Chad

Chad runs from the Sahara in the north to the Sahel in the centre to the more fertile south, a vertical transect through climates that have little to do with each other. Lake Chad, which once gave the country its name and its water, has shrunk by ninety percent in fifty years - one of the most visible climate disasters on earth, visible from space. N'Djamena is a Sahelian capital built on the logic of a river crossing. The Ennedi Plateau in the northeast holds sandstone arches and rock art that rival anything in the Sahara, in a landscape that very few people have stood in.

Travel advisory Border regions and the north carry significant security risks. Check current conditions before planning travel.

Our guide is being written from the ground up, with the time this place deserves.

We are still gathering the notes that make a guide worth keeping: Ennedi plateau routes, Lake Chad fishing communities, N'Djamena's riverside and the logistical groundwork that honest travel in this part of the Sahel requires.