Bird Watching in Chad

A colleague of mine, who is not only a good friend but also an avid birdwatcher, always looks very disappointed when he hears that I am going to Chad. Apparently there is a bird in Chad which he has not seen in order for him to tick it off on his “weird and wonderful birds on the planet”-list. I have asked him what the birds looks like, but it was clear that he didn’t want me to see the bird before he does, so there was no need to ask again. Maybe he just wouldn’t be able to handle the disappointment when I tell that “oh, btw, I have seen that bird you always so desperately wanted to see…”

So, every time when I find myself in Chad, I cannot help but to look for birds. Unfortunately I am here for work, so I cannot take binoculars, a coffee flask and my book of Birds of the World Version 2.0 ® 1994-1996 to go find a bird which I have no idea if it might be the right one or not. When you arrive in N’Djamena you cannot imagine bird life in this country at all, the town is rather dry with very few trees. There is a rather large river flowing through N'Djamena, but for wild-life there is not much. But some other parts of Chad looks better and the chances of finding birds there might be better than in N’Djamena.

Although N’Djamena does not give much opportunity for seeing bird life, when you drive on the slow roads near Kome you can stare into the trees and sky to see if you can spot something which might look like a “rare and never seen by a particular birdwatcher in SA before”.  What I have noticed so far is that there are not many birds around this area either. I looked on the Internet to find out what the “hotspots” would be for finding birds, but it seems I am out of luck already. I am in the southern parts of Chad but the hotspot seems to be the northern parts close to where Lake Chad used to be. I say “used to be” because the size of Lake Chad has shrunk considerably over the last few decades, which is rather sad if you think of it. Lake Chad has retreated by 95 per cent since 1963 because of water extraction, increased population, overgrazing and less rainfall. It also created new habitat where there are not adequate food for migrating birds, causing less bird species to reach their final destination.

The second problem I have is that I have no idea where to look for the bird. In the sky, on the ground, near water or in trees?  Is this bird small, large, medium-size? What is the colour, am I looking for a white feathered bird, a black bird or something in between or coloured?  Is it a seed eating bird or something with a taste for meat, like eagles or kestrels? What I have noticed from the Internet is that I have a one-in-588 chance of spotting the right bird, because apparently this is the amount of species in Chad; some local, some migrating birds, none endemic.

At the moment it is raining cats and dogs in Southern Chad. The area is lush and green and beautiful to say the least, but yet the birds are few and far between. Closer to villages you see more birds than outside in the open stretches of lowland “savanna grassland”, which obviously means that a lot of birds rely on humans for food. I have seen quite a few varieties of birds so far, but I guess it is the more common ones that we have in South Africa as well, finch, sparrow, herons, kestrels. My other problem I have is that I am not a bird watcher at all so I can hardly even recognize the common ones, let alone give their names in English. I don’t even know what the difference between a hawk, falcon, eagle and kestrel is. But who knows, maybe, just maybe, I might have already seen this special bird without even knowing it……

You have reached your destination

After nearly three days of traveling I have reached my destination at last. I am in Kome, a small oilfield settlement in the southern parts of Chad. When I left South Africa I was wondering of I should take my point-and-shoot or my proper camera. From previous experience I knew that I won't see much of the surroundings. Because of security we are not allowed to move around much, so there would not have been much time for finding nice pictures. Secondly, there is not much to take pictures of. Basically this is just a flat piece of land with a few rivers and a lot of trees and shrubs. No grass. While we were coming in to land I was looking for any signs of wild life. Except for a few birds, I couldn't spot any. I asked a local here if there is any wild life left and he said yes, some goats and cattle. He later corrected himself and said no.

It is good that I didn't take my descent camera. My point-and-shoot was nearly confiscated when we checked in at N'Djamena. I wasn't sure if he wanted the camera or the batteries. He said something about batteries but my French is as bad as his English, so I played dumb. After he looked at the camera he passed it back to me. I asked a colleaque about taking pictures and he told me that in Chad you need a permit to take pictures in public. He mentioned a few incidents where people were actually locked up for more than 24 hrs, fines that had to be paid, cameras that were confiscated, all just because they took pictures in the streets. For a moment I was very relieved that I didn't take pictures of the mothers and kids that slept overnight on reed mats in the middle of the road. It seems like they've slept right there despite the dust and mosquitoes. It is so dry and hot here, people seem to sleep wherever they feel like it. I guess wherever they lay their mats, that's their home.

Needless to say I don't have any pictures of Kome and I couldn't find much on the Internet either. As we were driving from the small airport with the gravel runway I was wondering why anyone would want to live here. I know that the discovery of oil attracted a lot of people to this desolate part of the country looking for work, but most of the people I saw next to the road looked more like subsistence farmers with little hope of harvesting much again this year, if anything. I was wondering about the meaning of life and what each individual eventually wants to achieve in his or her few years on this earth. The people living here definitely have different dreams and goals than what Westeners have. I would like to know if they are inherently happy or not. Even in the small rural towns, which does not have much more than a shop or two, there is nothing that the people here could want. They never see televisions and computers, or eat ice creams and drink milkshakes. Do they miss that in their lives, or are they content with what they have? They also do not have irritating neighbours or sit in traffic jams, or have to go to work every day and live by that time piece around their wrists like we have to do. That sounds quite attractive to me.

But in Kome there is not much to take pictures of, so I am glad I came without my camera. I will capture what I've seen in my head and remember how this place made me think about my life once again. Do I have too much? Do I want too much? Am I better of than these people, or could I do with a simple and relaxed lifestyle like theirs and learn from them? Maybe I have reached my destination today in more than one way, Kome and my destination for some deep introspection.

The Queen of Sheba

I had a couple of options to get from South Africa to Chad, but all of them involved passing through another country. In the past I used to go through Paris, but that meant flying straight over Chad to Paris and then halfway back. Other options included Cameroun and Kenia, but I have seen them before and was more interested in trying a new destination where I have never been before. This is why I had the privilege of spending one night in Addis Ababa. I was pleasantly surprized by the professional manner Air Ethiopia was handling the transfers. I even received my luggage in N'Djamena this afternoon after it stayed in transit while I stayed at the magnificent 5-star Intercontinental Hotel. I never knew much about Ethiopia, except for the distasteful jokes we made as kids about the famine in the country and then of course that His Emperial Haile Selassie hails from Ethiopia. My love for reggae provided me with that last bit of knowledge. I guess one night in Addis cannot really give a good indication of what a country and its people are like, but believe me first impressions definitely can add to your final opinion. 

From Wikipedia I learned some interesting facts about Ethiopia that I didn't know. The fact like it is the most populous landlocked country in the world, despite the fact that millions died in the 80's due to the famine. Today it has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. It is the place where the coffee bean originated and is the top coffee and honey producer in Africa. It was also one of the first Christian countries in the world, having officially adopted Christianity as the state religion in the 4th century already. What really surprized me was that Ethiopia has its own alphabet, and then some people still believe nothing has ever been invented in Africa. Lastly Ethiopia also seems to have very beautiful women (that comes from personal observation and not from Wikipedia). My first contact with Ethiopia left a good impression. But like a true scientist I believe that all findings should be reproducible while providing the same results. So next week when I travel via Addis again, I will be more certain if my first impression was fact or just coincidence.

So, as you could've guessed by now, I made it to N'Djamena in one piece. Luggage as well. What a difference it is to Ethiopia. The same reception your get from the other West African countries which I so frequently bitch about met me here. Although Chad is smack bang in the middle of Africa, it is also French-speaking like most of the West African countries and just as tourist UNfriendly. The attitude is just so different to what I've experienced last night. In Addis I felt as if I was welcome there, here I feel like I am intruding. Just the way things work at the airport, or let me rather say NOT WORK, the way people speak to you, or don't speak to you, the whole atmosphere and attitude is just so different. Why? What makes one country a pleasure to visit and another a "pleasure to avoid"? Is it the people, the history, the circumstances? I guess one can have a whole debate over that topic, but traveling from a country with the fastest growing economy to one of the poorest and most corrupt countries surely make you wonder if that might not be the reason. Are the countries unfriendly because they are poor, or are they poor because they are unfriendly? I guess when your country is also referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa" it doesn't contribute much to your happiness and positive personality traits either.



The Queen of Sheba maybe...?

So, the natives are still restless in Kome, a small oilfield camp further south in Chad. This is where I will be heading tomorrow on a small charter plane. We've received special permission to travel and will hopefully be able to arrive and depart without problems. Departing is the main concern, I would like to be back in South Africa by the end of next week and don't want to jeopardize any chances of that happening. I am actually looking forward to the trip down further south, seeing places which not many people will ever have the privilege of seeing. Who knows, maybe I can find the beautiful Queen of Sheba there. Oh no I remember now, apparently she was from Ethiopia. Go figure!