Gerewol & Ennedi – Trip to Chad (Sep 2019) – FULL BOOKINGS

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Trip to Chad in September 2019. Duration of 15 days, in which we will attend a Gerewol ceremony of the nomadic Wodaabe ethnic group and travel to the Ennedi plateau. 4×4 cars
A 15 day trip to Chad in September 2019, in which we will attend a nomadic Wodaabe Gerewol ceremony and travel to the Ennedi plateau.
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS
  • Travel style Culture, festival, photographic, landscape, adventure, camping, 4×4
  • Departure N’Djamena. Tuesday September 10th, 2019
  • Arrival N’Djamena. Tuesday September 24th, 2019
  • Duration: 15 days / 14 nights
  • Group size 8 passengers minimum / Max 12
  • Transport: 4 × 4 car 
  • Accommodation 10% Hotel – 90% Free camping
  • Price: 2.770€
  • Complete trip. No places available. Next departure September 2020.
  • More information at info@kumakonda.com

Complete trip. No places available. Next departure September 2020.

Ceremony Gerewol and Ennedi on an exclusive trip to Chad

Chad is one of the most fascinating destinations in Africa. A country that still today remains outside of globalization and where it is possible to find ancestral ways of life, simply exceptional nowadays.

The immense majority of the approximately 200 tribes of Chad hold much of their original culture due to their isolation.

Landscapes in Chad are breathtakingly beautiful. The Ennedi plateau offers some of the most amazing desert in the world. Fascinating rock formations, huge stone arches or spectacular gorges, such as the famous Guelta de Archei.

Visit our blog about Ennedi Massif

The Wodaabe and the Gerewol ceremony

On this special trip to Chad visiting the Gerewol and Ennedi, we will have the opportunity to approach the Wodaabe nomadic people. We will attend a Gerewol festive ceremony. For a few days we can meet and live with one of the most fascinating ethnic groups in Africa.

For the Wodaabe or Bororo there are three essential reasons in life. The first refers to the personal aspect, the second to their cattle and the third to the family and relations with their clan. The Wodaabe consider themselves the most beautiful people in the world.

We will observe how the Wodaabe are an unmistakable ethnic group. Men wear tunics and turbans and Women wear black vestments. Both look numerous geometric facial tattoos.

The Gerewol consists of a ceremony where men dance and compete to be the most beautiful and women are the judges and can choose their future husband. We will spend two days and two nights participating in Gerewol

In mid and late September, different nomadic Fulani tribes are concentrated in the Dourbali region, on their transhumant way to the south. We will meet some of them and spend a day and a night with a nomadic Alidjan ethnic group clan. We will continue our journey to Ennedi to discover many of their secrets.

On the way we will stop to visit another ethnic group as the Dangelaet.

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DETAILED ITINERARY

Day 1 Tuesday September 10th N’Djamena

  • Arrival in N’Djamena, capital of Chad.
  • Transfer to the hotel in local taxis, free day to visit N’Djamena
  • The passport will be given to the tour organizer to register with the police. Registration fee included.
  • Night in the Catholic Mission of N’Djamena.

Day 2, Market of Dourbali and Gerewol

  • Early in the morning we will travel in 4 × 4 Toyota vehicles to Dourbali, where every Wednesday a colorful and interesting market takes place, in which the different ethnic groups of the region meet. 
  • Across countryside we will head towards the nomadic Wodaabe camps. 
  • Afternoon attending the Gerewol festival 
  • Camping

Day 3, Gerewol and stay with nomads Wodabee

  • Full day attending the Gerewol festival. We can see the dances and songs, but we can also live and see the way of life of one of the last nomadic people on the planet.
  • Camping

Day 4, Stay in a nomad Kanoumoudji camp

  • After breakfast we will set up our camp to go in search of the nomadic Fulani sub ethnic group, the Kanoumoudji.  Women are distinguished by their incredible beauty and colorful dresses.
  • Camping

Day 5 Dourbali – N’Djamena – Bokoro

  • It is the end of the rainy season, so depending on the state of the tracks, we will have to go back to N’Djamena, or we can continue to Bokoro. 
  • Hopefully on the way we will seeing different ethnic groups in Chad
  • Camping

Day 6 Amdtadjan

  • We continue our journey to Ennedi
  • We will cross the beautiful and lively region of Guera, dotted with granite peaks (La reine du Guera), its traditional houses and its rich market (hopefully weekly market day). We will stop in the village of Ab Toyour, dominated by a granite peak known as “the mountain of the vultures” 
  • We will sleep at the crossroads in the town of Amdtajan.
  • Camping

Day 7 Kalait

  • We continue our journey to Ennedi, passing the city of Abeche. From Abeche the paved road disappears and we will take the tracks leading to Ennedi, Ounianga and Libya.
  • Kalait is the last important city that we will see, we will supply in its animated market, before continuing our trip in the majestic mountains of the Ennedi.
  • Camping

Days 8, 9, 10 Ennedi

  • For 3 days we will visit the most beautiful places and enjoy the region of Ennedi. We will spend our time discovering numerous rocky formations of sandstone modelled by the wind as erosive phenomenon. There are spectacular and wonderful shapes. We will enjoy the pleasure of exploring sublime landscapes with natural arches, deep and isolated gorges, water wells…   
  • We will visit on foot canyons, rocky formations such as the awe-inspiring stone arch of Aloba (the largest in Africa and one of the largest in the world), the arch of Julia.
  • You will see the traditional life of the Tubu nomads with their flocks. 
  • We will enter on foot 3 in canyons as the Guelta de Archei which is the best known. We will stop in some wells where the camels drink and we will be able to observe how the camel drivers Tubu give the water mixed with salt in some containers instead of letting them drink it directly.  
  • We will also visit a series of rock art sites, some of the paintings are on rock walls and others hidden inside caves. It is possible to see paintings of cows, camels and warriors.
  • Continuing the journey you can find nomadic people with their mat tents that are grazing with their camels, cows, donkeys that collect water from a well.  
  • The culminating point of this area is undoubtedly the Guelta d’Archei, the only point where water is found all year round. It is situated in spectacular and imposing rocky gorge where it is common to find hundreds of camels drinking. Its roar echoes in the rocky walls. The Guelta is also refuge of some of the last crocodiles of the Sahara, with a little luck we should see some.
  • The landscape in this region is truly spectacular and we will install the campsite in unique natural spaces.

Day 11 Biltine

  • On the way back to N’Djamena, we will stop in the vicinity of the town of Biltine. This region is inhabited by the Dangelaet ethnic group.
  • Camping

Days 12 Korbo

  • We will turn off the main road to visit Korbo.
  • Stop in the Guera Mountains to visit the Dangelaet ethnic group. A very hospitable village that will welcome us wonderfully and where we will spend a night.
  • Camping

Day 13 Karme

  • We will visit the Korbo area in the morning and get to know the Dangelaet culture. 
  • We continue our trip to N’Djamena and sleep in the town of Karme.
  • Camping

Day 14 N’Djamena

  • In the morning we will arrive in N’Djamena, before noon. Lunch not included.
  • Night at the Catholic Mission in N’Djamena

Day 15 Yamena, Tuesday, September 24th

  • End of the trip at 9:00 am
  • Transfer to the airport
  • Possibility of extra night in the Catholic Mission taking charge of the price.

IMAGES GALERIE

THIS TRIP INCLUDES

  • Travel Insurance
  • 4x4 vehicles to assist Gerewol
  • Local drivers
  • Spanish guide / travel coordinator, responsible for Kumakonda
  • French-speaking local Chadian guide
  • Cooker during the trip
  • All necessary government permits to travel in northern Chad.
  • Letter of invitation to Chad required for visa
  • Attendance at the Gerewol party-ceremony
  • Visits to the nomadic Wodaabe and Fulani camps
  • All camping rates
  • Tents
  • Sleeping mattresses
  • Airport pick-up and return service
  • Two nights (day of arrival and departure) in ventilated rooms in Catholic missions. The religious guests have priority of lodging in the Catholic Mission. When the rooms are occupied, we will camp in the Mission garden.
  • For many of the tourist attractions, entrance fees must be paid. All entrance fees are included in the price of the trip.
  • 2 x breakfast in the restaurant in the Catholic Mission.
  • A common dinner in N'Djamena
  • 3 meals per day.
  • Treated water
  • Generator for charging electrical appliances
  • Exception: No meals are served on arrival and departure of the trip in N'Djamena.

THIS TRIP DOES NOT INCLUDE

  •  Flights
  • Travel insurance
  • Photography rates
  • Taxi expenses
  • Visa
  •  Visa procedures (see visa section)
  • Drinks (soft drinks / alcoholic beverages )
  • Tips

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