Chad is that naughty cousin with many bad vices that our parents don’t want you to hang out with him.
Why should you visit Chad?
When you come to
Chad
, you will see something like, “we welcome you to Chad with open arms.
Chad is safe and welcoming.
Chad is the world’s 21st biggest country (496,000 square miles)”
The Sahara
Desert is located north of Chad
.
The only introduction I can give it is that it is an expanse of dust and dramatic desolation.
The place that requires a detailed introduction is the Sudanian Savanna.
The Savanna dominates the south of Chad.
It can simply be described as a broad belt of tropical grassland that runs through the continent of
Africa
.
It runs from Nigeria’s Atlantic coast in the west to the Highlands of
Ethiopia
in the east.
The meat eaten in the Sahara region comes from the semi-arid Sahel belt.
The location of N’Djamena, the Chadian capital, is almost at the point where the Sahel and the Savanna meet.
Is Chad Worth Visiting?
Absolutely, Chad is worth visiting for the adventurous traveler seeking authentic cultural immersion and direct contact with nature.
Chad has incredible desert landscapes, ancient cultural sites, vibrant modern cities, and welcoming people proud to share their country.
Experiencing this rarely-visited nation firsthand provides an insight into real life in Africa beyond stereotypes.
Encountering both Chad’s challenges and its vision for the future will expand your perspectives.
While travel in Chad is not for everyone, the intrepid traveler will find exploring this unspoiled country incredibly rewarding.
The lack of tourism infrastructure provides a remote experience not found in many nations today.
Chad asks visitors to have an open mind, patience, and cultural sensitivity.
If you possess these qualities, visiting Chad will reshape your assumptions through life-changing adventures, cultural exchange, and touching the resilience of the human spirit.
Adventure
You can have an incredible adventure in Chad’s massive Sahara Desert, with its endless dunes, rugged mountains, and rock formations that create stunning landscapes unlike anywhere else on Earth.
Trekking through the red stone arches and spires of the Ennedi Plateau is an unforgettable desert experience.
You can go on a 4WD excursion deep into the wilderness of the Tibesti Mountains.
Riding a camel through the Ounianga sand dunes and spending the night camping under a sky bursting with stars will create lifelong memories.
Chad’s Zakouma National Park offers the chance to see elephants, giraffes, lions and leopards thriving in a rugged wilderness setting.
With few tourists, you’ll be able to immerse yourself in raw adventure far away from crowds on journeys challenging both physically and mentally.
Culture
In Chad’s vibrant capital N’Djamena, you can hear over 100 languages spoken as you explore bustling markets where traditional handicrafts like baskets, drums, pots and leatherwork are sold.
You can visit incredible mosques like the Grande Mosquée to appreciate Islamic architecture.
The Chad National Museum will give you insights into the diverse cultures of Chad’s over 200 ethnic groups through displays of clothing, masks, jewelry and more.
By traveling to rural villages like Larmanaye, you’ll experience traditional rural life and hospitality where little seems to have changed for centuries.
Every region of Chad has different cultural traditions, music, food and architecture for you to discover.
Nature
Camel trekking through Chad’s remarkable Saharan landscapes lets you experience some of the harshest yet most beautiful desert environments on the planet.
At Lake Chad, you can join local fishermen on their boats and see waters teeming with Nile perch, carp and more.
Herds of elephants, giraffes, lions, hippos, zebras and hundreds of bird species roam in Zakouma National Park, one of Africa’s last great wilderness areas.
You can search for rare species like the red-fronted gazelle or Libyan striped hyena with local guides.
Endemic birds like the Zenker’s honeyguide inhabit wetlands along Chad’s migratory routes.
By visiting Chad, you have the chance to experience some of Africa’s most remote, pristine and biodiverse natural areas.
History
At archaeological sites like the 7,000-year-old Niola Doa rock paintings, you can stand in awe of Chad’s ancient heritage.
In the capital N’Djamena, colonial architecture along the Chari River tells the story of France’s influence, while Independence Square celebrates Chad’s sovereignty.
The National Museum gives you an incredible overview of Chad’s history and cultures from the stone age through independence.
Despite decades of conflict, Chad’s welcoming and resilient people keep their cultural traditions alive, which you can experience firsthand by engaging with communities.
Trade
By traveling along historic Trans-Saharan trade routes, you gain appreciation for Chad’s vital role as a trading hub and crossroads between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa for centuries.
In lively markets and caravanseries in cities like Abeche, you can imagine yourself at the center of old Saharan trade networks exchanging salt, textiles and more.
Chad’s position bordering Libya, Nigeria, Sudan and more makes it a dynamic place to experience cross-cultural exchange and trade throughout history until today.
Activism
While experiencing Chad’s cultural and natural highlights, you can also spend time learning from grassroots activists across the country.
Whether supporting healthcare, education, conservation, women’s rights or community development, Chadians are working hard to improve life in their country despite severe challenges like poverty.
By volunteering, you gain hands-on perspectives while giving back.
Simply interacting with people offers insights into their resilience, creativity and hope.
Diplomacy
As home to the African Union headquarters and other continental bodies, Chad plays an important diplomatic role you can witness firsthand.
By arranging visits to institutions like the AU, you gain behind-the-scenes insights into initiatives for African cooperation, stability and development that rarely make headlines abroad.
Chad struggles with its own difficulties even as it hosts diplomatic efforts, giving you a complex perspective.
Resilience
Despite decades of conflict and instability, Chadians show incredible resilience keeping their cultures, values and humanity intact.
Where some might see only struggle, you find incredible strength as you interact with welcoming people proud to share their country with open-minded visitors.
Chad faces major challenges, but its people persevere with creativity, wisdom and hope that inspires.
Chad National Museum
At Chad National Museum you will see the rich Chadian culture and traditions.
It was on the 6th of October 1962 that the Museum was established.
Presently, the is made up of four rooms.
Prehistoric artifacts and archives of folk arts, crafts, and traditions are displayed in these rooms.
There are many ancient, and current artifacts like Amgamma cliffs, Paleolithic implements, axe millstones, arrowheads, quartz, and obsidian in the prehistory room.
You will also see human masks, bronze tools, bone items, baked bricks, and lots more.
The Tibesti Mountains.
The Tibesti Mountains is a tourist attraction located in the northern part of the country.
It is hundreds of kilometers away from the capital city.
The mountains are very important in tracing the history of the Sahara.
It will also teach you new things about the first European travels of Africans to Europe.
Although the mountains are culturally and historically important, only a few scientists went to them for research.
Ennedi Region
The Ennedi Plateau is another wonder of nature in Chad.
This Plateau is home to unusual stone formations and cave paintings.
You will get historical information from these stone paintings.
This is a very popular sport among hikers.
If you intend to visit the Plateau, go with a guide.
The Ennedi Region can be so complicated.
Zakouma National Park
It is not out of context if we say that the worst tremendous transformation that has been made in any park in
Africa
is in Zakouma National Park.
This is as it relates to some animals that have gone to near extinction.
The most significant of them are elephants.
Poachers killed not less than 4000 elephants in the park between 2002 and 2008, that is within a space of 8 years.
This drastically reduced the population of the animal.
Another animal that was also badly hit was the buffalo.
N’Djamena
The capital
city of Chad
is so unique that it features two different cities simultaneously.
If you go to the western part of the town, you will see it is dominated by western-style buildings, while cultural and traditional houses dominate the eastern side.
Abeche
Abeche, the fourth largest
city of Chad
is where you go to learn more about the culture and ethnography of Chad.
There are many churches, tombs, fortresses, French-era buildings, and more sites of interest in the town.
There is a history of Chad for you to learn in each of the streets of Abeche.
Lakes of Ounianga
Lakes of Ounianga is another attraction that will take you to Chad.
The lakes are the only UNESCO World Heritage sites in Chad.
They made the list in 2012.
You will see these lakes in extremely dry locations.
The desert records an average rainfall of 0.
1mm in a year.
You will see varieties of chemical compositions and coloration depths.
The Lakes of Ounianga are 18 lakes that are in three groups.
FAQs
What are some activities people do in Chad?
Many Chadians play rap and pop kinds of music.
If you go to the rural areas, you will see people playing, and dancing to tribal cultural music.
Chad has many festivals and occasions that have become an integral part of its art, and entertainment.
What music do they listen to in Chad?
Drums or locally known as tam-tam are the chief musical instrument in Chadian traditional music.
Other instruments are the African maracas, the balafon, a big local kind of xylophone with wood bars, the lute, and the harp.
They also use a traditional flute that reassembles the ocarina.
What do Chad people wear?
The official traditional attire that Chadian men wear to the public is the long robes known as jalebis.
It is a traditional Chadian Arab attire for men.
They wear it with white turban-like headgear, locally known as tagiya.
The attire of Muslim men consists of long robes with pants, locally known as boubous, to match.
The men from the southern tribes wear tunic attire known as complets.