I returned to Zakouma National Park in Chad with life long friend and photobuddy, Ann Nichols. We were so impressed with our first trip a year ago that we felt we needed to spend more time in this incredible park with our host Doug MacDonald from DougMac Safaris.

“Learn to see and to feel life; that is, cultivate imagination, because there are still marvels in the world, because life is a mystery and always will be. But be aware of it.” – Josef Albers

Doug is a professional walking guide and holds a prestigious Zimbabwe professional guide licence with 30 years of safari experience. The Zimbabwean professional guide licence is widely considered the gold standard for safari and walking guides in Africa, renowned globally for its extreme rigor, depth, and high standard. Doug has been guiding in Zakouma since 2017. He works through African Parks—which manages Zakouma—to lead remote tracking, birding, and night drives in Zakouma. He guides safaris in 15 countries in Africa.

Doug has a remarkable depth of knowledge which goes beyond identification to understanding behaviour and, for me importantly, how the species interact and impact each other and the environment. Doug is a wonderful storyteller with a great sense of humour and fun which adds warmth and personality to the game drives and discussion around meals.

“As knowledge increases, wonder deepens.” – Charles Morgan

Located in the Sahel Zone between Sudan and Nigeria, Chad is the 5th largest country by area in Africa. The largest is Algeria followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Chad is divided into three distinct climate zones from north to south, transitioning from an arid desert climate to a tropical savanna climate. Greater Zakouma Ecosystem (GZE) is an important stronghold for Africa’s wildlife. Spanning over 28 000 km², this vast and varied landscape is characterised by seasonal wildlife migrations, perennial river systems, and nutrient-rich floodplains.

A gathering of Spurwing geese and Kordofan giraffe around one of the remaining pools of water.

Regarding the three different climate zones, the Northern Desert Zone (Sahara) covers the northern two-thirds of the country, including the Tibesti Mountains and Ennedi Plateau. In this zone there are extreme daily and seasonal temperature variations, ranging from scorching hot days to freezing cold nights, with highs reaching up to 50°C. The Central Semi-arid Zone (Sahel) includes the central belt of the country, which includes the capital city of N’Djamena. Rainfall is between 12 and 32 inches (300 to 800 mm) per year, which is confined to a short rainy season from June to September. The Southern Wet-and-Dry Tropical Zone (Sudanian) is characterised by tall grasses, extensive marshlands, and wooded savanna with broad-leaved deciduous trees. This is the wettest part of the country, receiving 32 to 48 inches (800 to 1,200 mm) of rain annually during a longer wet season from May to October. The temperatures lower but still very hot and humid compared to the north and centre.

“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” ~ Rachel Carson

Chad has been instrumental in spearheading the conservation of its incredible environments and in doing so trying to push for more tourism to help finance and create employment around these areas. The tourism in Zakouma is very much in its infancy, but it has created a ripple effect across West Africa with other countries following suit seeing the benefits of African Park’s involvement.

A Sahel acacia showing the depth of the water level across the flood plain when the southern section of Zakouma floods in the rainy season.

Chad is the stronghold for several threatened and endangered species like the Kordofan Giraffe and Northern Lion. The ecosystem supports large numbers of Central and West African wildlife, including thousands of forest and savanna buffalo, Lelwel’s hartebeest, Tiang, Roan antelope, north-east African cheetahs, Buffon’s kob, Leopards, and over 370 species of birds including huge concentrations of Spurwing geese, Marabou and Yellow-billed storks, White-backed pelicans and Black crowned cranes.

The Lelwel hartebeest is an endangered antelope native to Central and East Africa and is attracted by open savannas, grasslands, and wooded grasslands. Historically this species was widespread across a broad belt of the continent, but human hunting and habitat destruction have drastically reduced their range, leaving them heavily concentrated in specific protected areas such as Zakouma.

One of the reasons for returning to Zakouma a week or two later than the previous year was to hopefully see more birds species such as large flocks of Northern Carmine bee-eaters, big herds of Roan antelope and with luck to see more of the the skittish elephant herds.

Ann and I were surprised how different the Zakouma sightings were one week later than a year ago. In retrospect, we should have realised that Zakouma was drying up very quickly because of the intense heat during the day at the end of March. With Zakouma drying out so quickly many of the pans that attracted thousands of birds and hundreds of mammals did not have the multitude of wildlife we experienced a year earlier. During the day the temperatures got to between 45 and above 50 degrees centigrade.

The unique aspect of Zakouma is that the park’s terrain rests on a vast, flat basin comprising thick black cotton clay soils. As the dry season approaches, the surface water evaporates, leaving behind a network of permanent waterholes called marayes (an Argentinian name). Because the clay floor prevents the remaining water from draining away into the deep water table, these pools persist through the harsh dry season, serving as a critical lifeline for Chad’s diverse wildlife.

This is one of the unique aspects of Zakouma, the remarkable gatherings of birds and wildlife around the remaining pools of water.

By contrast, during the wet summer months, the heavy clay absorbs water, expands, and becomes completely impermeable. Because the water cannot seep down into the ground, it floods the flat landscape, turning the park into a massive, shallow inland wetland. This means that most of Zakouma becomes impassable and the Tinga camp we stayed it is only accessible by boat. Those who remain at Tinga have to endure a perfect breeding ground for swarms of mosquitoes and tsetse flies.

Zakouma is a major stronghold for the Critically Endangered Kordofan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum), home to roughly 50% to 60% of the remaining global population of this subspecies. This giraffe species was declared critically endangered in 2018 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The Kordofan giraffe is a distinct subspecies of the northern giraffe unique for its smaller size and irregular inner-leg markings. They are relatively small compared to most other giraffe subspecies, standing between 3.8 and 4.7 meters tall. Their pelage pattern features more irregular and pale spots, including distinctive spotting patterns extending onto the inner legs where many other subspecies lack markings. Only around 2 300 to 2 400 individuals remain in the wild, with the vast majority (about 70%) living in Chad, primarily protected inside Zakouma National Park. They are heavily concentrated in Central and West Africa.

Whenever I visit a park in Africa beyond our wonderful southern African parks I am always intrigued to see differences and variations there are in birds species. Zakouma does not disappoint. The park is home to two ubiquitous species the Red throated and Green bee-eater.

The upper parts of the Red-throated bee-eater are green and the red chin and throat are distinctive. The hind neck, breast and underparts are buff, and the under-tail coverts and thighs are bright powder blue. We watched many of these bee-eaters hawking insects around the Tamarind trees in front of the Tinga camp.

Picking seeds from the sandy area in front of Tinga camp we saw many Black-rumped waxbills. This species looks similar to our southern African Common waxbills due to the red eye band but as is so often the case, this north African species has a variation, a black rump and tail feathers.

While sunbirds are not overwhelmingly numerous in the park’s dense wetlands, this male Beautiful sunbird was regularly spotted flitting through the Tamarind trees in front of Tinga camp. This character was undergoing its plumage moult. Breeding males exhibit brilliant metallic green heads and upperparts, a striking scarlet breast band bordered by bright yellow, and a black belly. Females are much more understated, featuring a grayish-brown back and a yellowish underside.

“To see a World in a Grain of Sand and a Heaven in a Wild Flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and Eternity in an hour.” ~ William Blake

A Paradise flycatcher was occasionally seen in the Tamarind trees in front of Tinga camp. This species is most commonly spotted in the riparian forests, open woodlands, and riverine thickets surrounding the park’s primary waterways, such as near Tinga Camp. While the typical male African Paradise Flycatcher is renowned for its glossy blue-black head, chestnut-coloured body, and sweeping 20-centimetre tail streamers, the rare white morph has been explicitly recorded within Zakouma National Park. The southern African Paradise flycatcher does not have the white on its outer primary and secondary wing feathers.

Doug took us out on an afternoon drive. It was as hot as hades but you forget about the heat when you see new bird species. This Vieilott’s barbet was enjoying the fruits from a figtree.

The Vieilott’s barbet has a bright red face and throat, mixed with pale yellow underparts that have red streaks. Its back is dark brown with pale streaks, accompanied by a pale yellow rump. This species is an arboreal omnivore, it primarily feeds on fruits—especially figs—but also consumes insects like termites, ants, cicadas, and caterpillars.

The remaining water pans attract the Defassa waterbuck. This is one of two species of waterbuck and is characterised by the white patch on either side of its rump. They are mostly found across western, central, and parts of eastern Africa

The second common species of bee-eater in Zakouma is the Green bee-eater. This species is found throughout arid Sahel region of Africa from Senegal east to Ethiopia, and has expanded its range north to Egypt over the past few decades.

This is a beautifully coloured bee-eater and is distinct from the Asian green bee-eater because it does not have the powder blue cheek and throat.

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” ~ W.B. Yeats

A male Four-banded sandgrouse with its distinctive black and white barring on its forehead. You cannot see its brown, black and white chest bands because of the way he is standing. I did not see any other species of sandgrouse in Zakouma.

Many of the birds in Zakouma are different to their southern African cousins from the ground hornbills to bee-eaters and crowned cranes, francolin and barbets to mention a few. But many of the birds are similar such as Marabou and Yellow-billed storks, Spurwing and Egyptian geese, and many of the ducks are the same such as this female Knob-billed duck stretching her wings just before she flew.

After our first day exploring Zakouma for the second time we realised we were in for quite a different trip to the one we expected. We had good sightings of lion and occasionally leopard but did not get to see spotted or striped hyaenas, While part of the park’s carnivore fauna (alongside lions, leopards, hyaenas, civets, genets and servals), live sightings of cheetah are rare and considered a special event. I have never saw a cheetah in Zakouma on either of the occasions I have visited.

“There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.” ~ Ronald Reagan

Explore, seek to understand, marvel at its interconnectedness and let it be.

Have fun, Mike