Blogs from Chad, Africa

15:27 Did you know; Lake Chad is very important providing over 20 million people, from the 4 surrounding countries, with fresh, clean and safe water. The Lake is nick-named The Disappearing Lake since over half has disappeared in recent years; there are only occasional rains from around June to October. The Lake is fringed with a thick layer of swampy vegetation, reeds and other Plants alike. More than half of the Lake’s space is taken by small Islands, reed-beds and mud-banks. The Lake is constantly above sea level. I learnt all that on an informational tour I went on today. It was very interesting. ... read more

15:16 This morning I met up with my guide. He’s a tall muscular man with a moustache. He’s called Abdoul Yaouba and he is casually dressed in combats and a T-shirt. Most tour Guides are Men as women don’t tend to wander around alone in Africa, Chad as they are at home caring for children and feeding the family. He took me on an interesting walk around the village and up round the Lake telling me all sorts on amazing facts about Chad. Chad is apparently quite poor due to the Civil Wars and Political Instability. I was shocked but Lake Chad has actually shrunk from 1,500 to 500 square miles in under 40 years! The source of the Lake is Lake Victoria and Lake Chad runs through 4 different countries; Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. ... read more

22:49 It’s been a very long couple of days!! It was annoying all that traveling. Fortunately I only had one tiny problem…the Land Rover broke down on the middle of the A3!!! That slowed me down a bit but everything else was perfect. I wonder what I can do in Chad. Tomorrow I’ll have to explore. ... read more

As the captain announced that we were descending into N’Djamena, just after midnight on Sept. 1, I looked out the window and saw only a faint smattering of lights; it was hard to believe I was landing in a capital city. The airport was unnecessarily chaotic, considering that there are only two international flights a day (hours apart); as expected a couple of immigration officials tried to give me a hard time—until they saw my UN laissez-passer that is. And yes, I will drop that term obnoxiously often . The UNHCR driver took me straight to Le Meridien hotel, which is one of the three “luxury” hotels in N’Djamena. I just booked there for the first two nights until I had a sense of the city and could find a safe place to stay that was ... read more

Chad is hard work. The roads are non existent. The police are uniformed criminals. The transport is slow and uncomfortable. Outside the capital the country lacks basic infrastructure. Chad was a French colony, but they didn't know what to do with it. They spent nothing on it. After independence the country descended into decades of civil war. The situation was made worse by the meddling of the French and Libyans. In 1980 Libyan forces briefly occupied the capital N'Djamena. The French forces drove the Libyans north leaving the country divided in two. The Libyans were eventually driven out by a Chadian warlord, whose forces were armed with little more than swords. That warlord didn't last long as he was overthrown by another warlord - the current President. The years of war only came to an end ... read more