ITM Publications

International Travel Maps: Chad ITM Publications

Chad is a rather large land-locked country in the middle of Africa, bordering Libya on its north, Niger and Nigeria on its west, Sudan on its east, and Cameroun and CAR on its south. As a result, it has to negotiate its way through a variety of cultures to survive. The north half of the country is desert-like and lightly populated. Lake Chad, formerly a very large lake, is rapidly declining in size and may even be smaller than is shown on this map. When I was there in the 1960s, the lake was fairly close to NDjamena (formerly Fort Lamy), the capital, but was already noticeably diminishing in size. At the time, this was attributed to local tribesmen depleting large areas of vegetation to feed their herds of animals, but the real reason is probably a shifting of the earths sub-soil, causing this large water mass to shrink. In any case, most people live in the southern third of the country. The map contains a detailed inset map of NDjamena and a Top Attractions list of interesting places worth visiting. My favourite is the Tibesti Mountains, but Guelta dArchei is a fascinating place to visit.