Chad

Understand

History For more than 2,000 years, the Chadian Basin has been inhabited by agricultural and sedentary peoples. The earliest of these were the legendary Sao, known from artefacts and oral histories. The Sao fell to the Kanem Empire, the first and longest-lasting of the empires that developed in Chad's Sahelian strip by the end of the 1st millennium AD. The power of Kanem and its successors was based on control of the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. Up until the late 19th century, two Muslim kingdoms emerged in the region, including the Sultanate of Bagirmi and the Wadai Empire. French colonial expansion led to the creation of the Territoire Militaire des Pays et Protectorats du Tchad in 1900. By 1920, France had secured full control of the colony and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. The French primarily viewed the colony as an unimportant source of untrained labour and raw cotton. The colonial administration in Chad was critically understaffed and had to rely on the dregs of the French civil service.

Fifteen thousand Chadian soldiers fought for Free France during World War II and after the war ended, France granted Chad the status of overseas territory and its inhabitants the right to elect representatives to both the French National Assembly and a Chadian assembly. Chad was granted independence on 11 August 1960 with François Tombalbaye, as its first president. Two years later, Tombalbaye banned opposition parties and established a one-party system. In 1965 Muslims began a civil war. Tombalbaye was overthrown and killed in 1975, but the insurgency continued. In 1979 the rebel factions conquered the capital, and all central authority in the country collapsed. The disintegration of Chad caused the collapse of France's position in the country, and a civil war in which the Libyans (unsuccessfully) became involved. A semblance of peace was finally restored in 1990. The government eventually drafted a democratic constitu

Getting there

Entry requirements

Everyone, except citizens of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal, needs a visa to enter the country. Chadian visas are expensive; the Chadian embassy in Brussels charges €70 for one-month visas and the Chadian embassy in Washington, DC charges $150 for one-month visas. As a general rule, the longer you intend to stay, the more expensive the visa will be. All visitors are required to register themselves with the police within 72 hours after arrival. Bring along your passport and two passport-sized photos with you. Any good travel company may assist with the process, especially if you're not proficient in either French, Arabic, or both. There is a 'tourist tax' of 5,000 CFA per person per site (Guelta d'Archei for example is one, nearby Terkei mountain as well, as are Ounianga Kebir and Ounianga Serir).

Visa application requirements

Chad does not have an extensive diplomatic network around the world. You may need to travel to another country to apply for any kind of Chadian visa. Although visa requirements vary from diplomatic mission to diplomatic mission, you're typically asked to submit the following to apply for a Chadian visa:

A copy of your passport (must be valid). A passport-sized photograph. A copy of an invitation letter. Round-trip tickets to Chad. A completed visa application. An incomplete visa application will be rejected, so get everything you need. An e-visa is in theory available from December 2024. Some people report that the necessary confirmation email is not received by Hotmail/Gmail type addresses. A search for the web address should find the correct site which is https://evisa.td/. However, as of October 2025 the payment engine does not work. Try to avoid companies offering to provide visa services. You will end up paying more than €1,000 for a service where you do most of the work.

By plane

Air Fran

Getting around

In N'Djamena there are both vehicle taxis and motorcycle taxis. In some major towns, such as Moundou and Sarh, there might be only "clandos" - motorcycle taxis - or rickshaws (more towards the east of the country) for getting around town. In October 2018, a domestic Chadian airline was launched, Tchadia Air. It was placed into liquidation in 2022. Charter flights exist to Zakouma NP and Faya-Largeau Airport (for Ennedi), and are used by the more upmarket tours around Chad.

Tours Due to the inaccessibility of most of the country, any substantial visit will be by an organised tour. Local companies such as SVS , Tchad Evasion , Eyte Voyagesand Guéra Touristique offer itineraries for private groups and fixed date group tours. Their tours and/or their capabilities are also resold via the more adventurous US/UK/European tour operators.

See

Chad is the quintessential destination to experience the Sahara desert: its ecosystem, but also its past and present forms of human habitation. The Ennedi Massif is a picturesque sandstone bulwark in the middle of the Sahara, which was formed by erosion from wind and temperature. The area is also known for its rock paintings. The Guelta d'Archei is one of the rare pockets of water in the Ennedi, inhabited by the West African crocodile and frequented by camel caravans. The Lakes of Ounianga are a group of 18 ancient lakes with a unique hydrological system. Both the Ennedi Massif and the Lakes of Ounianga are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Since the takeover by the NGO African Parks in 2010, 1 Zakouma National Park. has developed itself into a prime destination for safari connoisseurs. Poaching has been virtually eliminated and wildlife numbers are thriving. Part of the Sudan-Guinea Savannah vegetation zone, Zakouma’s floodplains, rivers, marshes and pans are a sanctuary for West and Central African wildlife. After reintroduction of the Black Rhino in 2018, it also is a ‘Big Five Park’. Football is the most popular sport in Chad with Les Sao being the international tournament. The Chadian national team have never qualified in the World Cup or the African Cup of Nations. However, home matches are only played at the Idriss Mahamat Ouya Stadium. Other sites of interest:

Oasis of Faya. - the largest oasis in northern Chad. Tibesti Mountains - a mountain range in the far north, with the volcano of Emi Koussi and the domain of the Toubou people Lake Chad. - large border lake, covered by a hundred islands and islets of which many are inhabited. Guéra Region - a central Chadian region home to a high ethnic diversity and beautiful mountain ranges

Do

Gerewol is a week-long festival, held yearly in late September in the southwest of Chad. The men of the nomadic Woodabe tribe, herding their cattle around Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, congregate to dress up and dance in order to attract a new wife. The festival locations are impossible to find independently, so as a foreigner without links to the community the only way to exp