General: Chad

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money	Average
Shopping	Average
Nightlife	Poor
Ease of getting around	Poor
Family Friendly	Terrible

Advantages:	edge - of - world adventure
Disadvantages:	it's a third world country

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Well my reviews are nothing if not eclectic: biscuits, a music album, body scrub and now a whole darn country.
When Michael Palin did his 'Sahara' trip I was most disappointed that he didn't visit Chad. It's the fifth largest country in Africa and yet, until the desperate Darfur refugees came across the border from the troubles in southern Sudan, I doubt most people would have been able to place it - I know I couldn't till I went there. I stayed there 8 months working for a development agency and I'd say I'm glad I did it but I'm even more glad it's done! Still, since it's so unknown I thought I'd share a bit of information. It's impossible to sum up the whole country in this review, but I'll try and give you the basics to either whet your appetite or put you off entirely!

********Geography

****Location
Chad is west of Sudan, south of Libya, east of Niger and Nigeria, and north of Cameroon and the Central African Republic. It's the 5th biggest country in Africa.

****Landscape
The northern part of the country is basically in the Sahara desert. A big feature is the Tibesti mountains which are pretty much the end of the earth.
The middle third of the country is more like savannah. I spent 2 months in a village in the centre of Chad called Bitkine. There is sparse vegetation and the striking Guera mountain range. The area is only accessible by plane during rainy season and it's a tad bumpy even in the dry season in a 4x4. Most of the people live in small villages, in huts with mud walls and straw rooves (roofs?) - in the more remote villages their huts have straw walls too.
The southern part of the country is more fertile, verging, as it does, on central Africa. The capital is on the western edge of the country, just below Lake Chad which could more properly be called Puddle Chad these days - it's been dwindling away for many years. They should probably send someone down there to find the plug.

****Weather
The weather is relentlessly monotonous: it's hot, damn hot. Which would be manageable if it was a couple of months in summer, but it's all year - in 'winter' the daytime high gets down to a brisk 32C, while in summer it can reach 44C. Couple that with the lack of air conditioning/fans and temperamental water supply and it's fun fun fun. To be fair, it is pretty dry most of the year (not too many mosquitoes). However, towards the start of what they laughingly call rainy season (at least, it's laughable from N'Djamena north, where you get about 10 showers) the heat and humidity build until you could fry eggs on your forehead, then it rains, which is bliss, then it starts its inevitable build-up again.

Another thrilling feature of rainy season (our summer) is that the insects come out to play. I'm not talking gnats and flies, I'm talking 50's sci-fi size insects: locusts, flying cockroaches the size of small birds, all manner of little black nasties that land in your dinner. We'd hang strips of sellotape up by the light and they'd be black by morning. Gives me the willies just remembering it.

********History and government
Chad was a French colony and that the people don't like the French because they feel that the French government helps to keep the current president in power. The country was under the control of Sudanese bigwigs in the past, and it was the French that created the modern-day borders of the country. It is a secular democracy, just about (on both counts). It has so far been spared the level of civil unrest seen in its neighbouring countries but I'd say if you want to go, go soon before it (maybe) all kicks off. The northern part of the country is mainly muslim, while the southern part is mainly Christian and animist. I know people who went to the north (drove up - took two weeks) and had rocks thrown at them by the frightened locals. There's a lot of anti-government activity in that area, although (or maybe because) a great deal of the north is unpopulated.

********People
Having said they throw rocks, the Chadian people are generally very friendly. When they greet each other in French they say 'Vous etes la' (roughly: there you are) and my personal favourite 'c'est maintenant' (it's now). It's true that the hostility towards the French does show up towards random white people and we (esp the women) didn't tend to go out alone in N'Djamena. It's an informative learning experience to feel misunderstood because of the colour of your skin, and to be unable to hide your colour when you're out and about. The Chadians I met out in the village were welcoming and generous with the very little that they had.

********Tourist information

****Accommodation
For the most 'western' accommodation, there's a Novotel, just don't watch 'Hotel Rwanda' before you go. Since I was there longer we befriended the US Marines, yes indeed, and went to their base to watch Seinfeld, eat pizza, enjoy a little air conditioning and put our feet on soft carpet.

****Attractions (apart from the flight home)
As for tourist attractions, I did visit a place called 'Elephant Rock', which was a couple of hours out of N'Djamena along a dirt track. Guess what, it's a rock that looks like an elephant. You should get a banane-citron juice at a roadside stand (just don't watch it being made). There is also a market in central N'Djamena where you can pick up ridiculously cheap souvenirs and a museum. I know this section seems a bit thin on ideas. Blame Chad.

****Health
We didn't take malaria prophylaxis (preventatives) until rainy season, which was nice, because they made me want to vomit (chloroquin and paludrin). I see now that they recommend larium, malarone or doxycyline, all of which are pretty heavy duty (www.mdtravelheath.com). The same website also recommends enough vaccinations to make your arm into a sieve: Hepatitus A, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Meningococcus, Polio, Hep B, Rabies and tetanus. And plasters.

****Travel/Money
You can fly to N'Djamena via Paris. If you want to go next month, which I'm sure you all do, and stay for two weeks it'll cost £927 at expedia.co.uk. You can rent cars in N'Djamena but I don't recommend zooming off into the countryside because it's a big-ass country and places aren't exactly signposted. There are cheap taxis around the city and, if you have no reason to live, you can catch a Chadian Air flight across the country.
The currency is the CFA (communaute financiere africaine, but you knew that) which is usefully shared with a number of other francophone African countries. As I write, wwp.greenwichmeantime.com tells me that for a quid, you'll get 927 CFA which seems generous.

********Overall
Would I go back? Nope...but at the same time I'm glad I've been there. You really haven't lived till:

• You've had a street kid present you with a paper boat made from the instruction sheet for the box of tampax you thought you threw away the day before.
• Have tried to walk down muddy streets in flip flops
• Have eaten 'boule' - millet flour and water - with okra sauce: like melted green plasticine with cardboard.
• Have beaten a flying cockroach or two to death with a broom.
• Been accused of the crime of slavery by a wild-eyed man with a large knife and bits of bone sticking out of his hair.
• Bought half a skinned pig in a cardboard box from a woman in the street and then spent a nauseous few hours cutting it into freezer bag sized pieces.
• spent an evening playing cards with your feet in a bucket of salt water.
  You get the idea.
  Would I recommend it? Considering the review I've just given it I guess that's really rhetorical, although if you like adventurous holidays and like to say you've been to places other people haven't, then put it on your list. We met a guy who'd got a ride on an overloaded truck from Khartoum (Sudan) to N'Djamena. It took three weeks - lucky for him he'd got a place in the cabin otherwise I think he would have been toast.
  I've ended up giving it two stars because although I didn't enjoy it all that much, Chad could probably do with more tourism, and from the safety of England, I remember it more fondly.

********References
For some great pictures check out:
http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Africa/Chad/
For more information check out:
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107403.html
or go there!