Chad Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

This country in north-central Africa is well off most North Americans' radar screens, and that's not likely to change anytime soon. It does offer a mix of landscapes, including the Sahara desert in the north and savannas with wildlife in the south, even large (though not particularly impressive) Lake Chad. But the difficulty of traveling through the country and the lingering danger of armed uprisings and terrorist incursions make it a place best suited for adventurers who have already visited more accessible countries in the region or those who are on a cross-continent trek.

Those who do spend time in Chad will want to seek out Zakouma National Park, Chad's largest reserve. It has lots of animals (elephants, giraffes, lions, hippos, wildebeests) and few tourists. Chad's most distinctive attractions are in the north, including the austere beauty of the Tibesti Mountains, the picturesque Ounianga Lakes and the striking Ennedi Mountains.

Geography

History

The first records of settlement in what is now Chad go back 2,500 years, when the Sao people migrated from Egypt. Living in walled cities, they became known for fine pottery and bronze goods. The area soon became a crossroads for two caravan routes carrying minerals and slaves, which brought new cultures and influences into Chad. The growing influence of Islam, which first appeared in the area in the AD 1200s, set the stage for a cultural division that has pitted nomadic Arab speakers from the north against the south's sedentary Sara people. The dominant northern cultures used to sell the Sara into slavery, and the two groups are still wary of each other.

When French colonizers arrived at the end of the 19th century, the southerners welcomed them as liberators. That changed, however, as the French began to impose high taxes and force southern farmers to grow cotton, which the French cotton monopoly then purchased at artificially low prices (a practice that continues today).

The country's independence, granted in 1960, revived tensions between the south (which controlled the presidency and a majority of positions in the new government) and the north. The country quickly slipped into civil war. The situation was exacerbated when neighboring Libya joined the fighting, hoping to capture the uranium-rich northern border area, called the Aouzou Strip. As the civil war continued into the 1980s, the situation became so bad that 11- and 12-year-olds were conscripted into the army. Finally, in 1989, the north and south joined to drive the Libyans out.

From 1992 to 1993 there were five attempted coups and a number of government crackdowns. During this time, some 15,000 civilians fled across the Central African Republic's border following massacres allegedly orchestrated by government troops.

Since then Chad has moved toward democracy, though the situation is far from settled. Peace agreements signed in 2002 and 2003 between the government and northern rebel groups brought an end to the fighting and the current government has made an effort to be inclusive. Peace with Sudan has been restored and some of the more than 200,000 Sudanese refugees who poured across Chad's eastern border in 2003 and 2004 following the humanitarian crisis in Darfur have returned home. A joint Chad-Sudan security force now patrols the border.

One hopeful sign is the oil pipeline that is allowing Chad to harvest its petroleum reserves. Nonetheless, Chad is a very poor country that's heavily reliant on foreign, especially French, aid. Aside from oil, fishing, subsistence farming and cotton cultivation are the main economic pursuits.

Snapshot

Potpourri

Everyone arriving in Chad is fingerprinted during the immigration formalities at N'Djamena International Airport. A second set of fingerprints is taken of everyone leaving the country.

In recent years, Chad's desert has offered up several important skeletons belonging to prehistoric humans. The Toumai skull, discovered in 2001 and estimated to be 7 million years old, has been the most important find thus far, giving scientists a better understanding of mankind's distant ancestors.

During the war with Libya, Chadian troops fought heroically against their better-equipped enemies. During one 1987 battle, Libyan soldiers were driven back by Chadian riflemen firing from the beds of attacking pick-up trucks.

In Chad's presidential elections, mobile polling stations are dispatched to cruise the deserts of northern Chad searching for nomadic voters.

Lions and panthers can sometimes be found on the southern Chad savannas.

International Women's Day (8 March) is almost always accompanied by festivities, parades, speeches, rallies and the tradition of cross-dressing.

Average life expectancy in Chad is 48 for men, 52 for women.

In Chad it is customary to shake hands. However, the left hand should never be used for offering or accepting food, nor should the sole of the foot be exposed in the presence of a Muslim.