions. My OCD wouldn’t allow me to stop posting till I was finished with The Ennedi 😁 hope you get reconnected soon as I look forward to your next posts 👍🏻

[AfricIan]

22 hours ago, gatoratlarge said:

No more rocks!!! 😁😆😁

But what rocks they are!!! 

[Botswanadreams]

@inyathi sorry to hear about your problems but you could use your phone as a Wi-Fi Hotspot for your PC. 

[TonyQ]

What an astonishing place, what an experience.

Beautiful photos and the combination of different voices works really well

[Zarek Cockar]

Just a few more from Ennedi from me.  "The Mask", a Jerboa, some more rocks (duh), and the creepiest scarecrow thingymajig I ever did see (more detail on that below)

 

No, but seriously, what is that thing? A figure standing on a distant rock, flapping in the wind caught my eye.  I looked through my binoculars and saw what looked like a person in a long gown, with the head of a vulture.  It was like something out of a horror movie (or at least my over-active imagination made me think so). Apparently it's not so much a scarecrow (there are no crops to scare crows away from), but more a marker for herders to almost "mark their territory" or find their way. We saw others elsewhere, but this was, by far, the creepiest thing I'd seen in a very long time.  The photo doesn't capture the wind flapping in the silence of the desert air. 

[Zarek Cockar]

I found it interesting how the weather changed while we were in Ennedi.  For the first 2 days, the weather was crisp and the air was super clear.  Visibility was excellent all day.  The temperature in the sun never seemed to go above 28-29 degrees, and it was super comfortable in the shade, even at midday. Then suddenly on the 3rd night, the air got stuffy, still, and full of some mix of sand and moisture.  The following morning was warmer, and the day was hotter.  Visibility dropped significantly, and everything just felt different.  Omar, the facilitator, mentioned this meant that winter was over and it was going to start getting hot.  It definitely was significantly hotter during the day, but our final morning before departure was certainly the coldest we experienced there. 

 

[Zarek Cockar]

On 3/25/2022 at 8:48 PM, Botswanadreams said:

Hi @Zarek Cockar I'm glade you made it to Ennedi as a desert lover like you. This TR brings back very nice memories from our visit to Ennedi and Ounianga in 2019. Have you seen the Crocodiles in the Guelta d'Archei? We unfortunately failed. Was one of your drivers Ahmed Kamé? He was a really nice guy.   

@Botswanadreams You know me well.  Wide open dry desert with no humans around..... perfect. We didn't have Ahmed-Kame as one of our drivers.  We had Ibrahim (works often/full-time with Adolfo), Issa, and Adam. 

We didn't see the crocodiles in the Guelta.  And honestly, I couldn't figure out where they could be!  We looked at almost every little nook and cranny around the water's edge.  The Guelta was, by far, my favourite spot.  

 

On 3/26/2022 at 6:28 AM, Kitsafari said:

@Zarek Cockar that's interesting to see the variety of mammals (mostly small). i thought ennedi was mainly dry, sandy and rocky and only have limited number of pools. do the terrain support more diversity, and can support more density? 

@Kitsafarilike most deserts, it holds more diversity than most people realize.  There aren't actually too many pools like what you see in the photos of the Guelta d'Archei.  Many of the animals get their water from human-dug wells or from the vegetation (feeding primarily in the wee hours of the morning before sunrise provides the most moisture). When it rains, there are many large Wadis/Ouadis, and a few small, flat pans that fill up with water.  But there's lots of interesting habitat, as much of the landscape is covered in a sparse layer of annual grasses, and is scattered with various trees and the rocks provide shelter for all sorts of species.  

I think with some good rangeland management (probably involving controlling the grazing patterns of the livestock), it could support significantly higher densities of game like Dorcas Gazelle & Ostrich, and potentially larger predators like Cheetah.  One potential issue I see is that there's a large feral donkey population, and without predators, they spread out and graze only the most palatable grasses.  One can't simply introduce cheetah, though, as the local Toubou would need to first change some of their herding practices (ie. leaving their sheep & goats out at night, not having a herder with them during the day, etc.) in order to avoid major conflict.  
But they could be rounded up, re-domesticated, and herded carefully in large, tight groups, to help encourage new growth. Once there's enough grass, you introduce more gazelles.  Once there are enough gazelles, you re-introduce cheetah. Pipe-dream?  Maybe.  

 

[inyathi]

@BotswanadreamsThanks for that suggestion, I should've thought of trying that, I did give it go but it didn't seem to work, however, it doesn't matter now as normal service seems to have been resumed, since the phone line was fixed, my BT hub had had a solid orange light, suddenly it started flashing this morning and then unexpectedly turned blue, meaning it's now working again, this was a surprise as they were sending some people to look at it in the afternoon. 

 

Inevitably as a consequence of my internet woes, I've had to start this post all over again 

 

 

View near camp

 

On our way to the Guelta we stopped at a nomad village to pick up the two girls who would be our local guides. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My climb was a bit more challenging, as I had weighed myself down with two DSLR cameras, one with my 100-400mm lens in a holster pouch on my belt and the other with my wide-angle lens in my hand and my bird book which would have been better left behind, but it wasn’t too difficult, you didn’t need to be as sure-footed as a Barbary Sheep, the girls were after all, as mentioned earlier just wearing flipflops. I always wear sandals unless instructed not to, and had no trouble on the climb up or down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World's strongest man

 

 

Schokari or Forskal Sand Snake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not at all good with heights and it was quite windy in the Guelta so I opted not go and sit on the edge as the others had done as it looked quite tricky to reach the prime spot, though I’m sure the views were amazing, I opted to spend most of my time standing back from anywhere near the edge while I took photos, I took my hat off to stop it flapping in the wind and put the strap around a rock just in case. For some reason, the original plan had been to go back the way we had come in and climb back up out of the Guelta, Josep and Zarek went down to the water to have a look before we left, and I decided to join them, wanting to see the Guelta from the bottom, the others then arrived not many minutes later, we then had a discussion with and asked the Omar from Eyte, why we couldn’t just walk out through the bottom of the Guelta, it only meant wading a short distance through shallow water. The water does have the last few rare crocodiles in it, but they avoid people and are apparently not that big, there wouldn’t be enough food for them in the Guelta, for them to grow really big. We then saw that the Le Treg ultramarathon was running through the Guelta, so there were various Le Treg officials and African Parks RNCE rangers in the bottom of the Guelta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@gatoratlarge's video gives a good impression of what a spectacular place the Guelta is, we certainly would have seriously missed out, had we gone back the way we’d come in. The walk out wading through the cool water, was far more pleasant than climbing back out would have been, even if we were walking barefoot on camel dung.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had hoped, besides seeing the last crocodiles, that herds of camels would come into the Guelta before we left and that canyon would be echoing with the bellows of large numbers of camels, as they came to drink, however, this is not an every day occurrence, in part because there are now more sources of water besides the Guelta, nomads today have access to pumps, so they don’t have to take their camels to the Guelta. Even without being packed with drinking camels it is still an extraordinary place, and somewhere that I am very glad to have visited.  

 

 

 

The cliffs provide a perfect home for Barbary Falcons

 

They also provide a home for Rock Hyrax I struggled to spot them, they’re not at all easy to see but there are two in this photo, but having reduced the size of this shot they are not easy to find.

 

 

 

 

Just after we had walked out of the Guelta and were all heading into the shade of the trees, a small herd of camels appeared so we all had to run back to try and get some photos of them drinking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile since we had walked out through the Guelta we had not arrived back where we started from so Omar had to phone the drivers to come and collect us, they gave us some nice hot local tea, before driving us back to camp for lunch.

 

The tents at camp were out in the full sun all day, so they did get pretty hot inside even with the door and all the vents open, so during my siesta I found a nice little shaded rock shelf to sit on at the entrance to a small cave, just a short walk away, read my book and enjoyed the view.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next to where I was sat was a quern stone for grinding grain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horses at Terkel Cave

 

 

Galloping horses and what appears to be a giraffe

 

 

There appears to be a galloping horse followed by a line of mostly cattle, above them is what has to be a cheetah

 

 

Cheetah

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cow 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Livestock patently waiting for water, when I looked into one of these concrete water troughs, I saw that it was empty, they are filled with water from a pump housed inside a tin shed, but the pump was not working, so there was no water. These animals included some of the very few cattle we saw in Ennedi, providing water this way at least when the pumps are working, is one reason why you can’t be guaranteed to see camels in the Guelta, it may also be entirely due to pumps that there are at least some cattle in Ennedi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Zipper

 

 

 

 

Champignons 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier on the cliffs of the Guelta, we had seen a few Rock Hyrax and now soaring above these champignons we saw their principal predator the Verreaux Eagle, a pair of them circled around right above us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mask

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zarek was very keen that before we left Ennedi, we should do at least one night drive, however, we didn’t have a spotlight we only had torches and it was obvious that going out in three cars would make no sense, that would never work, but as this was our last night it was now or never. If I am offered a night drive, I’m always up for it, although I know from experience that some can be amazing and you see extraordinary things and some can just be deadly dull and you see nothing at all or nothing interesting, usually the most you can hope for is for a drive somewhere between the two. Most of the group opted out so only myself, Josep and Zarek went, we didn’t really know what we might see if anything at all, but we hoped we might get lucky and perhaps see a Fennec Fox, or maybe a Striped Hyena or some Honey Badgers as we had seen spoor of these last two species. In fact we saw very little except for some Cape Hares and a number of Egyptian Jerboas, and then at the back of one of the “mountains” in front of camp, we saw a Pale Fox running away, but I only caught the briefest of glimpses and would not have known what it was if Zarek hadn’t told me. Despite seeing very little, I was glad to have done it and not to leave Ennedi wondering what I might have seen, if only I had gone out at night, but I think the rest of the group made the right choice.

 

 

 

Lesser Egyptian Jerboa (Jaculus jaculus) I think

 

In the run up to this trip, I had decided that a tripod might be quite useful for photographing the extraordinary landscapes, I don’t normally travel with one, when I bought my tripod, I feared that I might regret bringing it, I did slightly, partly because I’d rejected the smallest model thinking it would be too short and had bought the next size up. What I inevitably found was that most of the time it was slightly too much hassle to use it and much easier just to leave it in the car, I had wisely not even considered taking it to the Guelta. One of the main reasons I wanted it, was to take better stitched panoramas, but most of the panoramas I've posted were just taken handheld not with my tripod, I guess I just took them more carefully than I have done in the past. I made use of it in camp and had a go at taking some star photos, but didn’t really know what I was doing, I really needed to have watched a few videos on the subject. The stars are another of the highlights in Ennedi, the night sky is often great in Africa, but here it was really special, because at night our dining table was right out in the open, there were no trees to obscure our view and of course no clouds, and best of all no light pollution. In the UK seeing the stars well, is a challenge, because even if you find a clear night, the light pollution means it is never totally dark almost anywhere, so you never get a proper view. I don’t imagine any tourist visiting Ennedi, would be able to see the stars anywhere near as well, back at home, unless they live in the middle of nowhere.

 

 

 

 

Will now try to catch up with a last post from Ennedi

Edited July 8, 2022 by inyathi

[inyathi]

 

 

 

Camp

 

As mentioned earlier we moved around between the vehicles so we each sampled the different driving styles of Eyte’s drivers and got to enjoy their music or not, having a liking for African music and music from the Saharan region, I didn’t mind the music save for the ultra-high-pitched ululating which got a bit much, the issue was that the drivers who were especially keen on their music, would play the same songs over and over. As for the driving there were moments when if I was in the last car, we would suddenly be going so fast, rapidly gaining on the next car, that it wasn’t clear if he was trying to catch up with the car in front or intending to overtake them. Ennedi is a vast place, you really need to know your way around to find all of the sites that we visited, it wouldn’t be too hard to get lost, I think some of the drivers didn’t know their way around well enough, so if it looked like the cars up ahead were about disappear out of sight, whoever was driving the last car would seriously put their foot down to catch up. This point was illustrated on the final morning when the car I was in went a different way to the other cars, I’d seen which way they had gone, but unbeknownst to us our driver hadn’t, I thought he was just making a particularly wide turn and would then follow the others and was very surprised when he didn’t, we then had to point out that the others had not come this way and tell him where they had gone, fortunately we found them again quite quickly. This led me to think that it was fear of getting lost, that led to some of the slightly erratic and overly fast driving.

 

 

I haven't found any free Chadian music, but I did find some free Senegalese Kora music by Youssoupha Sidibe on the Free Music Archive website, it's a bit more melodic, I just needed another minute or two of video footage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pinnacles of Wimini

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chad doesn’t have a huge long list of birds, I think most of the species it does have can be seen in Eastern Africa, many of the rest can be seen in West Africa, having done some birding in Ethiopia, in Uganda and recently in Ghana, on top my two previous visits to Zakouma, there were not actually that many birds to be found that I had not already seen. I really had just two big birding targets for this trip, although there were a few other species I was hoping to see as well, but what I wanted to spot above all else was a Nubian Bustard and African Scissor-tailed Kite. The Nubian Bustard is an exclusively Saharan/Northern Sahel bird found from Mauretania across to the Red Sea and Chad happens to be the best place to see it, largely because it is actually the easiest and possibly safest place to visit within its range, it may be okay to visit Mauretania, but you wouldn’t want to go to Mali or to Niger, nor probably Sudan. I hoped to see both birds in OROA, but I wondered if I might get lucky in Ennedi as we drove through a lot of what looked like good bustard habitat, on our final morning, we did finally spot some bustards, Zarek who was in a different car saw what he thought were some Arabian bustards, I saw what was definitely a Nubian Bustard, but despite seeing it fly and then land, we couldn’t find it again and I didn’t get a photo. I only saw the one bird, so I don’t know if there were some Arabian bustards there as well, our cars were a little distance apart, so Zarek could well have been looking at different birds to the one I saw. Even if I hadn’t got a photo, I was glad to have ticked it off, as it would take the pressure of having to find one in OROA. Then as we kept driving, we spotted a herd of Dorcas Gazelles that took off at speed and disappeared into the distance, it was pretty hot at this time so getting any decent photos was tricky, but at least on this occasion I think everyone saw them. Although I was sure we would see more in OROA.

 

 

Dorcas Gazelles

 

In amongst the rocks at the last place we stopped, were some low circular dry stone walls, these we were told were the remains of ancient houses. They weren’t much to look at, but what struck me, is that the people living in Ennedi today are nomads who are constantly moving in search of grazing for their livestock, if you are always on the move, you don’t build houses out of stone. This thought suggested to me, that whoever had built and lived in these stone houses, had been sedentary rather than nomadic and were perhaps farmers or there was enough grazing for their livestock, that they didn’t have to move large distances, that the houses perhaps dated from the African Humid Period, because you could not farm there today nor would you find any permanent grazing for livestock. The rock pillars may have been the same, but the landscape around them would have been very different. There was a moment when Zarek set off with the local guide and I followed, that called to mind the motto of the French Foreign Legion Marche ou Mort, I thought as we strode out across the sand under the blazing sun, that we must be mad. When we got back to the cars some of the rest of the group who had not come with us, had already started lunch which was tinned tuna sandwiches.          

 

 

 

Abaiké or Awayké

 

 

 

 Ancient house

 

 

 

 

 

Rock Hyrax skull

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

March or Die

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

 More Libyan tanks at Bir Kora

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eyte's drivers

 

 

 

Before I depart Ennedi for OROA, I should say that there was no means of battery charging provided, so you had to ensure that you had sufficient power to last the duration, I had no concerns, as I always carry three batteries for each of my cameras, and for the first time, I now have two DSLRs, that use the same battery, so I had four spare batteries that could go in either camera. Like I suspect most people, I think the batteries made by the big camera brands are too expensive, so I don’t buy Canon batteries as spares, I buy other cheaper brands usually having read loads of reviews on Amazon, in the hope that the reviews are genuine and I will get good batteries, but I always think it is worth having several spares, just in case one turns out to be duff and won’t hold its charge. I had also taken a power bank with me, and bought a USB charger that can hold two batteries, (mainly for use later at Tinga in Zakouma), when I tested my power bank for charging camera batteries with this charger, it charged one battery and I reckon about 75% of the other one. As it happens, I didn’t need to use it, as I had enough batteries, but it could have been useful for recharging my phone or my iPad if I needed to do that, so it is quite a good thing to have, on this sort of trip.

 

I can I think say that I loved almost every minute of my time in Ennedi, there were some minor downsides, without wishing to go into details, the camp toilet was not great, the shower was a little basic but okay for a quick wash, there was no laundry, but this was a small price to pay. By necessity the food was a little basic, mostly pasta but we were after all camping in the Sahara Desert and in Chad, so we couldn’t expect 5-star food, the freshly-baked flatbread we were given was nice, but baked in the sand so it always tasted slightly gritty. We had been told that if we wanted alcohol to bring our own, I had neglected to do so, because I was already quite well over the luggage weight limit and wouldn’t have had time at LHR to buy a bottle of anything anyway. We understood that it should be possible to buy beer in Fada, but our attempts to have someone go and buy some beers were unsuccessful, some of the team had had the foresight to bring a bottle of rum and some bourbon  

 

I wouldn’t complain about any of this, it was what I would have expected, but it did mean that by the end we were ready to move on, although I’m sure we only saw some of the best that Ennedi has to offer and didn’t really scratch the surface, with regard to what there is to see, but then some sites would have been just too remote and far away for us to reach.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Ennedi 

Edited July 8, 2022 by inyathi

[offshorebirder]

Thank you @gatoratlarge, @inyathi and @Zarek Cockar (AKA Armchair Bushman) for this fine trip report.

 

I am very jealous of the Jerboa sightings and the Nubian Bustard in particular.   And I would dearly love to see a Dorcas Gazelle.

 

Too many jaw-dropping photos to comment upon - but I really like the Zarek/Atlas photo of him "holding up a rock wall".

 

Interesting how Black Eagles, which hunt hyrax, are dark, with yellow bills and pale underwing carpal crescents - like Verreaux's Eagles in East Africa, which also hunt Hyrax.

 

 

[inyathi]

@offshorebirderSorry I've confused you, I used the wrong name , Black Eagle was an alternative name for Verreaux Eagle (Aquila verrreauxii), but Verreaux is the correct name, because there is an unrelated Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malaiensis) in tropical Asia, the name Black Eagle should be reserved for this Asian species, I was so keen to get that post up, that was being forgetful when I typed in the name, I've now gone back and changed it to the correct name. Normally, I try to make sure I'm always using the current name, even for birds that I've always known by a different name, but sometimes as in this case I forget.   

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by inyathi

[Zarek Cockar]

@inyathiThanks for the additions above!  Great photos and detailed storytelling.

Re: Bustards - The first 2 we stopped for were definitely Nubian.  When we stopped the second time, there were two Nubian on our left, and 2 Arabian on our right. 

I was so wary of my strong desire to see Arabian that I did a double and triple take to make sure I wasn't turning a Nubian into an Arabian in my mind. 

Obviously Nubian is a more special bird, but I hadn't seen either before, so once I'd seen one, I was keen to see the other!  

I had no idea I'd see both species so well and so frequently over the next 24hrs in OROA. 

[Botswanadreams]

Thanks all so much to bring me back to Ennedi throughout your report. The fly inn looks like a nice way to get easy to a restricted but beautiful part of Ennedi but if I compare it with our two weeks trip by road to both Ennedi and Ounianga lakes I would prefer this way again. Sorry. 

 

For charging the camera butteries and the mobile phones from the crew we had our own power inverter and used the cigarette lighter during driving. This worked very well on all our camping trips.  

 

 

Zarek when you look from this point down to the right you should see the water pools from the spring. This is the place were the crocs should be but I wasn't able to locate the exact place were they caught three of them in early 2019. I was told by African Parks stuff after our trip that the very early morning or the late evening should be the best time to have a chance. My feeling is that the Guelta d'Archei has more water than in 2019.  

[Zarek Cockar]

8 minutes ago, Botswanadreams said:

Thanks all so much to bring me back to Ennedi throughout your report. The fly inn looks like a nice way to get easy to a restricted but beautiful part of Ennedi but if I compare it with our two weeks trip by road to both Ennedi and Ounianga lakes I would prefer this way again. Sorry. 

 

For charging the camera butteries and the mobile phones from the crew we had our own power inverter and used the cigarette lighter during driving. This worked very well on all our camping trips.  

 

Zarek when you look from this point down to the right you should see the water pools from the spring. This is the place were the crocs should be but I wasn't able to locate the exact place were they caught three of them in early 2019. I was told by African Parks stuff after our trip that the very early morning or the late evening should be the best time to have a chance. My feeling is that the Guelta d'Archei has more water than in 2019.  

@BotswanadreamsFlying in certainly did give us a fantastic overview of the landscape overall. Arriving near sunset meant the colours, as we approached, were amazing.  But yes, you and I are similar.  In some ways, it may be nice to fly in and drive out.  We didn't get to the Ouinanga Lakes unfortunately.  I would have like to visit. 

 

I had a cigarette lighter charger for phones and power banks, but it wouldn't have worked for camera batteries.  If it wasn't for the weight restrictions for the flights, I would have perhaps carried my little inverter, which would have worked. 

 

We walked down to the water there on the right where the spring is, and I got into the water there up to my thighs, but no sign of the crocs.  We also heard that early morning was the best, and although we left early and started walking early, I think by the time we got to the viewpoint over the guelta, it was around 11am, so probably too late. 

[gatoratlarge]

One of the cool things about this trip was it not only combined the two African Parks protected areas: Ennedi and Zakouma, it also included a night at Base Camp Oryx at Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim (OROA) which is a reintroduction effort of Saharan wildlife in Central Chad that had previously become extinct in the wild or largely hunted out in the wild.  The effort is being led by The Sahara Conservation Fund.  
 

Before we took off from Fada we had hoped to drive through the town since it’s really the only outpost in that part of Chad, but our pilot was 30 minutes early and we headed straight from lunch to the airstrip. 
 

We landed at the airstrip for Camp Oryx flying over what was surprising for me, golden grasslands!  Miles and miles and miles of it. It’s a place with no permanent water so it’s inhabitants must be well adapted to the environment and get all the water they need from their diet through vegetation. 
 

We were greeted by the research staff and drivers and I believe the head of the project, Mark. He was a veteran of several African Park outposts. Before we had even reached camp, we had spotted many Dorcas gazelles. We also saw Scimitar horned oryx and on our afternoon game drive, Addax. The camp itself is very efficient with converted shipping containers as offices, and a place to sleep for staff, solar and wind powered. There were proper toilets and showers. Our tents were  pitched just outside the gate. 
 

Our cook from Ennedi had gone ahead with our ground handler and set camp and our meals were cooked separately from the Camp Oryx staff. 

Seeing previously “extinct in the wild” antelope reintroduced into their native habitat was a great thrill and as I said before, I added six new species just by visiting OROA. and a night drive was very productive. I was ecstatic to see wild dama gazelles — Mark said there was a remnant population and they are drawn to the dama gazelles that are in large enclosures and not yet released. I think they said one male had wandered in to the enclosure on his own volition and resides with the captive gazelles. 
 

Some pics from our short stay in OROA:

Golden wolves

Scimitar horned oryx 

 

 

Dorcas gazelles

 

Ruppell’s vultures nested in the scant trees

 

These wild melons sustain life in OROA as they provide all the water the antelope need to survive 

Barbary ostrich

My camera is terrible at night but we spotted these two wild dama gazelles on our night drive

 

these two were captive in a large enclosure — I believe they hope to breed them and add to the numbers of dama gazelles before fully releasing them in the reserve. 

Closer look at the addax which were quite relaxed. 

Addax

 

 

lots of babies!

 

 

Threats include nomads burning grass for their livestock.  This is fine for the grass but kills the wild melons the antelope depend upon for water. The Sahara Conservation Fund has put fire breaks trying to protect much of the reserve but they are trying to educate the locals why they should not burn indiscriminately.  
 

Human trafficking is also a potential problem as many people cross the reserve to reach Libya and beyond trying to get to Europe and a better life often trafficked by disreputable dealers that abuse them and extort them when they reach Libya. 

Edited March 29, 2022 by gatoratlarge

[Treepol]

OROA looks like a very worthwhile project, so many rare species doing well there. Lots of baby addax is a positive outcome!

[Zarek Cockar]

Here's a further excerpt from my mammal report with some edits for context:

From here (Ennedi/Fada) we moved on for one night at the Sahara Conservation Fund (SCF) HQ in Ouadi Rime-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve (OROA for short), south of Ennedi.  This area sits on the gradient between true Sahara and Sahel grasslands. The substrate is generally thick sand, but covered in annual and weak perennial grasses. Whereas Dorcas Gazelle had been a rarity and something to get excited about in Ennedi, it proved almost as common in OROA as Thomson’s Gazelle in the Mara-Serengeti.  What we’d come here to see primarily were three extremely rare, near-extinct antelope that the SCF is reintroducing to this area.  Just before getting to the SCF HQ, we were rewarded with our first sighting of Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah).  Almost extinct in the wild until 2016, the population in OROA is now upto almost 500 individuals through a combination of a series of captive-bred releases and very successful post-release wild breeding.  They will continue to release more from various collections/zoos until the total captive-release number reaches 500 (so the total population will be much higher with all the successful wild breeding going on). You can read more about their work here. 

Above: Scimitar-horned Oryx (Oryx dammah) with a Florida Gator (Homo sapiens gatorii)

 

 

Once we settled into camp, we went out again for a short drive, where we found a couple more groups of Oryx and had 2 great sightings of African Golden Wolf (my camera battery was dead and I wouldn’t have a chance to charge it until that evening).  After dinner, 3 of us went out again with the head of SCF in Chad for a night drive.  We had a great sighting of Pale Fox, very close to the vehicle, clear views of what I suspect to be the same Gerbillus sp. Gerbil from Ennedi, Cape Hare, African Wild Cat (Felis lybica) – successfully hunting the Gerbils, and 2 distant, totally wild (not captive releases) Dama Gazelles (Nanger dama).  This was another one of the 3 we’d specifically come to see, but we didn’t actually think we had much of a chance of seeing totally wild ones.  This area used to be a stronghold for them, and they ranged across most of the southern edge of the Sahara, but their numbers have plummeted, and there are very few places you can see original population wild ones. I think there may be an estimated 100 wild Dama Gazelles left in the wild across their range.  SCF is working to change that with a reintroduction programme in OROA, and a couple of other places.  We did get to see some of the captive-bred Damas set for breeding and subsequent release in their large enclosures, but seeing 2 wild individuals was just massive.

The following morning, we set out early and covered a lot of ground before we finally managed to find our third target, Addax (Addax nasomaculatus).  All the adult Addax in OROA are captive-bred releases, but they’re breeding very well and the herds are growing very quickly with new, wild births.  SCF will continue to introduce more Addax from various collections and zoos around the world in order to ensure sufficient genetic diversity for population health.  At the moment, there are just under 100, if I remember right.  At one point, I saw a small, elongated mammal running across the ground and then disappear into a burrow.  I couldn’t get the driver to stop quickly enough to get my binoculars onto it before it disappeared, but I’m 90% sure it was a West African/Striped Ground Squirrel (Xerus erythropus).  Couldn’t count it on the list without being sure, though.  We continued to see several herds of Oryx and Dorcas Gazelle throughout the morning. 

 

Above: Addax (Addax nasomaculatus) with two different Florida Gators (Homo sapiens gatorii)

 

Although we didn’t see any additional mammals, we did find several fresh digs from Aardvark, which the rangers and SCF guys confirmed as common, along with signs of honey badger.  They also confirmed Zorilla and Caracal are common, but Serval is uncommon.  I could have happily stayed in OROA at least one more night and done another night drive.  One of my biggest disappointments was that when I was packing in Nairobi, I left my powerful red-filtered spotlight (which connects to the car’s cigarette lighter) at home due to luggage weight restrictions on the small internal flights.  In reality, I think I could have gotten away with it, as they really weren’t too strict with the baggage weight since we had a whole Cessna Caravan to ourselves. So the lighting on our night drives (both in ennedi and here) consisted of one little LED flashlight on either side of the vehicle, with a pretty weak beam.

One hurdle SCF faces is the encroachment of livestock in the reserve.  Cattle, goats, sheep, and camels are common, though from my East African perspective, not in numbers large enough to be an issue. Once the Chadian government gave SCF the remit to run the reserve, they were clear that any settlements that had historically been within the boundaries of the reserve (all 78,000 KM²) would be allowed to stay, but no new settlements would be allowed to develop.  Water is obviously a major issue, and almost all the animals get their water from the Citrillus colocynthis gourd/melon (see @gatoratlarge's post with photos above) that grows across the landscape.  Overutilisation of this resource by livestock is a potential issue for the wildlife, as well as fire, which wipes out the Citrillus. 

 

Above: My poor attempt at a photo of an Arabian Bustard.  Been hoping to see one of these for years in Northern Kenya, where they're rare vagrants.

 

Above: Marvel at my supreme photographic skills with this piece I call: "Dama Gazelle At Night"

 

I absolutely loved the birding in OROA, despite not logging too many species - probably no more than 30 in total.  We had good views of both Nubian and Arabian Bustard, and for me the tree-nesting Ruppell's Vultures were a big highlight.  I'd seen Cricket Warblers in Ennedi, but @inyathiand I had some very nice views of them here as we waited at the airstrip to fly to Zakouma.  

Above: Cricket Warbler/Longtail (Spiloptila clamans)

 

I'll let @inyathitell you about the raptor highlight of OROA, a bird he'd been hoping to see for a long time.  I'm sure he has better photos, too, so I'm not going to share mine unless he says his are all terrible (which I'd find hard to believe). 

[Kitsafari]

stunning beautiful antelopes! 

 

[gatoratlarge]

I was having a bit of trouble posting some pics from my cell phone which are HEIC files instead of jpeg (I’m not too technically savvy) but I thought I’d post just a few more from OROA so you could get a feel for the base camp etc…

 

you can see our tents pitched just outside Base Camp Oryx:

nomads passing by…

 

Passenger lounge at the OROA airstrip 😁

these seemed to be wild camels 🐪 but perhaps nomad herds feeding

Male Dorcas gazelles:

 

Some video of OROA:

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by gatoratlarge