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Ouri plain, Tibesti Mountains, Chad 25th January - 16th February, 2017 Site references based on numbering system of Adriana and Sergio Scarpa-Falce, Aldo and Donatella Boccazzi False colour images processed with DStretch, a freely available software developed by Jon Harman |
Day 1. – N'Djamena - Camp before Moussoro
Our party reached N'Djamena the evening before taking various routes via Istanbul or Paris. This time we stayed at the new Ibis hotel (located on the same grounds as the Novotel) which turned out to be a much better choice, with fresh clean rooms and a very friendly and helpful staff, a huge contrast to our previous experiences. While SVS was preparing the paperwork we had our breakfast then sat in the lounge or garden watching the huge number of agamas sunning themselves on the paths surrounding the building. The cars finally arrived, and we could depart around 10am as planned. This year our SVS guide was not Andrea but Pier Paolo Rossi, with three drivers Abakar, Abd el Rahman and Issene, Jonathan who was also our cook on previous trips, and Jim as general help.
The remainder of the day was rather uneventful, with the long monotonous drive, first along the asphalt road via Massaguet to Massakory, then along the dusty tracks of the Bahr el Ghazal. We made camp before sunset about a dozen kilometres short of Moussoro.
Day 2. – Moussoro - Camp near Kouba Olanga
The most memorable aspect of our campsite were undoubtedly the flies, who apparently heard nothing of the rule that flies are supposed to disappear after sunset - they kept buzzing all night, and were out in full force by the time we had our breakfast. While the drivers packed up the cars, we were entertained by a pair of hornbills perched on nearby trees, quite clearly waiting for us to disappear so they could pick over the leftovers.
Mussoro was just a short drive from our camp, it did not become any more endearing since our last visit in 2015. Our main reason to enter the town was to fuel up before the long drive to Faya. We lingered about the gas station while the cars were fueled and Jonathan made his rounds at the market to top up our supplies, engaged in a little bird watching while waiting.
After Moussoro we continued along the track following the Bahr el Ghazal, making only a brief stop at one of the villages to buy firewood.
By the time we stopped for lunch before the town of Salal the wind picked up, and dust started filling the air. We did not linger very long at this uninviting place, as soon as we were done with a quick meal and the tea we continued along the dry riverbed.
As we drove north the weather became progressively worse, by late afternoon it was almost impossible to make out the sun in the thick haze. From the GPS we knew that we were in the vicinity of Kouba Olanga at the Northern end of the Bahr el Ghazal. We drove a few kilometres east to be off the track and made camp on the flat featureless sand plain, sheltering in the lee of the cars as much as we could for a quick dinner.
Day 3. – Kouba Olanga - Camp before Laya-Largeau
Overnight the wind subsided, while there was still plenty of lingering dust in the air visibility was vastly improved (not that there was anything to see around the camp...). Some excitement was caused by finding several large black beetles and a small yellow scorpion under one of our tents as we packed up.
As we passed Kouba Olanga the weather turned for the worse again, and soon visibility was down to just a few dozen metres. We made a brief stop at the white yardangs of the ancient lakebed, then continued among the dunes of the Erg Djourab.
The wind and dust was not as bad once we reached the region of the larger dunes, in the lee of one of the tallest barchans we could make a lunch stop without eating more sand than food, but it was still a rather crunchy meal. Again we did not stay for long, continuing our way among the dunes passing a few trucks in the opposite direction, and more surprisingly a large herd of camels marching in the direction of Faya.
By the time sunset was approaching we were about 50 kilometres short of Faya. We made camp among the eroded lakebed deposits to the East of the track, which provided some protection from the wind.
Day 4. – Faya Largeau - Camp before Ain Galakka
In the morning we drove into Faya, where we had a longer stay to endorse our paperwork, fuel all the cars plus the reserve jerrycans, and also to purchase whatever fresh supplies were available as this was the last market before the Tibesti. The stop turned out to be longer than anticipated, we ended up leaving town only mid afternoon.
In the afternoon we continued along the bumpy track on the white lakebed exposures, stopping at a well for water (better than the water in Faya) and driving till the end of daylight, making camp among a small group of hillocks adjacent to the road.
Day 5. – Ain Galakka - Tugui Tungur
After packing up camp we set out once again for a long monotonous drive along the edge of the Borkou towards "Rond Point de Gaulle"", the colonial-era well at the junction of the tracks leading towards Zouar and the Enneri Miski. There was much more traffic along the track than two years ago, despite the rumors that the Libyan border was closed there were many trucks and pickups coming from the North, all clearly bringing goods from Libya.
After another brief lunch stop in the lee of a barchan near Rond Point de Gaulle we turned North-east towards the entrance of the Enneri Miski. After a long drive taking up most of the afternoon we finally reached the sandstone cliffs marking the site of Tugui Tungur, making camp in a small wadi.
Eager to see something after five days of near-continuous driving, we immediately set out to visit the main shelter with paintings before sunset and darkness.
Near the path leading up towards the shelter Els made a very nice find, a fine panel of engravings depicting giraffe, ostrich, cattle and some other doubtful creatures which we completely missed on our previous visit.
Day 6. – Tugui Tungur - Enneri Miski
In the morning we were up early, planning to spend a couple of hours at the rock art sites at a leisurely pace after the constant travel of the previous days. We packed our tents and after a quick breakfast set out to photograph the main shelter in the better morning light while our drivers packed up camp.
This large shelter was only discovered in the nineteen nineties, and is full of human figures and cattle, representing several layers. One particular group of human figures resemble the Karnasahi style figures of the Ouri plain, though other elements like cattle are quite different. In any case this is a very curious site, more in line with the style of paintings along the North-eastern side of the Tibesti rather than the much closer sites of Borku.
On our way back towards the cars we also visited the small shelter published by Beck & Huard (the cover scene on their book). Only a small promontory separates the two, it is curious how the main site was not found at the time.
Looking back from this small shelter another larger one is visible on the near side of the promontory. We did not have time to check it out on our hurried 2015 visit but this time we could, finding several paintings of cattle and human figures including a small, faint but very fine archer.
By the time we returned the cars were packed and ready, we made the short drive to the Northern corner of the sandstone massif to the site of Tugui, the panel of huge (almost life sized) engraved cattle.
We made a survey of the short valley behind the panel of large cattle, and found several more panels of engraved giraffe, cattle and human figures in a style resembling many of the Ennedi paintings on a section of cliff a mere hundred metres from the main cattle panel. I am quite sure a thorough survey of this 4x3 kilometre oval massif would yield more sites - something to consider on a future expedition.
After this refreshing morning we got back into the cars and continued driving towards the interior of the Enneri Miski. We stopped for lunch in the shade of a large cluster of tamarisks in a shallow oued abeam of Emi Koussi, which was clearly discernible on the eastern horizon.
In the afternoon we continued north, descending from the desert plateau into the sandy bed of the Enneri Miski, taking the branch towards Bini Erde, the same route that we used on our return in 2015. As sunset approached we made camp in a small valley about 10 kilometres before the village.
Day 7. – Bini Erde - Camp before Yebbi Bou
In the morning we had our breakfast and packed up camp by the now normal routine, and continued along the sandy riverbed of the canyon flanked by the dark basement rocks till the country opened up to the broad valley of Bini Erde.
Our stay in Bini Erde turned out to be rather lengthier than planned, We only wanted to pick up water at the well with the diesel pump, but a new military checkpoint was installed with a rather unpleasant commander, spreading in a plastic throne installed on the top of a low dune, surrounded by his fussing courtiers. Despite our papers having been signed off in Faya he insisted on receiving authority for our passage from Bardai, which took quite some time involving repeated Thuraya calls. However after a tense hour spent at the checkpoint all was in order and we could continue to the well, where we found the diesel pump to be out of order for lack of spares, so we continued on the road towards the interior of the Tibesti.
The road was in a much worse condition than when we last passed here in 2015. Then we could drive at a steady pace of 60-80 on the smooth gravel, now in places it was almost completely destroyed by corrugation and small water flows, obviously there was a heavy rain sometime in the intervening two summers after which no repairs were made. Nevertheless Tarso Tieroko slowly appeared and steadily grew on the horizon.
By midday we reached the narrow canyon leading up to the dark volcanic plateau. The sheltered valley was an ideal lunch stop, and also provided some opportunity to explore the surrounding area with the majestic landscape.
Exploring the rocks above our lunch spot Marta found a panel of engraved cattle in a small niche among a cluster of boulders on the plateau top.
On the volcanic plateau the condition of the road deteriorated further, and our progress reduced to a crawl. In places the road surface was cut through by deep water channels with makeshift detours, with the road-works signs speaking of good intentions rather than any actual activity. We also encountered another military checkpoint, but the exchange was in much better spirits, we passed in a matter of minutes.
With our slow progress it soon became clear that our original plan to enter Yebbi Bou and fuel the cars before sunset is untenable, so we made camp in the same valley about a dozen kilometres before Yebbi Bou that we used on our first Tibesti trip.
Day 8. – Yebbi Bou - pass above Aozi
With the high altitude (we were over 1500 metres) the night was cold, we took some time to soak in the sun in the morning before packing up and leaving.
Yebbi Bou underwent a major transformation (and not quite for the better) since we last visited. The most conspicuous change was the prevalence of rubbish everywhere. Two years earlier the place as spotlessly clean, with every raw material re-used for some purpose. Now plastic bottles and other thrash were thrown about with abandon, marking the "progress" from the iron-age into the 21st Century in a matter of two short years. There was some new construction too, like the compound of the sous-préfect which built from bricks, abandoning the traditional round shape of the other houses in the village. Many huts now sported solar panels on their roofs and satellite dishes in the garden, and there was a mobile signal bringing totally irrelevant messages of the outside world to our various devices. The only thing that did not change was the natural curiosity of the children, who were much better dressed than we last saw them.
Our pre-arranged fuel drum was awaiting at the sous-préfecture, we wandered about the village while the tanks of the cars were filled, our last opportunity before returning here a week later. After fueling we made a brief stop at the well on the outskirts of the village to top up our water supply before setting out on the track towards Gouro.
With the benefit of knowing the route, this time we took all the right turns, making up for some of the delay that we picked up the previous day. We made a brief halt for lunch, then continued among the volcanic hills to the turnoff of the Aozi track.
By late afternoon we reached the flat volcanic plain above Aozi, with the finger-like basalt column rising from the middle of it. It was another hour, approaching sunset, when we reached the top of the pass leading down into the Korossom valley and Aozi. We only had enough daylight to get all the cars and ourselves safely down the pass, then we made camp on the terrace at the bottom of the steep descent.
Day 9. – Pass above Aozi - Camp in Enneri Korossom
The morning was stunningly beautiful, but with the high altitude (over 1700 metres) it was bitterly cold. There was ice on the inside of our tent, and the water in the bottle left outside super-cooled, instantly turning into an icy slush as it was shaken. With our camp remaining in the shade we had a shivering breakfast, quickly packing afterwards and moving on.
It took a good two hours to reach the village of Aozi. Here too we saw a few solar panels and a satellite dish, but other than that the appearance of the village remained unchanged. We filled all our available containers with water at the spring, and picked up our guide, the same old man who accompanied us on the previous trip.
We left the village late morning, driving down the track following the course of the Enneri Korossom. We soon had our first glimpse of the first of the series of sandy terraces leading down to the Ouri Plain. We pressed on to reach the sites of Teffi Drossou for our lunch stop, eager to see something after another three days of continuous driving. After stopping we immediately dashed up to site TD07 with the pair of life-sized human figures and many "Korossom fantastic" scenes, before the sun coming around to obscure many of the paintings.
In the good light conditions I could photograph some previously unseen details at TD07, including some very faint large cattle on the outside of the shelter. I could also make more sense of the complex superpositions that reveal at least four separate layers of paintings from the archaic figures to the Karnasahi style cattle and humans.
Site TD06 was just behind the shaded spot where we had lunch, permitting a much more thorough scrutiny of the large wall than on our last hurried walk-by. Here too I found several previously unseen details, including several faint late pastoralist scenes made with white paint.
After lunch we continued along the track, which soon made the descent into the boulder filled bed of the Enneri Korossom, the most difficult stretch of our journey. Soon it became clear that he rains have re-arranged the riverbed, with sand and smaller pebbles and boulders removed from many patches of the formerly reasonably passable track. In many places the way had to be re-built, filling the created voids with boulders and rocks to enable the cars to climb the larger, unmovable boulders. The three kilometre stretch took as many hours, but still we managed to reach our intended campsite in the riverbed near Korossom Timmy.
Day 10. – Korossom Timmy - Fofoda
After nine days of almost non-stop traveling we finally reached the area we have come to see. Following an early breakfast we set out to visit the nearer of the sites doting the plain to the North of the Enneri Korossom, starting at Site KN07 at the base of a huge cliff a few hundred metres from our campsite.
This was a site we have already visited in 2015, at that time in our excitement we failed to notice that the wall to the right of the main panel contains more paintings, mostly some rather damaged cattle with a few human figures. The main panel itself is one of the largest "Korossom fantastic" sites, though unfortunately in a rather bad state of preservation. Nevertheless the "fantastic beast" and many of the strange human figures are well discernible, especially after processing with dStretch.
There was another site at the tip of the inselberg, KN03 which we have missed the last time. While not large, it contains a fine panel of Karnasahi style cattle, accompanied by two late pastoralist figures holding bows and metal tipped spears.
We crossed the sandy plain to one of the main sites of the area, KN04 with its mix of old and new pastoralist paintings, including some of the finest camel depictions in the entire Sahara. Like on re-visits everywhere, I could spot several little details which were either missed or did not quite register previously.
In a little inlet to the East of KN04 there was another smaller site, KN09 which we did not see in 2015. It took some time to find the little site, tucked away in a small rock niche, with some fine Karnasahi style cattle.
From here we started to make our way back towards the Enneri Korossom and the main site of Korossom Timmy (KN00), first passing site KN02 with a very large panel of mostly faint and weathered pastoralist paintings, followed by the remarkable site of KN01 with the very fine elephant depictions.
We finished our round at KN00, one of the most important sites of the Ouri Plain, the first known site with the strange "Korossom fantastic" figures. We spent a long time photographing all the details, noting several previously unseen elements, like the cluster of figures holding round shields.
Once we finished at the site we returned to the cars at the bottom of the valley below, passing one of the several ancient looking stone walls barring the plateau above the valley at several points leading up to Aozi. It is not clear if these walls are truly ancient or date from more recent Tibou times, but they were certainly in place during the 1931 Dalloni expedition.
The cars were ready by the time we reached the camp, our next challenge was to get them up the steep pass leading out of the valley just a few hundred metres from where we camped. This stretch too was in a much worse condition than two years before, it needed several efforts and some road building to get all four cars up the treacherous rock and gravel slope. Once this was accomplished we moved into the shadow of a huge rock wall to have lunch, which also provided the opportunity for Pluche to show us the little pebble drawings she made while the rest of us were visiting the sites on the plateau above.
After our midday rest we continued down the Enneri Korossom, descending the last pass into the riverbed again, flanked by the numerous graffiti dating from the Tibesti rebellion when this "road" was constructed. As we continued further East, at the junction of the Enneri Daobou we saw a pair of dorcas gazelle, the only larger wildlife we encountered on this trip.
After driving a little further we ascended a sandy pass and were now on the Ouri Plain proper, a vast expanse of sand dotted with tower-like inselbergs, and flanked on the left by the rugged volcanic plateau of the Tibesti.
We drove without any detours to the cluster of hills to the north of the Enneri Fofoda, and immediately set out to visit the sites adjacent to our camping spot. We started at KN02, a small site with some remarkable paintings of large cattle clearly underlying the smaller Karnasahi style cattle and human figures.
We continued across the fantastic landscape to the main site of Fofda (FN00, discovered by d'Alverny in the nineteen thirties), spending most of the remaining time till sunset photographing the beautiful panels.
Here too there are two distinct layers, the polychrome cattle at the left of the shelter seem to pre-date the smaller Karnasahi style figures covering the inner part.
At sunset we returned to the cars to make camp in the lee of a towering rock wall, while the cloudy weather put up an amazing sunset spectacle.
After dinner some of us set out in the darkness to visit the nearby site FN01, the largest and most spectacular of the Karnasahi style sites on the entire Ouri Plain (discovered by Aldo & Donatella in 1996), and arguably one of the finest rock art sites in the entire Sahara. In the darkness of the night the hundreds of little figures seem to come alive in the torchlight, a truly magical experience.
Day 11. – Fofoda - Enneri Borou
The clouds remained overnight, and we had another beautiful spectacle at sunrise as we took our breakfast and packed up the camp, by now having become quite accustomed to the early routine making the most of the available daylight.
While our drivers were packing up and loading the cars we went for another visit to the magnificent FN01 site, taking photos and just marveling at the amazing scenes.
Leaving Fofoda we drove towards the north for a further 15 kilometres, crossing the Enneri Borboré along the way, towards the Enneri Borou and the most important objective of our trip, site BS06 (Borou South). In 2015 our schedule only permitted us to come as far as Fofoda, this time our plan was to visit the numerous sites along the Enneri Borou and Borboré over the next three days, before we need to start heading back. The traverse on the hard sand plain was quick, by mid-morning we reached the huge inselberg with the vertical rock wall, the base of which had a long shallow shelter fully covered with paintings. BS06 is one of the largest sites on the plain with a multitude of panels and layers. As the sun was about to come around to obscure the paintings, I deferred taking photographs till the next morning as our planned campsite was to be nearby.
We went into the adjacent valley to find a suitable campsite, and see the small site of BS07. The site was not very spectacular, and the valley was completely unsuitable for camping, so we moved to the far side of the broad valley, where a vertical wall and some sandy patches provided an ideal campsite for the next two nights.
We had plenty of time left from the morning, so we immediately set out to make a round of the Borou South sites, starting at BS08 on the far side of the inselberg adjacent to our camp, a low shelter with some very fine Karnasahi style paintings, but also some tiny figures of a hard to assign style.
Site BS09 was further along the edge of the same rock island, at the end of a deep bay between two parallel rock ridges. Here the paintings were rather weathered, showing mostly polychrome cattle, some in a somewhat unusual yellow colour, over some negative handprints.
It was past midday by the time we finished with these two sites, we started looking for a shaded spot to have lunch, but also be close to the next sites. We finally found a rock offering a metre wide (but growing) line of shade at its base a few hundred metres from the main inselberg. While Jonathan prepared a salad for lunch we set out to the two sites at the base of the cliffs, BS11 and BS05 a mere 300 metres from each other. Both had only some meager and weathered pastoralist paintings, and as both shelters faced south they were mostly exposed to the sun.
After lunch we continued with our round of the Borou South sites. Site BS04 was a kilometre further along the southern side of the sandstone massif, facing west along the side of a narrow cleft. Fortunately some clouds moved in to shade the sun revealing the very faint but intriguing paintings, a group of cloaked figures among the more usual cattle.
The remaining Borou South sites were on the far side of the cluster of inselbergs, facing the Enneri Borou. We drove back along our tracks, past the valley with BS06 and our camp, to the northern side of the hills. Site BS01 was a long shallow shelter along the base of a high cliff, which contained paintings that were completely different from the ones we have seen before. The site contained nothing but negative handprints, made with white or yellow paint, very similar to those in the Tassili n'Ajjer and the Algerian Tadrart.
A kilometre further site BS02 was a long rock wall with some rather weathered paintings, including several clusters of small human figures of an unclear style.
Site BS03 was at a small outlier some distance from the main hills towards the Enneri Borou. There was a fine enclosed bay in its side with a shallow shelter, we were expecting to find paintings there, but it was all empty. The only rock art consisted of a few engraved camels at the entrance of the bay, and the remains of several Tibou huts were visible on the ground nearby.
We have completed the round of the Borou South sites (with one outlying one left for the following morning), but there were some other intriguing sites left in the vicinity. The lava terraces along most of the Enneris crossing the Ouri Plain are dotted with some rather peculiarly shaped funerary monuments, "compass graves" on account of their teardrop shape always pointing towards the East. They are well visible on Google Earth, but to our knowledge none have ever been investigated on the ground. They all conform to a similar plan, a central tumulus surrounded by a large (30-40m diameter) circular or oval skirt of stones with a pointed protrusion on the eastern side. They are prolific on the Ouri Plain, but occur elsewhere in the Eastern Sahara in smaller numbers (Pachur noted one in the Gilf Kebir, but the exact location has not been recorded).
Several such compass graves littered the northern terrace of the Enneri Borou. As we had enough daylight left we drove to a cluster of trees in the riverbed near the small abandoned village of Borou, and continued on foot to investigate, guided by GPS positions taken from Google Earth.
The monuments were not easy to find, they proved to be almost two-dimensional, closely hugging the undulating terrain and hardly distinguishable from the surrounding rocks. Two were built on the slopes under a small hill, these were a little easier to see and photograph from the elevated vantage point. The Small central tumuli were all opened at some time, and the surrounding dark patches were made up of small cobbles that appeared almost the same as the surrounding natural surface. As was the case with other such pre-islamic monuments elsewhere in the Sahara, we found no ceramics, tools or other clues indicating their possible age. Given the strong correlation demonstrated by Yves and Christine Gauthier between the distribution of "keyhole" monuments of the Central Sahara and the Iheren style of paintings, it is not entirely unreasonable to assume their association with some of the cattle pastoralists of the Ouri plain, possibly the Karnasahi style.
The day was nearly up, we made a quick retreat to our campsite before darkness fell to a well earned evening bar and dinner.
Day 12. - Enneri Borou - Enneri Borboré
I was up before dawn, while the rest of the camp was still fast asleep, and walked in the twilight to BS06 less than a kilometre away for a lengthy photo session while there was no disturbing sunlight.
The site was discovered by Christian Le Masson and Chief sergeant Féat in 1963, and some selected tracings were published by Huard and Masson in 1964 (as Ehi Borou, Peintures rupestres du Tibesti oriental et méridional, Objects et Mondes IV/4:237-262).However like all other paintings of the Ouri Plain, the site remained unvisited for the next thirty years. Following the expeditions of the mid-nineties Adriana Scarpa-Falce finally prepared an exhaustive publication of this amazing site in Sahara 20 complete with line drawings showing the entire 60m long rock face, a remarkable feat given the number of figures and the very weathered state of the paintings in some places. She also noted a large number of overpaintings at the site, enabling the establishment of a rough relative chronological sequence. The photographs below only present selected samples from the enormous site.
Along the left section of the wall there are numerous groups of little "dancing" human figures, of a type not seen elsewhere among the Ouri plain paintings (perhaps with the exception of the very eroded little round-headed figures at Korossom Timmy). They have bows and arrows, but do not seem to be associated with any animal. They are clearly among the oldest paintings at the site.
Moving right, one encounters a large panel of small (mostly running) Karnasahi style human figures and some cattle, which are superimposed on a large filiform figure, and several white negative handprints.
Further right there are several more clusters of small human figures, an archaic looking barbary sheep (?) and a unique rhinoceros hunt scene which was copied by Le Masson. The small figures shoot arrows with transverse points at the animal which is apparently being distracted by a harassing dog, keeping the hunters safe. Off-hand I cannot recall any other scene in the Sahara where a rhinoceros is clearly the object of a hunt.
The central group is in a little niche, better protected than the fully exposed paintings on the vertical walls. Here one finds a very complex series of superpositions involving several styles. The larger human figures are similar to those seen elsewhere at some archaic "Korossom fantastic" sites. The apparently headless skirted (female?) figures appear in several places at this site (and nowhere else), their affinity is unclear. It is hard to recognise, but there is a very large ostrich executed in outline only (in this respect a little reminescent of the Tassili roundhead paintings) underlying all the smaller figures.
The right side of the central scene has more complex superpositions, including another of the headless female (?) figures and on the topmost layer a number of small gazelle figures (and two yellow giraffe) which are being hunted by red archers. There is also a large barbary sheep (?) which is partially superimposed by a rather strange long legged but unidentifiable animal.
Towards the right, among a group of yellow negative handprints that are superimposed by a number of human figures executed in different styles, one finds a group of bizarre paintings that perhaps represent some fruit, in one case appearing to be on the plant itself. These have no analogies elsewhere to my knowledge.
Further right there are more of the little "dancing" figures, this time clearly superimposed by cattle, and also several white giraffe which appear to belong to the later stages of paintings at this site.
Continuing, there is a small scene where some of the little "dancing" figures are superimposed on a number of the large footed "Korossom fantastic" archaic figures. Next to it there is a large panel with a herd of late pastoralist cattle.
A little to the right one is faced with the most impressive panel of the site, showing a number of very large human figures, the largest close to life size. The upper two are readily discernible, with a red infill, the right one holding some object. There is a third smaller figure behind the upper left one, only recognisable with DStretch (it does not appear on Adriana Scarpa Falce's tracing). The lower ones are much more difficult to discern due to partial erasure, but the lower right one is unique, with a spotted body and a large round head of which only the outline is discernible. There are some analogies at other sites, including the already visited TD 07 site which has two similar large figures with red infill plus the two life-sized white figures that are quite similar to the spotted figure in shape and posture.
Continuing further, the so far nearly continuous series of paintings become a bit more separated, with several metre gaps between the panels. There are more of the small "dancing" figures, standalone cattle, plus several scenes with some very complex superpositons.
Near the right end of the site the paintings become sporadic and widely separated, mostly scenes of a few figures with one larger concentration.
As I was taking all the photos the twilight turned into morning, soon it was light enough to be able to take overview photos of the entire site beyond the range of my flash.
I was soon joined by others taking a second look at this amazing site, then our cars arrived to continue to the Northern area on Enneri Borou. We still had one site, BS 10 left in the South at the base of a hill opposite the entrance of the bay with BS 06 and our campsite. The site itself consisted of two shallow shelters, both containing some rather weathered cattle.
We crossed the Enneri Borou and continued towards a near-continuous ridge about two kilometres further north, with a scatter of sites along both sides of the ridge. The more interesting ones were published by Adriana Scarpa-Falce together with the other Borou sites (except BS 06) in Sahara 19.
Site BN 01 was on the far side of the ridge, reachable through a narrow defile that was also the main route further north, towards Ouri. Our guide from Aozi confirmed it was safe to pass (such natural bottlenecks are ideal places to be mined), and we soon reached the narrow open-ended valley with the site along its Northern side. This was the northern-most point reached on the trip, roughly marking the half-way point on the Ouri plain between the southern end and the Libyan border (still 58 kilometres distant). The site itself contained several panels of Karnasahi style paintings of humans and cattle.
We returned to the southern side of the ridge the same way, looking for site BN 02, one of the larger sites in the area. It was one of the rare cases where the location information received from Aldo Boccazzi was incorrect, we spent a long time among the rocks of the hillside looking for the site without success. We did find however a previously unknown panel of engraved cattle (designated BN 10). Finally Pier Paolo came upon a small shelter with a few painted cattle, which we could identify as site BN 03 some distance to the North.
By working ourselves back along the relative positions, it soon emerged that the site we were looking for was the initially empty-looking double shelter near where we parked the cars. On a good second look we found the large panel of Karnasahi style paintings deep inside, hidden from a casual look.
We continued along the southern side of the ridge towards the east, soon reaching a large very shallow shelter (a wall really) on a free-standing rock island that was site BN 06, the most interesting one among all the Borou North sites. The wall was covered with paintings executed in a number of different styles, including several ancient figures that are only revealed with DStretch. Here too there are examples of the large life-sized human figures, plus a most curious animal which has no ready analogies.
Site BN 04 was on the far side of the rock island, and turned out to be completely different than anything seen on the Ouri Plain before. The rear wall of the small shelter was filled with late pastoralist paintings that were practically identical to many seen in the Ennedi, but very strangely only present in this single shelter on the Ouri Plain.
Three more sites remained, all engravings, near the eastern end of the ridge. The first one was a fine natural spectacle, a large arch with some rather meagre cattle engraved at its base (BN 05).
A few hundred metres away a deep defile in the side of a vertical cliff led into a corridor-like cave, with some rather strange non-figurative engravings on both sides (BN 08).
The last site of this cluster, site BN 07 was a vertical wall hidden behind a dune containing a number of rather hard to discern engraved cattle.
As it was past midday we returned to camp, driving past the huge wall of BS 06, for lunch and some rest before setting out again in the afternoon.
In the afternoon we visited a cluster of sites located around a group of hills to the north of the Enneri Borboré, a quick and easy ten minute drive from camp across the firm sand plain. The Enneri Borboré sites were the last to be discovered in the nineties (they do not appear in the 1996 publication Arte Rupestre nel Ciad), only a few sites were presented in the 2002 Boccazzi article on the Ouri pastoralist paintings (Sahara 13), but from these photos we already knew that we could expect some rather splendid sites.
The first site (BR 03) was in reality three separate shelters located along the base of a rock island. The first was a shallow shelter with some white and red cattle in a rather poor state of preservation, but the second small niche about 100 metres from the first shelter contained a splendid panel of Karnasahi style paintings.
The Boccazzis published a very fine cattle facing a human figure from the third shelter of this site which we were missing. It proved to be surprisingly difficult to find, we searched the rock face in both directions until finally came upon the panel of paintings in a small shallow shelter that was fully exposed to the sun making the paintings almost invisible. Once providing suitable shading this panel turned out to be one of the finest of the Karnasahi style paintings on the Ouri plain.
Scattered about the site there are several small but very elaborate human figures, all depicted wearing different clothing and accessories, a veritable prehistoric fashion show.
Site BR 04 on the other side of the same rock island was much easier to find, along the side of a deep crevasse leading into the rock. This too contained a fine Karnasahi style scene, together with many other figures along a good 20 metre section of the wall.
Site BR 05 was at the tip of a promontory jutting from the adjacent rock island about a kilometre away, facing the broad sandy plain leading down to the Enneri Borboré. This too contained some Karnasahi style cattle and human figures, unfortunately much faded.
With the sun rather low, we only had time for one more site on the far side of the sandy bay before having to make our retreat to camp. BR 02 was along the side of a long and very shallow shelter (more like a rock wall). Initially we encountered just a few scenes, including a rather bizarre cattle and a group of human figures of the type first encountered in the Korossom Timmy shelter.
The big surprise came near the end of the shelter, where unexpectedly (no photos of this site were ever published) we came upon a delightful panel of polychrome cattle and human figures, all drawn cartoon-like with a tick outline. These are of the same style as the beautiful cattle at the left of the main Fofoda shelter, apparently pre-dating the Karnasahi style paintings.
Taking time with our unexpected find, the sun set by the time we were making our way back to the camp along the sand plain. The clouds put up a beautiful spectacle with the dark jagged mass of Ehi Mouskorbe (the second highest peak of the Tibesti) looming on the western horizon.
Day 13. - Enneri Borboré - Karnasahi
In the morning, after breakfast and packing our gear we made one last visit to site BS 06 while the cars were made ready.
Once the cars caught up with us, we re-traced our route of the previous afternoon to continue with the remaining sites among the hills lining the northern side of the Enneri Borboré. Our first stop was BR 08, a small site with some pastoralist paintings, unfortunately directly exposed to the morning sun.
We continued a few kilometres further east to the last site of this cluster, BR 07 located in a small shelter in the side of a small isolated rock with a few pastoralist paintings.
A scaleable large dune nearby provided a perfect spot for the mid-morning coffee, with an unobstructed view over the surrounding hills and the Enneri Borboré below, marked by a row of shrubs.
There are a few more scattered sites further East in the Enneri Borboré, but quite far apart in various side valleys, being short on time we had no time for these. We headed for the southern side of the valley, where only a single site BR 01 is known. With an imprecise location information it took some time to find it, inside a crevasse along the side of a large inselberg flanked by large dunes.
While few in number, the paintings in the small shelter are quite exceptional. On the vertical wall on the right a panel depicts a number of very fine giraffe surrounded by human figures, which resemble but do not quite match those of the Karnasahi style. On the facing left wall there is a fine large cow that seems to partially obscure a human figure with a large head.
Continuing west we reached the group of hills filling the Ouri plain adjacent to Ehi Kodoss, now prominently towering above us. These hills mainly compose the sites of Fofoda North, but two sites along their northern side reach into the Enneri Borboré watershed. BR 13 was a large prominent shelter in the side of a towering inselberg, containing a number of huge white painted cattle clearly superimposed by smaller scale Karnasahi style cattle and a procession of human figures.
As we were busy taking photos of the big cattle, a low hum appeared from the distance which grew stronger, after a while it was clear that a vehicle is approaching. After a while a pickup appeared from behind a dune, on seeing us it approached. They turned out to be Aozi villagers bringing a load of sheep from Gouro for grazing on the good pasturage in the Enneri Fofoda, confirming that indeed there is a passable mine-free route to the Ouri Plain from the east. After exchanging the obligatory greetings they went their way, leaving us to continue to the other sites in the area.
Just one kilometre away, site FN 04 was in a spectacular setting at the foot of the Ehi Kodoss mountain, a tall volcanic plug that spared the surrounding sandstone plateau from erosion. The site itself was a deep shelter at the base of an inselberg, with several fine panels of pastoralist paintings, and a group of ancient-looking stone circles nearby.
We drove to the far (western) side of the Ouri plain which here is at its narrowest, to see the last of the Enneri Borboré sites we could fit in to our itinerary, BR 09, located at multiple paces at the base of an immense rock wall. The first very faint panel contained only a few figures (including a possible elongated archaic one), the second larger one the usual Karnasahi pastoralist scenes.
The huge rock wall provided for a perfect shade for our midday break. While the others took their lunch, I decided to scout the far side of the rock island, being aware from Aldo Boccazzi that it remained unexplored. I walked for a good one and a half kilometre around the perimeter without finding anything despite several good shelters. I was about to turn back when I reached a deep crevasse ending i a dry waterfall, with a shallow shelter along the side. At first I saw nothing, but then all of a sudden a row of red figures appeared high up on the wall. It turned out to be one the best preserved "Korossom fantastic" sites, a major new find with many unique details. It is also the northern-most manifestation of this peculiar style which is restricted to the southern half of the Ouri plain (at site BS 06 there are archaic figures, but their style differs). I just snapped a few photos then made a rapid return to the cars to let the others know about the find.
While I was away the others too were busy, finding the finest panel of site BR 09 which we all missed earlier.
After packing the cars we all drove back to the new site (designated BR 14, the next available in the Enneri Borboré sequence) to take a thorough look and photograph the panels in detail. I plan to publish the site in an upcoming article before the end of 2018.
With the time taken up by the new find we had to cut short our plans for the afternoon, which was to see the remaining six Fofoda North sites which we did not visit on our onward journey. We only had time remaining for one, so it had to be FN 09, the finest among this cluster with the unique panel depicting a number of elephants, which clearly pre-date the surrounding (and partially overlapping) Karnasahi figures.
While members of our party were taking their turns in the small shelter, I made quick foray to the rear of the hill which was also an unexplored area, but this time returned empty handed. We made our way back to the cars, to cover the remaining twenty-ish kilometres to Karnasahi at the Southern end of the Ouri plain.
With our guide taking us to an easy crossing of the Enneri Korossom, we reached Karnasahi with an hour of daylight left. We immediately set out to see the main site (KA 00) a few hundred metres from our camp, which is best viewed in the late afternoon with the sun behind the hill. Learning from the previous visit, this time I bought a good telephoto lens to take close-up photos of the exquisite little figures perched high up on the wall of the shelter.
Taking advantage of the favorable light conditions I also took some photos of the adjacent smaller shelter (KA 01) where I missed several intriguing details.
With sunset approaching, we only had time to make a quick visit to site KA 10 on the far side of the watercourse before returning to the camp for the night. The paintings here are practically invisible without enhancement, but there are a number of giraffe and a very large human figure echoing those we saw earlier at site BS 06.
Day 14. - Karnasahi - Enneri Korossom
We were up for an early start as this was our last day on the Ouri plain, with only the morning left to see the most important remaining sites in the environs of Karnasahi.
With three cars we set out to see before the sun came around site KA 06, with the very fine pair of "fantastic beasts" and many other figures in the Korossom fantastic style. On the 2015 visit I was so overwhelmed with the main panel that I did not fully appreciate the very strange figures to the left of the shelter. This time I could take good detailed photos fully revealing the bulbous headed figures which do not have any parallels elsewhere.
We continued to the splendid multiple shelters of Tcherughé (TC 01) where we had to make a very hurried visit in 2015 with the paintings emerging to the late afternoon sun. This time in the early morning we had perfect light, in the first shelter we saw a very fine procession of large cattle that were completely invisible on the previous visit.
The second shelter also revealed some new details - on the vertical wall to the right of the readily visible paintings I noted some faint figures which with the help of DStretch turned out to be a very fine group of Karnasahi style figures.
The third shelter also presents two large scale cattle under a multitude of small Karnasahi style figures. The head of the first one is clear, but of the second only the horns remain (perhaps the surface was washed before the Karnasahi figures were painted over... ?). This time the photos allowed for better details, with DStretch one may just discern the eye of the second cattle under one of the covering Karnasahi figures.
The third shelter contains the largest panel of paintings at Tcherughé 01, with a multitude of intriguing details like a running and apparently chased animal that looks like a cross between a cattle and a horse, the elephant with its trunk seemingly touched by a human figure, a herd of giraffe, a fine group of polychrome cattle of the style preceding the Karnasahi people, and a very cute scene of a suckling calf, a fairly rare depiction. These and the other scenes of the site were presented by Aldo, Donatella & Adriana in their 2010 article in Sahara 21.
The fourth shelter is a relatively minor one compared to those previously seen, but it does contain a fine scene of pastoralist paintings. This too was completely obscured by sunlight when we visited in the late afternoon two years earlier.
We continued to the far side of the broad sand filled Tcherughé valley, an area we did not visit in 2015. A rock spur jutting in to the valley contains a solitary example of the large engraved cattle with decorated bodies that are common in the Borku as well as the Ennedi. This site (TC 02) also contains a few lesser engravings, one of the very few in the southern part of the Ouri plain (they are more common in the North and along the out-flowing river valleys).
Site TC 03 is a few kilometres further upstream (west) along the southern side of the valley. The large shelter at the base of the rock is visible from afar. There are some faint Karnasahi style paintings, but the more interesting ones are a series of late pastoralist ones.
It was not readily evident, but the site had an upper level above the shelter found by Pier Paolo, accessible only via a rather precarious climb. There at the base of a narrow ledge there were several panels of "Korossom fantastic" and other archaic paintings, and a large but incomplete engraving of a cattle.
Our allotted time was up, we had to embark on our return journey with the difficult ascent in the Enneri Korossom. We returned to our campsite at Karnasahi where everything was already packed, we just needed to load the vehicles. We also used this opportunity to take our group photo, with the hills of Karnasahi as the backdrop.
We re-traced our route in the Enneri Korossom till the first steep pass leading up to the lava plateau bordering the valley. The washed-out track filled with rounded basalt boulders was rather difficult to tackle uphill, all but the pickup stalled half-way. It involved a lengthy road-building exercise and repeated attempts to finally get all four cars up to the top.
On the terrace to the south of the Korossom Timmy site we made a small detour from the track to see KS 04, a large site we did not have the time to visit in 2015. The very eroded paintings are high up on the large North facing vertical wall of a small inselberg, mostly indiscernible without the help of DStretch. After processing the majority are revealed to be "Korossom fantastic" figures, but there is also a large horned animal that appears to be more ancient. There are also several engravings at the foot of the rock, likely of a later date, including a rather unique lion (or other large feline).
We stopped for lunch at the foot of a huge vertical cliff along the side of a larger hill a few hundred metres south of the inselberg, not far from a large rolled rock that contained several panels of engraved camels (KS 02).
Site KS 03, which we did visit two years earlier, was just a few hundred metres away along the bottom of the cliff in the opposite direction. The light conditions were not the best, but as the engraved lines are only lightly patinated (suggesting a relatively younger age), DStretch works well to reveal the curious group of "open women", and the associated elephant and partially overlapping lion.
After the short lunch break we continued along the track in full view of the plain bordering the Enneri Korossom to the North with the scattered sites, then descended the steep pass and continued for about 5 kilometres in the winding riverbed till we were below the Tounden Plain, the next sand filled open area to the North of the Enneri Korossom.
The Tounden Plain contains a number of important sites (including Tiezi, already noted by d'Alverny), most of which we were able to visit in 2015. We missed two sites near the southern end of the plain in a side valley, separated from the Enneri Korossom by a row of tall rocky hills. With an hour and a half left till sunset we just had time to make it to the two sites and back, so without much ado we set out on the slope leading up to the plain while our drivers set about to make camp in the riverbed. After a narrow entrance the valley opens up to a spectacular landscape, at its best in the low afternoon sun.
We easily found the first site, TO 11 tucked away at the southern end of the small bay, with just a few painted cattle to see.
TO 02, a shallow shelter at the Eastern end of the plain was more interesting with a fine Karnasahi style panel, however it was fully exposed to the sun making photography difficult.
As we walked back we noted that the plain itself was littered with artifacts of the prehistoric inhabitants. While the others moved towards the camp I made a quick search for a "lost" site, TO 09 near the narrow entrance of the plain. We already searched for it in 2015, but it remained elusive - possibly due to a GPS error made at the time it was discovered in the late nineties.
By the time we all reached camp in the bottom of the Ennedi Korossom the sun had set, we hurriedly pitched our tents before complete darkness.
Day 15. - Enneri Korossom - Aozi
After breakfast and packing our gear we set out on foot with the cars to follow on the dismal track after the drivers packed camp and loaded the vehicles. As we walked we did our best to move boulders out of the way to make the vehicles' progress easier, but as our pace was about equal even after an hour we were walking well ahead.
After three kilometres we were below the site of Faruanama. With the cars still nowhere to be heard or seen, we made a quick ascent to this late pastoralist site in a smaller sandy valley about a kilometre away.
The shelter contains a procession of knife-wielding figures and camel riders with spears, which do not appear elsewhere on the Ouri plain. These scenes are painted over some very faint Karnasahi style figures, as well as two white ostrich.
While we were up at the site the cars finally caught up with us, we could hear them passing below. However we soon caught up with them again, as we reached the worst part of the valley with some huge boulders blocking the way with a delicate and difficult to tackle passage among them. Finally we reached the bend where the main watercourse disappears into a canyon and the route follows the side valley (in the guelta there was no water this time).
After a little rest we continued for the last few hundred metre stretch, finally guiding all the cars over the boulders and getting them up the pass to the lava terrace above. The worst part of the Enneri Korossom was behind us, now it was "just" a matter of getting back to N'Djamena.
We had one remaining site to visit, TD 01 at the edge of the Teffi Dossou plain not far from where we had our lunch on our onward journey. The site contains some very interesting "Korossom fantastic" scenes (including several examples of the "fantastic beast") and some other archaic paintings, all located high up on the wall of the huge shallow shelter. On our previous trip I made the mistake of leaving the long lens in the car, this time I came prepared to take good close-up photos of the finer details.
While we were busy at the site, the cars moved to the shade of a small hill at the edge of the lava flow, an ideal lunch spot. After a quick meal we continued on our way along the bumpy but immensely easier track towards Aozi.
After a while we noticed that the last car was not following, visible but stationary at the edge of the lava plain. At first we thought it was a flat tyre but with no activity visible around it Pier Paolo went back with the lead car to investigate (later we found out that the rear axle sat on a large boulder when making the short steep ascent from the sand plain, and unable to move under its own power it needed a tow to get off). The halt offered the opportunity to explore an inviting rock outcrop a short distance off the track, and the hunch proved correct, we did find a nice (but unfortunately much eroded) Karnasahi style cattle herd painted in a small niche of a larger shelter at the base of the rock (designated site TD 09).
In the mean time the other cars caught up and we all continued around the rock to see if there was anything more. Magdi spotted a faint engraving on the sunny side of the rock, which on close scrutiny turned out to be a fine elephant, while Marta found another more visible elephant in the other direction on the side of an adjacent larger hill.
The serendipitous find was a fitting end to our rather productive stay on the Ouri Plain, but with the wait for the stuck car it also took up considerable time. We continued up along the track, crossing the Enneri Korossom once more and driving past the large dry stone wall blocking the valley before making the ascent to the higher level of Aozi, taking a last look at the sand-filled valleys below before they disappeared from view as we were approaching the village.
We reached Aozi mid-afternoon, only lingering long enough to say farewells to our guide and fill enough water canisters at the spring to last the two days to Bini Erde.
We were in a bit of a dilemma on what to do, as it was later than planned, there was clearly insufficient time to make the ascent of the steep pass above Aozi to camp on the top, with only the easy drive to Yebbi Bou remaining for the next day. We decided that rather than spending the next hour driving and then camping at the cold plateau at the base of the pass, we might as well stay near Aozi and spend a lazy late afternoon after the tightly packed previous days. We chose a suitable flat spot near the old French fort outside the village, and spent the remaining of the day exploring what must have been one of the remotest outposts of the French empire.
Day 16. - Aozi - Yebbi Bou
It was a wise choice to stay in the valley as it remained much warmer than if we were to have camped on the plateau top. With the usual routine we had our breakfast and warmed on the morning sun before packing camp.
The morning was spent ascending the several stages of the pass leading out of the valley, tackling the steepest part of foot to lighten the load of the cars. Once up, we continued along the amazing alien volcanic landscape of the Tibesti plateau.
We made an early lunch stop at the foot of a low volcanic knoll offering some meagre shade before the junction with the main Gouro - Yebbi Bou track, pretty much the last opportunity between here and Yebbi Bou, still several hours away. After a short stop we continued, with Tarso Tieroko coming into view as we crossed the watershed along the crest of the high volcanic plateau, finally reaching the village by mid-afternoon.
By the time we fueled all four cars with a single hand pump, we only had enough time left before sunset to drive out of Yebbi Bou and reach our usual campsite in the riverbed, the same spot we used on our onward journey.
Day 17. - Yebbi Bou - camp past Bini Erde
We had a crisp cold morning with plenty of high altitude clouds, quite unusual after the warm Ouri plain. It remained cold well into the mid-morning as we drove along the track towards Bini Erde.
Tarso Tieroko dominated the landscape throughout the morning as we made our slow progress around it in a clockwise direction, stopping at the most spectacular views for a coffee break and some photographs.
After a short lunch stop in the shade of the only larger tree we could find we reached Bini Erde, where we stopped to take on water (and also using the opportunity to have a wash by the well with its warm water), then drove past the village along the track crossing the lava flow bordering the valley.
After the long all-day drive we made an early camp at the very picturesque sandstone hills to the South of Bini Erde on the far side of the lava flow, not far from our 2015 campsite. Already that time we looked at the hills to the north as a potential area for some rock art, but lack of time prevented any exploration. Now we had an hour and a half before sunset to search the hills. We scrambled as soon as we reached the campsite, but found nothing of interest aside the magnificent landscape.
Day 18. - Bini Erde - Eastern Erg Bilma
In the morning we set out along the track soon joining the sandy bed of a branch of the Enneri Miski. We continued in the main riverbed until the track climbed to the flat terrace above. Leaving the track we diverted to the group of low hills at the foot of the Emi Koussi volcano, which now was mostly lost in a haze. Our objective was the site of Kla Uenema at the side of a low insignificant hill, with the unique painting of a (pregnant?) horned animal that is extremely difficult to classify in absence of any analogies elsewhere in the entire Sahara.
We returned to the track and continued south along the Miski valley, stopping for lunch at the same spot where we did so on our onward journey. It was interesting to note that a cluster of parasitic Cistanche phelypaea growing under the large tamarisk, which were just budding 12 days earlier, were now in full bloom.
After lunch we continued South throughout the afternoon, only halting at sunset to make camp among the easternmost dunes of the Erg Bilma about 30 kilometres short of the well of "Rond-point De Gaulle".
Day 19. - Eastern Erg Bilma - camp before Faya
In the morning as we were packing camp I came across a strange creature in the sand that looked like a miniature armadillo. It turned out to be a flightless female desert cockroach, most probably Heterogamodes ursina. We also encountered a small desert mantid (Eremiaphila sp.) that decided to stay still long enoug for a quick snapshot.
The rest of the day was spend driving along the track towards Fada, taking the outer route that stays away from the oases of Borku and the bumpy white lakebed terrain. We passed a number of relics from the Libyan Wars, as well as large trading trucks coming down from Libya. At one point we were startled by two ordinary white Toyota Corollas, apparently also being brought from Libya across the desert. Despite being full with passengers they easily overtook us and disappeared in the distance as if the desert sands were their everyday environment.
As we approached Faya the already dusty day turned into a proper sandstorm. With visibility quickly dropping we steered towards a cluster of palm trees that offered some protection against the wind and hastily made camp expecting a rather unpleasant night.
Day 20. - Faya - camp before Erg Djurab
Overnight the wind calmed and we rose to a crisp but pleasant sunny morning with clear skies. We have not appreciated it the previous evening, but actually our camping spot was a rather pleasant place in a patch of white sand surrounded by green palms, classic picture book oasis scenery.
However by the time we packed up and reached the outskirts of Faya after a dozen or so kilometres the wind picked up, and it soon grew into a proper sandstorm again.
Faya is an unpleasant place under any conditions, but especially so in a sandstorm. Nobody was in a mood to wander about, we just waited in the huge fueling courtyard with the piles of steel drums containing Libyan petrol and diesel. Entertainment was provided by one of the huge cross-desert Mercedes trucks (bound for Abéche as we were told), that seems to have completed fueling and was loading goods and passengers (on top of the cargo, naturally...) apparently preparing to leave. After a lengthy and chaotic process everyone seems to have settled and the truck started rolling, seemingly on it's way. However the journey only lasted till the far side of the courtyard, where it stopped and passengers started to disembark, repeating the whole commotion. From a good shaded vantage point I was able to candidly video the whole amusing process without attracting any attention or protests.
By the time we fueled all cars and Jonathan was back from his shopping round it was well past lunchtime. The prospect of taking another hour of driving and then to stop in the howling wind and dust was not an appealing one, so we resorted to one of the Faya high-street restaurants. Despite some misgivings, we all made it without any lasting harm, and the roast mutton (at least the pieces with traces of meat adhering to the bone) was actually quite tasty.
After lunch we hit the road again, turning south from Faya towards the Erg Djurab. With the sandstorm still in full swing we made camp as best as we could in the lee of the vehicles, and after a quick dinner retreated to the relative shelter of the tents.
Day 21. - Erg Djurab - camp before Kouba Olanga
The sandstorm continued unabated for most of the day. Visibility was a bit better in the Erg Djurab where the higher dunes offered some protection, but turned markedly for the worse afterwards, as the fine dust of the lakebed was raised into the air. We continued all day at a fairly slow pace, the cars in close sequence not to lose the track and each other. By the late afternoon our GPS indicated that we were approaching Kouba Olanga, we made a ninety degree turn towards the open desert and drove blindly for a couple of kilometres to make camp for the night in the lee of the cars the best we could.
Day 22. - Kouba Olanga - camp after Moussoro
The morning again turned out to be calmer, good enough to take out the camera that was safely packed away the whole previous day. We were in a featureless sand plain with only a few shrubs visible on the horizon, accompanied by a number of darkling beetles and ravens, apparently the rule of the land was that any animal could pick the body colour they like as long as it was black...
Like on the previous days, the morning calm did not last long, the wind soon piced up and the air filled with sand and dust again. As we moved further down the Bahr el Ghazal, the sand fully gave way to the grey dust, which penetrated everything, a rather miserable experience. The only excitement came after passing Salal, the first larger town in the Bahr el Ghazal if approaching from the North. Something moved among the shrubs, and when passing a clearing we saw to our surprise that they were not the expected goats, but a family of warthogs. There have been some reports of warthogs migrating from the Sahel into the lower Bahr el Ghazal near Lake Chad, but none have ever been reported so far north. With the sparse Muslim population not hunting them and without any large carnivores there is a good chance they will multiply in this (for them) relatively favorable environment.
Grinding the kilometres and the hours, by mid-afternoon we reached Moussoro, our next (and last) fueling stop. After completing all the chores we drove out of town to look for a suitable camping spot among the vegetation anchored dunes. As we searched, we encountered a flock of vultures gathering on the ground for the night. They were mostly smaller White-backed vultures (Gyps africanus), accompanied by a single large Lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotos). With Francesco we hopped out of the cars to photograph them, we managed to approach to within about 50 metres before they decided to take flight.
While we stalked the vultures the others found an acceptable camping spot, a patch of clean sand among some shrubs. We made camp as the sun was setting, the first time it was actually visible over the past four evenings.
Day 23. - Camp after Moussoro - N'Djamena
This last day was once again a non-stop drive, first along the dusty Bahr el Ghazal with the lingering dust storm, then along the tarmac road from Massaguet to N'Djamena, which we reached mid-afternoon, in time for everyone to take a shower at the Ibis hotel before we needed to go to the airport to catch our respective flights.
From the sketches made during the journey, Pluche prepared a delightful graphic travelogue presenting our voyage from a very different perspective.
(Note: requires horizontal screen resolution of 1600 pixels or more for optimum viewing.)
For the past few years the Ouri plain became inaccessible again due to the re-emergence of the Tibesti rebellion, and more lately the Covid related travel restrictons. However based on information received on the grapewine, it appears that things have gone quiet again, people from Gouro have returned to Ouri after a series of good rains, and the plain is accessible again via the easier route from the east (via Gouro). All things going well, we are planning a return in November 2022. The trip will start and end in N'Djamena, and will take around 21-22 days using cars, with some shorter treks to and around the sites. A detailed itinerary is now available. Please visit the News page for any updates (or "like" the FJ Expeditions FaceBook page).