Chad is one of the hardest countries in Africa to backpack independently. You can manage N’Djamena and the paved roads to Moundou or Abéché by bus, but the top sights require a licensed 4x4 operator.
Beyond the capital you need a travel authorization from the Ministry of Tourism and a photography permit, and police checkpoints ask for both. Buses from N’Djamena to
Abéché take 12 to 16 hours and cost about 15,000 to 25,000 XAF (US$25 to 42). Small-group tours of
Ennedi and
Ounianga run roughly 120,000 to 200,000 XAF (US$200 to 330) per person per day. The
Tibesti and the Lake Chad shore are off-limits for security reasons.
Two weeks is the realistic minimum for Chad if you want to see the northern desert, because the 4x4 drive from N’Djamena to Ennedi alone takes four to five days.
With 7 days, fly from the capital to
Zakouma National Park for four nights of game drives (December to May). With 14 days, take an expedition through
Faya-Largeau, the
Lakes of Ounianga,
Fada and
Guelta d’Archei, flying back from Amdjarass. Three weeks lets you combine Zakouma, the camel markets of
Abéché and Ennedi. Taking buses along the paved eastern road (N’Djamena to Mongo: 6 to 8 hours) keeps costs down on the first stretch.
You can travel Chad’s main paved roads without a car, but you can’t reach its headline sights that way.
Buses and shared minibuses link N’Djamena with
Moundou (7 to 10 hours, around 10,000 to 15,000 XAF, or US$17 to 25),
Sarh (9 to 11 hours) and
Abéché via
Mongo (12 to 16 hours). Shared taxis and moto-taxis handle short hops in town for 500 to 2,000 XAF. North of Moussoro the tracks turn to sand, and there is no scheduled transport to
Ennedi,
Ounianga or
Faya-Largeau, so you’ll need to join a 4x4 tour.
Zakouma National Park is reached by the camps’ charter flights or a park-arranged road transfer.
Chad’s three must-visits are the Ennedi Massif, the Lakes of Ounianga and Zakouma National Park, with Guelta d’Archei as the single most memorable stop.
The UNESCO-listed
Ennedi is full of sandstone arches and rock art of cattle and camels, so plan 4 to 6 days. The 18
Lakes of Ounianga sit in open desert, with salty, red-edged Yoa close to the freshwater lakes of Ounianga Serir; give them 2 nights. At
Guelta d’Archei, camel herds drink from a canyon pool that still holds a few desert crocodiles.
Zakouma has more than 500 elephants, and 4 nights there works best from March to May. In N’Djamena, the
National Museum of Chad displays a cast of the Toumaï skull.
If you’re short on time in Chad, skip the southern cotton towns and the Lake Chad shore, and put every spare day into the north or Zakouma.
Moundou,
Sarh and
Doba are green, friendly and cheap, but each is 7 to 11 hours by bus from N’Djamena for markets and riverbanks similar to those in the capital. The
Lake Chad area around
Baga Sola sees armed attacks and needs extra permits, so leave it out. Two nights in
N’Djamena is plenty, since the museum, Central Market and crafts market fit into one full day. In practice the
Tibesti Mountains are closed to tourism anyway.
Yes, our itinerary-planner does exactly that. Set your trip length in days, give your interests and travel style, optionally give start- and end location and/or some mandatory stops you would like to include and the itinerary planner creates your personalized routes for Chad in seconds. Try it out!
Try the itinerary plannerv2.webp){kind=logo}
Best Backpacking
