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Ennedi Expedition, Chad 17th January - 6th February, 2024 False colour images processed with dStretch, a freely available software developed by Jon Harman |
With Gábor we arrived two days early to check upon the cars, purchase supplies and discuss plans with Adoum, who was to be our guide and lead driver this time, and our cook Hassan, in charge of the kitchen supplies. This did not take up much time, we spent most of the time lounging in the pleasant garden around the pool at the former Novotel. We were joined by Marta and Fenny, both arriving early to get rid f the jetlag and relax a little before setting out on the long bumpy drive. The others arrived the evening before departure.
Day 1. N'Djamena - Camp after Moussoro
This was a long dull day With an 8am start from the Irrisor hotel, first driving along the "asphalt" road till Massakory, which is currently being widened and repaired, so most of the driving was in fact in the dust beside the road. It was a bit better between Massakory and Massaguet, my midday we left the road and were making reasonably good progress along the dusty tracks of the Bahr el Ghazal. With a short break we drove till Moussoro, where we fuelled then continued for another dozen or so kilometres till sunset, making camp on the top of one of the vegetation anchored large dunes.
Day 2. Moussoro - Camp after Kouba Olanga
Breaking first camp always takes longer, it was well into the morning by the time we got the cars loaded and left our rather pleasant camping spot among a cluster of bright green Salvadora shrubs.
The rest of the day was another long drive, first in the Bahr el Ghazal till Salal, then along the flat, increasingly sandy terrain bordering the dry riverbed to the east. We reached Kouba Olange by late afternoon, we uplifted water and fuel then continued to the north to make camp among the low dunes, still within mobile signal range from the town.
Day 3. Kouba Olanga - Faya-Largeau
we had a quick breakfast at sunrise then while the cars were loaded we wandered from the camp to the old river channel nearby, where the mud was full of the embedded shells of large snails. After the cars picked us up, we continued to the area where the Bahr el Ghazal gives way to the white lakebed sediments of the ancient Lake Megachad. In a somewhat unusual manner there was no howling wind, it was the first time I encountered this picturesque area with clear skies and no blowing sand.
The crossing of the Erg Djourab was quick and uneventful, we reached the far side my midday. On the sand plain we saw a dark smoke plume in the distance, at first we thought it was a badly smoking diesel truck, but on approaching it turned out to be a pickup that caught fire, the owners were half-heartedly trying to put out the flames with sand and salvage whatever possible. We could only sympathise but could offer no help, we soon moved on as there were several other stopped vehicles offering what little assistance they could.
We reached the edge of the Faya depression by mid-afternoon, taking a slightly more westerly track than on earlier trips, encountering a very picturesque field of yardangs (wind-eroded lake sediments) before reaching the town, staying at the same tourist camp as on our last Ouri plain trip.
Day 4. Faya-Largeau - Bembechi
In the morning we made a quick visit to the market and some shops for Hassan to make some topping up of our supplies, then we drove out of the town towards the North. We did not take the main track towards Gouro and Ounianga, as we wanted to check out a strange crater-like geologcal feature among the Borkou hills, about 50 kilometres from Faya. The terrain proved very difficult, with sand-filled valleys bordered by impssable rocks constantly channeling us to the North, the closest we could get to this crater was around 12km, we had to leave it for another time, from a different direction.
All the zigzaging and searching for a way did lead us to a track which continued to the small oasis of Dorkou. No rock art was known from here, but there were a number of visible large shelters, on checking them out Bruno did find some faint paintings in the largest one.
After a quick lunch in the shade of some palm trees, we continued north, and soon reached the much larger oasis of Bembechi, which we visited on our return leg from the Ouri Plain in November 2022. We visited the rock art sites around the small hill, and as usual found several more which we failed to spot the last time, probably due to different lighting and less time.
After the rock art sites we drove to the northern end of the Benbechi oasis to make camp in the lee of a large cluster of doum-palms, spending the time till sunset wandering about in the beautiful landscape or just relaxing after the long day.
Day 5. Bembechi - Ounianga Kebir
From Bembechi Ounianga was just over 100 kilometres as the crow flies along a fairly direct track, we comfortably reached it by midday and decided to have an early lunch outside town. As we explored the vicinity of our lunch spot, it emerged that the ones here before us needed to leave in a hurry, discarding an apparently good working condition Soviet D30 field gun, and plenty of live 16mm ammunition. we also found the remnants of a Libyan SIAI-Marchetti SF.260ML aircraft (the Lycoming engine was the giveaway), all of these vestiges of the Libyan Wars, likely left behind by the routed Libyan army.
After lunch we drove into town to pick up fuel and some fresh supplies. Fueling was a failrly lengthy affair, allowing us a little time to wander about and snap a few clandestine photos of the rather miserable place.
After shopping and fueling we had our first glimpse of the Ounianga lake (Lake Yoa), stopping near the southern store to take water from a well. We climbed the adjacent hill for a perfect view of the surreal deep blue waters. Lake Yoa is the only major one with freshwater among the row of lakes along the southern edge of a pronounced escarpment, about half-way between the Tibesti and the Ennedi. This suggests some kind of underground outflow towards the other lakes, which are all are salty (some very much so) due to the lack of any outlet and rapid evaporation.
We moved to the hill overlooking the eastern side of the lake. from where one has the best views. By this time it was mid afternoon, we had a beautiful low light with long shadows.
We drove a little further east to a lovely spot along the eastern edge of the lake to make camp, quite far from the village. We had enough time to make a quick dash to the lake edge for sunset.
Day 6. Ouninaga Kebir - Nabar
In the middle of the night we were awoken by a roaring gale, I was very glad that due to the presence of mosquitoes I decided to put up the tent the previous evening. One of the poles snapped, but I still had some protection fromthe blowing sand, others sleeping out fared far worse. The gale persisted into the morning, we had to struggle with the tents to pack them, breakfast was a quick affair in the back of one of the cars, sitting by the table was out of the question.
We returned to the hilltop for the morning view, we were nearly blown off the edge of the cliff by the force of the wind. At least here we were high enough that there was no blown sand, we could take the cameras out. The lake looked beautiful, with crested waves and streaks of froth replacing the calm blue waters we saw a day earlier.
Mid-morning we visited the other large lake near Ounianga Kebir, Lake Uma. In fact it is really two lakes, an eastern freshwater one, and a western saline one (sometimes referred to as the &qout;red lake" on account of the reddish plankton inhabiting it), with a long sandbank and a narrow channel with flowing water separating the two. Here too we had howning wind, which piled huge heaps of froth along the southern shore.
As beautiful as the lakes were, we still had way to go, so we set out towards Ounianga Serir some 40 kilometres to the east. We stopped at the tiny lake of Motoro, about half-way between the two, which is a classic picture-book oasis tucked away among golden sand dunes. The water of the lake is brackish, but fresh water emerges from the ground, feeding the dense grove of palm trees surrounding the lake.
The wind was still strong, we stopped in the lee of a rocky hill for lunch, then continued towards Ounianga Serir. Lake Teli is the largest of the Ounianga lakes by surface area but fairly shallow with brackish water. We only had a look at it from above, as recently there was some conflict between the central government and the inhabitants of Ounianga Serir, and the village is outright hostile towards tourists. I tried asking Adoum but the nature of the conflict was not very clear, nevertheless I fully agreed it is better if we keep our distance.
There are a series of lesser lakes at Ounianga Serir further to the east, some with fresh water, tucked away among very picturesque inselbergs and sand dunes.
The gale showed no signs of abating as we continued east towards the Mourdi Depression. I was concerned about where we will be able to camp in this weather, but Adoum turned towards the escarpment at one point, and drove us to a lovely sheltered spot near the Nabar well right at the foot of the low cliffs, where there was practically no wind.
Day 7. Nabar Mourdi Depression
The easternmost open body of water along the Ounianga escarpment is at Tegdei, with a small salt lake tucked away among picturesque hills and sand dunes. It is almost exactly 100 kilometres to the east of Ounianga Kebir, a god indication of the size of the ancient oasis and the once almost continuous body of water that filed the depression in the early Holocene. It was a short 25 kilometres from our campsite.
In the morning as we continued on our way, we encountered a small flock of Crowned Sandgrouse (Pterocles coronatus) Shortly after Tegdei.
Our next and last stop along the Ounianga escarpment was the small village of Demi another 25 kilometres further. There is no open water here just wells and an intermittent salty lake bed. The local inhabitants make a rather pitiful existence collecting salt cristals from among the dried mud of the lakebed. The village is one of the most miserable places I have seen on earth, even our Chadian drivers shook their head on how people could live here. We drove to the village well to pick up some water, not that we needed any but this was a good way to offer some money in return to the village headman with some dignity.
Demi is at the eastern edge of the Ounianga escarpment bordered by the Mourdi Depression further east. We drove a short way away from the village to the last clump of hills before the plains to have lunch in the shade of a few trees.
The afternoon was a long mostly boring drive along the western part of the Mourdi, before joining the track along the northern edge of the Ennedi leading towards Diona. We only stopped for firewood at one point, surprised to find the large log full of some speecies of weevil beetles under the bark.
We continued till before sunset, making camp in the lee of one of the larger barchans within the dune field about 40 kilometres short of Diona.
Day 8. Mourdi Depression - Niola Doa
In the morning we covered the remaining short distance to Diona. Sorting out the onward permits at the sous-prefecure plus taking on water and looking for fuel (there was none, fortunately we had enough from Ounianga to last till Fada) filled most of the morning. It was midday when we drove out of the town, stopping for lunch and a midday rest at the edge of the Wadi Diona at the only site with paintings in the area.
As we approached our lunch-spot, a large group of Patas Monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) made their escape, they were all gone by the time we could get the cameras out. It was only after we finished lunch that Fenny noticed a motionless monkey on the tree right above us, taking it for dead. After some time we saw that it made tiny movements, it was very much alive, apparently it was left behind by the others. After some searching we spotted another one, higher up the tree.
In the afternoon we continued along the bumpy track towards Niola Doa. The wind was again strong, we made camp in the lee of the rocks just behing the "French panel" to permit photography at the first light of dawn.
Day 9. Niola Doa
We were up at dawn to catch the "French panel" (ND 01) in the first rays of the sun, ths time we were lucky as there were no clouds, the light was perfect (though with the wind, it was rather cold).
After a quick breakfast we set out on foot to the nearby flat rocks covered with engravings (ND 30, "Dalles des Italiens") which are also the best in the low early morning light. After some time two of or cars followed so we could continue to selected sites at the best time of the day.
THe "Fuchs panel" (ND 06) is also the best in the morning light, we continued there to take the good photos before walking the one kilometre to the east to see the "Abri au Bidon" (ND 16) and the archaic site found by Yves Gauthier and party (ND 32) some years ago.
We drove back south across the Niola Doa plain to the "Massif des Spirales" of Choppy and Scarpa Falce (1996), where in in 2021 we found the described paintings, but we could not locate the spiral (?) engravings after which the place was named. This time with more time we could comfortably explore the whole outcrop, and did eventually find the spirals and other engravings near the top of the rock outcrop. Unexpectedly, we also found a fine horse rider engraving which was published by Choppy and Scarpa Falce 1996, but without any location information (p. 189, "zone de Niola Doa").
We returned to camp to pack our gear, then while the cars were loaded we made a quick visit to the nearby "Italian panel" (ND 02) which emerges from partial shade around midday. With the cars loaded, we proceeded to the western side of the Niola Doa plain, passing by the main site of "Abri de Colonne" (ND 17) with the nearby ND 19 with the interesting engraved round-headed human figures (which I could not find before). We also made a quick stop at the "Abri des guerriers" (ND 10) before heading towards the "Lost panel" to choose a suitable campsite nearby.
In the afternoon we set out on foot, first to visit the "Lost panel" (ND 03) and the numerous smaller paintings in the vicinity, but also to explore the broader area where in 2016 on our first Ennedi trip we found a faint but interesting ensemble of archaic paintings. Re-visiting we found a few more details (mostly thanks to dStretch and the better resoluton camera), but despite a fairly thorough search of the area we saw no more new sites.
I had one more plan for the afternoon, to scout a possible route down the canyon bordering the plain to the west, and a way up the far side to another sandy plain visible on satellite imagery with very promising topography, just a few hundred metres beyond the valley. However on reaching the canyon edge, it became evident that there is no way down (or up) for several kilometres, there were unbroken 100m high vertical cliffs on both sides. The plain may only be accessed with a good 10km detour (each way), probably two full days would be required to achieve it.
On the return to camp we checked out another broad area without finding anything, finishing at the fine engravings near camp which are perfect in a late afternoon light.
With all the clouds about we had a spectacular (but rather cold) evening, with an open view from our campsite towards the sunset.
Day 10. Niola Doa
It was a cold and windy night with another cloudy morning, not so pleasant for breakfast, but perfect weather for making the longer walks planned for this day.
Straight after breakfast we set out with two cars to the drop-off point to make the roughly eight kilometre walk (there and back) to Niola Doa II, the panel found a few years ago by Yves Gauthier and party (Gauthier & Gauthier 2017, Cahiers de l'AARS, 19).
We also visited the nearby archaic paintings reported by the Gauthiers, where only a pair of legs are discernible on the spot. From photos taken on our last visit it was possible to discern that rather than a human figure, the legs are the rear of a large animal, but I did not have a wide enough view to show the whole figure (which must have been 3-4 metres wide). Now I took photos of the entire animal, while more details are discernible, the front and head has completely weathered away, leaving only the line of the back and belly in addition to the hoofed rear legs (which partially superimpose one or more human figures, hence the initial confusion). Having seen what we came for, we returned the wy we came to our waiting cars, by midday we were back at camp.
In the afternoon we set out to explore the north western part of the Niola Doa plain, which to my knowledge has never been thoroughly surveyed. While it appears like a broad sandy plain on satellite imagery, it is in fact a very uneven area with steep sandy slopes between a number of jaged rock outcrops. The terrain made a systematic survey rather difficult, for the first couple of hours we found nothing despite the effort. Finally at one of the last rock outcrops we did come upon a large shelter with some fine archaic paintings.
All the searching and photographing the site took up most of the afternoon, while we were dropped off by Adoum we still needed to walk back to camp a good 3 kilometres away to be back by sunset . We just had enoudg time to pass by the fine panel of cattle found by Els in 2016.
It was another cold evening, we sat around the fire while waiting for Hassan to prepare dinner, making several attempts to take our group photo with tripod and flash to pass the time.
Day 11. Niola Doa - Mourdi Depression
In the morning we packed camp and drove back along the track leading to Niola Doa to the north-eastern approaches, where the track passes close to the Enneri Ourchigué, the big wadi that drains most of the plain. Some distance to the east in 2020 we found the "Grotte-tunel de Grand Meandre", published by Chppy & Scarpa Falce (1996), but we repeatedly failed to find the "Abri du procession" which supposedly lies between the former and Niola Doa along the bank of the big wadi. This time we intended to explore the section of the wadi betwwen where we left off in 2020 and the "Grotte-tunel", fully expecting to find the missing site somewhere there. We could drive to within half a kilometre to the riverbed, then we continued on foot.
For several hundred metres we found nothin along either bank, but as we reached the point in the sandy riverbed from where there was a direct lin of sight to the "Grotte-tunel de Grand Meandre", we saw a large rock with a spacious shelter. On approach we saw white painted figures, we were certain that we found the "Abri du procession". However on close scrutiny the row of human figures were nowhere to be seen, apparently we found a new undocumented site. Not far we came upon another site, with some very crude cattle and some earlier black and yellow figures underneath.
Downstream the banks of the river were sandy and flat, so we returned upstream, passing our descent towards the point we reached in 2020. Searching both banks, we found in rapid succession three more small sites with white archaic figures, but none the one we were looking for.
We reached the point where we have been with Ursula in 2020 without finding the "Abri du procession". Despite the new finds, we were a little disappointed, fully expecting to find the site after so many futile previous searches. I was about to go back to the cars, when Emilia pointed to a shelter high up above the valley, asking whether there might be something there. Based on previous experience it did not look very promising, but Emilia with the enthusiasm of desert novices decided to make the difficult climb. She disappeared over the top, apparently not finding anything in the shelter she went up to check. After a long wait she re-appeared, yelling excitedly, apparemtly she did find something. We all scrambled up, and found a broad terrace bordering the valley with numerous (more recent) stone structures, and two large shelters. Both of the shelters contained interesting archaic paintings, but again not the ones we were searching for. However in this case they were at least as good, if not better.
Our time was up, after in the afternoon we needed to start on our way back towards Fada. We checked out a few more outcrops on the upper level before heading back towards the cars for lunch and a little rest.
The afternoon was a long continuous drive back along the bad track to Diona, then on into the Mourdi depression. At sunset we made camp at a relatively sheltered spot along the sandy edge of a riverbed, sheltered by some trees and shrubs against the cold wind. As the full moon rose after sunset, it created an amazing spectacle backlighting the high altitude clouds.
Day 12. Mourdi Depression - Arsa
This day was mostly just a long drive to get back to the Fada area by the evening. In the morning we made a brief stop at the Tébi well to top up our water, then drove pretty much non-stop through the Mourdi.
We stopped for lunch and a midday break at the northern edge of the Ennedi where the track from the Mourdi makes its ascent, and soon reached the main Ounianga - Fada track where the going was a little better. By the evening we reached Arsa, the last terrace before the road makes the final descent to the level of Fada.
Day 13. Arsa - Hohou
We have already spent some time searching for the "lost" sites of Gobé which were published by Bailloud, lying somewhere to the east of the road in the vicinity of the pass, though not clear if above or below. In any case, just below the pass there is a broad valley leading to the east, with the known sites of Séliki along its southern side (visited in 2021). There is a row of prominent shelters along the northern side, visible from the road, but previously we never had the time to visit. This time we had the mornng allotted for this area, we drove up to the cliff and started exploring the shelters and interconnecting tunnels. Not surprisingly they were full of paintings, with some very nice scenes, all in the typical Ennedi pastoral styles. These sites remain unpublished, though I know from Yves Gauthier that they are known and occasionally visited. According to Adoum the entire valley is called Séliki, so the Gobé sites must be searched for elewhere.
There is another nearby site, Hokoli, clearly visible from the road leading to Fada but somehow on previous trips we never had the time to make the small detour. This time we did go to see it, though nothing extraordinary, it is a spacius shelter with some weathered pastoral paintings.
While our crew drove in to Fada to fuel and purchase supplies, we stayed at the Fada mountain to visit the high terrace with Bailloud's Fada I shelter.
Last time I was up here in 2021 I failed to find Bailloud's Fada II, supposedly on a higher level above the main terrace. It was not easy, we searched quite a while until we found the unremarkable paintings in a small shelter which we passed repeatedly.
By the time we found Fada II we saw our cars approaching, we descended from the terrace (along a newly found easy way) and continued with the cars out of Fada to the small site of Hohou Dahon near the airport, where Bailloud found a strange looking animal whick he considered archaic feline, but dStretch reveals it to be just an unusually drawn cattle.
For lunch we drove to the shade of the large trees along the nearby Wadi Ohouka, which continues south towards Hohou. All about there are a number of relics of the Libyan Wars (Fada was one of the Libyan strongholds), a wrecked Libyan T-54 just beside our resting place provded some time to fool around while Hassan prepared lunch.
After lunch and a little rest we continued to the canyon of Hohou, about three kilometres downstream, but requiring a more circuitous route with the cars. We were again planning to look for the splendid site of Bailloud, which we could not find in 2021. This time we had the whole afternoon, we went all about the upper reaches of the canyon where we did not look the last time, but there was no trace of the site anywhere. We searched all possible locations till sunset, but had to conclude that the site may be anywhere but in the upper reaches.
Day 14. Hohou - Archeï
In the mornng while our crew packed up camp, we explored the remaining parts of the sand filled lower canyon, but found nothing. One needs to conclude that Bailloud's site is likely somewhere below the sand that was blown into the canyon in the elapsed nearly 80 years. It would take a serious rainfall and flooding to remove the accumulated sand from the bottom of the valley and possibly uncover the shelter somewhere along the slope.
We allotted the whole morning to search in Hohou, but with all possibilities exhausted we decided to use the time to visit Tamada, a nearby locality with several shelters recorded by Bailloud, includng the fine row of women that defined the style of the same name.
We continued to the spectacular area of Bechike, making our midday stop in the narrow canyon leading up to the well, with a perfect small patch of lawn in a shaded spot.
In the afternoon we continued towards Archeï, making a brief stop at the mountain of Deli, with the huge shelter along its southern side containing the fine scene of horse riders.
By the time we reached the Archeï valley it was late afternoon. We checked in at the village, then proceeded to make camp in the riverbed some distance downstream from the main guelta.
Day 15. Archeï - Tokou
After a quick breakfast at dawn we made a dash to the "Grande riparo" (AE 07), to catch the full shade before the sun starts to obscure parts of the paintings till the late afternoon.
Later in the mornng we made the obligatory climb and walk to the viewing point above the guelta. We hoped to see some of the crocodiles, but none were in sight at the main pool. At the smaller pools I startled a smaller one, but only heard the splash, by the time I could look only traces remained.
For midday we returned to the lower side of the guelta, spending time to visit the Archei 02 cave while Hassan prepared lunch.
After lunch we walked up to the main pool, which by now was fairly empty compared to the hustle and bustle of the morning.
Mid afternoon we visited the flat topped hill where Choppy & Scarpa Falce (2002) marked their site Archeï 17. We have already searched the base of this hill, but with higher resolution satellite imagery becoming available, I realised that there is a lerge settlement with stone circles on the top of the hill, the site is likely somewhere along the edge of the terrace. It proved to be a fairly dificult clmb up a steep sand slope, then smooth rocks. We found the only feasible entrance to the terrace blocked by a low wall. Beyond, there were numerous stone structures, with some good shelters, but we only found a single faint panel of very late style horses, the paintings of AE 17 were not here.
We made another short stop at the site of Breyala to the south of Archeï, where underneath some Tokou style figures there is a strange "labyrinth" depiction.
We finished the day at Tokou, taking some water at the new well before making camp in the side valley with the principal shelters.
Day 16. Tokou - Bachikelé
In the morning while the cars were being loaded, we comfortably ad time to visit the Tokou XVII shelter, from where Bailloud described the very late Tokou style, clearly superimposed on earlier horse riders.
Our main target for the morning was the area of Homechi, about two kilometres to the south east. We already visited the main site, Homechi IV in 2021, but did not see the row of sites along the outer side of the hill facing the southern plain. After re-visiting Homechi IV we explored the far side, and found the three known sites plus an apparently unreported one, though none were particularly spectacular. We also saw an African wildcat (Felis lybica), unfortunately very dead but at least it stayed still enough to be photographed.
As we continued towards the Aloba arch, we passed a shelter some distance from the road in the Somporo region. While it looked quite small from the distance, the site of Choppy's Somporo 01 was still not found, we had enough time to take a look. Entering the shelter we immediately found the horse rider figure, it was indeed the long missing site. We continued to the Aloba arch for midday, with plenty of time to enjoy the views of the arch while Hassan prepared the lunch.
In 2017 Gauthier & Gauthier reported an interesting archaic site to the north of Bachikelé Cahiers de l'AARS, 19). It is a bit out of the way, on previous trips we did not have the time to visit it, but now we could afford to make the detour. The site is on a vertical rock wall at the base of a towering inselberg, with a rather diccicult climb up the steep rubble slope to reach it. The paintings were partially on the sun, fortunately a friendly cloud came our way and blocked the sun just long enough to snap the photos.
It was late afternoon by the time we made camp at the foot of the Backikelé arch, first having to check-in with the sous-prefect at the village. We scrambled in all directions, some climbing up to the arch while others just enjoyed the magnificent views till sunset.
Day 17. Bachikelé - Terkey Kassala
After breaking camp we visited the nearby Kobou shelter with the "sitting giraffes", spending a long time with the huge wall of paintings.
Late morning we made the walk into the Backikelé canyon to the guelta. This time the river was still flowing, we had to cross it several times, it was impossible to get in without having our fee wet. This also meant that there were no animals inside, they could easily access water without needing to make the effort.
Some years ago I was given the information about the existence of a rock art site to the south of Bachikelé without any details, this was to be our last target before starting our way back towrds N'Djamena. It turned out to be a spectacular area, with rock towers and inselbergs among large vegetation-anchored dunes.
The site itself turned out to be a large shelter at the base of a cliff, completely hidden from view by a large dune. The pastoral paintings have numerous superpositions, with styles a little different than elsewhere in the Ennedi.
For lunch and a midday rest we returned to the Anoko arch, some 30 kilometres to the north west, on our return way. There would have been a more direct route from Bachikele to Kalait (which we took in 2016), perhaps less by kilometres, but the consensus of our drivers was that it would take far longer than the more circuitous route via the main track.
In the afternoon we again stopped at the Tokou well to replenish our water. This time the well was surrounded by a throng of very thirsty donkeys, they were a happy bunch after we arrived, with one haul of water going for them, one for us.
We drove another hour till Terkey Kassala, a lovely sheltered campsite with the opportunity to see the rock art sites the following morning.
Day 18. Terkey Kassala - camp after Biltine
We had a quick look at the Terkey Kassala III site in the small gorge behind the arch while the cars were loaded. This was the practical end of our trip, from here it was just another three and a half days' driving to reach N'Djamena.
The rest of the day was just a long drive. We had lunch in the shade of a few meager trees before reaching Kalait.
After lunch we went into Kalait to fuel and stock up supplies before continuing along the track south towards Abeché. We made camp at sunset shortly after Biltine.
Day 19. Biltine - camp before Mangalmé
In the morning not far from camp we made a short stop to look at the strange engravings found by Pier-Paolo Rossi. This are the southernmost occurrence of rock art in the sahel zone of Chad, as far as I'm aware.
We continued to Abeché, where again we stopped for some time for fel and shopping, then we continued, now on the asphalt road, towards N'Djamena. We passed Oum Hadjer, and made camp a short distance before the town of Mangalmé, just in time for sunset and the sundowner.
Day 20. Mangalmé - camp before Ngoura
The whole day was a long drive, only stopping for lunch and for fuel at Mongo. By the evening we were within 200 kilometres from N'Djamena.
Day 21. Ngoura - N'Djamena
In the morning as we had breakfast on the harvested millet field, there was some excitement caused by a smallish mantis whick patiently posed for photographs.
We continued pretty much non-stop to N'Djamena, we were there by the early afternoon, allowing for a relaxed afternoon and evening in the Irrisor Hotel before taking the late night flights home.
We plan to return to the many other rock art and natural wonders of the south western Ennedi in January 2026. We will also spend some time trying to re-locate some of the remaining "lost" sites of Bailloud. Please visit the planned itinerary page for more details (or "like" the FJ Expeditions FaceBook page to receive notices of news and updates).