Let’s go to Chad in 2025
A Scheduled Trip to Chad
Highlights
Ennedi – Zakouma – Gerewol - Manda
February 2025
7-Person Small Group Expedition
Arrive in Chad on February 3, 2025 – Depart from Chad on February 19, 2025
A Chadian Trifecta of Superb Desert, Wildlife & Cultural Encounters
Trip Highlights
• Gueltas, dromedaries, Toubou, desert crocs, petroglyphs – this is Ennedi, of course!
• The elephants of Zakouma National Park and their story of hope & the resurgence of a wildlife-rich park in a most unexpected location.
• Manda NP – we have no idea what we’ll see here at all…
• A spiritual gathering of Wodaabe youth at a Gerewol Festival in the south.
Scheduled group tour from
February 3, 2025 - February 19, 2025
Starting from
EUR 19,000
per person sharing
Duration
17 days / 16 nights
Transport
Fly-in Safari
Accommodation
Tented Camps
Exploring
Ennedi, GEREWOL, ZAKOUMA
About this Safari
Dear Adventurers and Explorers,
Chad has emerged as a “must visit” front-runner for safari goers and adventurers who are seeking a truly off-grid wilderness experience, crowd-free, with the look and feel of a Classic African safari of the last century. I am proud to say that Chalo Africa has taken its place firmly in the safari firmament as one of those very few companies worldwide that continually pushes the envelope to bring you novel & fascinating Chadian adventures each year.
We were among the first to bring our guests to the virtually unknown and unvisited Ouadi-Rimé Ouadi-Achim Game Reserve in Central Chad in 2020 so they could witness the good work of the Sahara Conservation Fund and its partners on the reintroduction of some of the rarest species of desert wildlife on earth like the scimitar-horned oryx and addax! This time, in the spirit of true exploration, along with the tried and true, we will also explore a brand-new park in Chad and round it all off with an explosion of sound, color & festivities at a Gerewol festival in the south!
We will start this trip with the Great Desert of the North, the Sahara and the Ennedi Plateau! We’ll drive off-road over the dunes through surreal landscapes, camping in quiet solitude, with nothing but the desert sky and stars overhead. During our time in Ennedi, we’ll interact with desert nomads herding their camels and goats, and enjoy this ancient place of prehistoric rock drawings, oases and unimaginable geological formations—we might even find an abandoned Libyan tank or two being swallowed into the dunes! The Ennedi Cultural Reserve is a UNESCO World Heritage site and protected by African Parks (AP).
After Ennedi, we’ll head off to Zakouma National Park. Just a decade ago, this park had been a place of carnage for elephants, but African Parks successfully locked it down. Now the elephant population is breeding again and recovering its numbers. It’s one of the great present-day success stories in conservation. Zakouma’s sheer abundance of wildlife given its location in the midst of nothing but arid lands is extraordinary. Its undulating clouds of quelea are magical, not to mention its healthy populations of predator & prey. Night safaris here are especially productive—and it is relatively easy to spot many of the nocturnals, like honey badger and serval etc. that are hard to spot elsewhere!
From Zakouma, we’ll climb aboard our 4x4s and head off towards Manda NP in southern Chad. I cannot tell you at all what you will see here as no one I know has been there lately. Early in the last century this was a thriving park with Giant Eland as its star inhabitant. Now we hear that most of the wildlife is gone, but it may still harbor good populations of Lycaon pictus or the African wild dog. Either way, whether we find an empty park or not, the hope is that your trip reports will inspire other people to visit too.
And finally, from Manda to Moundou, where we will end the trip on a high note with a Gerewol Festival that we have organized for you. Please note this is not the spontaneous Gerewol festival that takes place in Sept-Oct each year in the north. This one has been pre-organized by us with the local Wodaabe youth who have migrated down south with their families at this time of year and are willing to recreate the festival for us. Since this festival holds tremendous spiritual significance for the Wodaabe, more often than not, the hypnotic nature of the event causes it to turn into the real thing after all. I do hope that you decide to join us on this extraordinary adventure.
Sangeeta & Zarek
Rates –
The cost of this 17-day trip is 19,000 Euro per person.
Dates – 2025
3rd February – 19 February 2025
The Master Guides Collection
Designed by Zarek Cockar
or call our African safari specialists at
+1 703 220 6393 or +91 9717 275237
Day By Day Itinerary
Day 1: February 3, 2025 – Arrive in N'Djamena, Chad
We will meet you at N’Djamena’s Hassan Djamous International Airport (NDJ) and transfer you to your lodging……
Contact us for full itinerary
Day 2: February 4, 2025 – Fada to Bichagara in the Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve
After breakfast, you will be transferred to the airport for the first of your 3 private charter flights of the trip. This first one will be a…..
Contact us for full itinerary
Days 3-4-5-6: February 5-6-7-8, 2025 – The Ennedi Natural and Cultural Reserve
Feb 5 will be a full day’s drive en route to Derde Camp in the southern part of Ennedi. Once you’re at Derde Camp, you will spend your time here exploring places with fantastical names like the……
Contact us for full itinerary
Day 7: February 9, 2025 – Ennedi to Zakouma NP
Enjoy a final morning in Ennedi and then in the late morning (timing TBD), you will be driven by the team to the nearest airstrip, for your……
Contact us for full itinerary
Days 8-11: February 10-11-12-13, 2025 - Zakouma NP
For lovers of wildlife, Zakouma is also one of the best conservation stories ever. From the 1980s, when Zakouma’s elephant and buffalo population had……
Contact us for full itinerary
Days 12-13: February 14-15, 2025 - Manda NP
We will exit the park from the west today (this section of the park is quite unexplored still) and head off into the unknown (well, at least into the not-so-well-known) areas of southern Chad, following along the…..
Contact us for full itinerary
Days 14-15-16: Feb 16-17-18, 2025: Manda to Moundou
After another morning game drive in Manda, we’ll head off towards Moundou. Although it will be nice to see whatever else Moundou has to offer, we are here for the Gerewol festival that has……
Contact us for full itinerary
Day 17: Feb 19, 2025: Back to N'Djamena & onward flight home
Our adventure will end with a last 2-hour charter flight to from Moundou to N’Djamena……
Contact us for full itinerary
More
Details of Rates
The cost includes:
• 3 charter flights within Chad as indicated
• Transport by car in 3 Toyota 4×4 vehicles
• Fuel, drivers, and English-speaking guides or interpreters
• Accommodation and meals as indicated
• Daily activities as indicated
The cost does not include:
• Return flights from your home country to N’Djamena
• Meals and drinks not specifically mentioned on the itinerary
• Any applicable visas
• Travel & medical insurance
• Gratuities
Notes
Note:
• The itinerary and activities are subject to change in accordance with local conditions
• This trip will be led by Zarek in conjunction with local guides in Ennedi and Zakouma.
• Please bring along a sleeping bag if you chill easily. While warm bedding will be provided, in the desert a sleeping bag may be useful.
• Please travel with a single ‘soft’ suitcase/duffle bag (not a ‘hard’ suitcase) and one backpack.
• It will not be possible to wash clothes or shower in the desert. Please bring sufficient changes of clothing, wet wipes and consider using Tinga for laundry.
• Compulsory vaccinations: yellow fever vaccination is needed only if you are coming from a country with risk of yellow fever. Please see CDC guidelines for more details.
Important Note
This is NOT your typical luxury “glamping safari”. Although every effort has been made to make this trip comfortable, the emphasis here is on experience and adventure. Please note that the cost of the trip reflects the luxury of its multiple charter flights & the nature of the exploration, not the luxury of upmarket facilities. So, in this spirit, please only sign up for this adventure if you can understand that:
– the food and supplies in Ennedi are being hauled by car from 1800 kms away! There will be some errors & omissions despite our best efforts.
– vehicles can really take a beating by driving over rough roads or no roads at all. There will likely be some mechanical issues that come up and we ask you to please be patient and bear with us as we work through these issues.
– Zakouma is for experienced safari-goers who want to witness the inspirational story behind its resurgence & who are as thrilled to see a red-fronted gazelle as they are to see a lion – it is not a destination for people who are on their first safari and focused
mainly on Big Cats & the Big Five. The Mara, Serengeti or Kruger are better options for people who are not experienced safari-goers.
– this safari is also going to Manda NP where there may be nothing to see at all. But for people with an appetite for adventure, I can promise you that the very idea of visiting a place that no one ever visits sends a shiver down my spine already 😊.
– this is a group safari, and all decisions must be made keeping the best interests of the group in mind. If you have very specific requirements that a group cannot accommodate, then this is likely not the trip for you.
And with all those caveats behind us, we look forward to a superb experience in the company of our guide extraordinaire, Zarek, our ground team in Chad, and of course, my dear reader, you!
Gallery
Let’s go to Chad in 2025 Map
Ennedi, Chad - Marker: 1
Zakouma, Chad - Marker: 2
Ouadi Rime, Chad - Marker: 3
Best Time to Visit
January
Closed
February
Best
March
Closed
April
Closed
May
Closed
June
Closed
July
Closed
August
Closed
September
Closed
October
Closed
November
Closed
December
Closed
The safari begins and ends in Chad.
Enquire Now to Check Availability
View all safari tours in Chad »