Green & gold

Birds of the oases and desert in Chad

- ELSA BUSSIÈRE

In September 2019 the NGO African Parks sent an expedition into the Sahel–Sahara region of north-eastern Chad to conduct the first ornithological census of the Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve. A 10-day, 1150-kilometer adventure into the heart of a long-forgotten sandstone citadel in the middle of the desert, the survey would result in the first bird list for this Eden: 189 species. With a mere 13 per cent of the area studied, the exploration of the Ennedi Massif is only just beginning…

From the sandy vastness of the Sahara Desert in Chad rises the Ennedi Massif, a mineral masterpiece that covers 40 000 square kilometers and is a natural open-air museum with hundreds of rock paintings as exhibits. Classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the massif is critical for groups of semi-nomads in search of water and pasture. To others, though, it has revealed only a tiny part of its magic. Barely a handful of scholars have ventured there in recent decades, but that seems likely to change – in 2018 the Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve was created and is now managed jointly by African Parks and the government of the Republic of Chad.