Taken by Oliver Wright · Public domainCountry Guide № 034 / 194 · Africa
Chad
The Ennedi arches and the Ounianga lakes - Saharan landscapes almost nobody has seen.
“The Ennedi arches and the Ounianga lakes - Saharan landscapes almost nobody has seen.”
The Ennedi Massif in northeastern Chad is one of the great desert landscapes on earth - sandstone arches, labyrinths of eroded towers, the Guelta d'Archei where desert crocodiles survive in a permanent pool below cliffs stained by centuries of camel dung, and rock art across thousands of sites. It was UNESCO-listed in 2016. The Ounianga lakes nearby are freshwater in the middle of hyper-arid desert, sustained by fossil groundwater, and were listed in 2012.
Reaching either takes a week of desert driving from N'Djamena with a licensed operator, permits and a convoy. In the south, Zakouma National Park has recovered from catastrophic poaching - its elephant population fell from over 4,000 to a few hundred before African Parks took over in 2010, and it is now growing again. The security situation across the north and the Sudanese border regions is serious, and most governments advise against travel to much of the country.
Chapter 01
Highlights
Ennedi Massif
Sandstone arches - the Aloba arch spans over 70 metres - labyrinths, and the Guelta d'Archei, a permanent pool holding a relict population of desert crocodiles. Thousands of rock art sites across the massif.
Ounianga lakes
Eighteen freshwater and saline lakes in hyper-arid desert, coloured from turquoise to deep red, fed by fossil groundwater and separated by dunes. UNESCO-listed and almost never visited.
Zakouma National Park
Southern savanna where elephants collapsed from over 4,000 to a few hundred before African Parks intervened in 2010; the herd is recovering, alongside enormous buffalo herds and Kordofan giraffe.
Lake Chad
The shrinking lake at the meeting point of four countries, its islands and fishing communities - and a basin heavily affected by conflict on the Nigerian side.
Chapter 02
Entry requirements for Chad
Checking your passport…
up to 90 days · €100 / $108 · e-visa
90 days on arrival
Before you fly
The detail
- Maximum stay
- up to 90 days
- Process
- e-visa
- Fee
- €100 / $108
- Processing time
- Processing takes 10–30 days - apply with room to spare.
- Passport validity
- Most destinations want validity beyond your stay, and some want six months. Check yours against the return date.
- Onward travel
- Airlines may ask for a return or onward ticket at check-in.
- Health
- Yellow fever certificate compulsory for entry. Malaria in the south year-round. Meningitis belt. Medical facilities are very limited; evacuation from the Ennedi would take days, which is why operators carry satellite communications.
- Money
- CFA franc, pegged to the euro. Cash only in practice. ATMs in N'Djamena; nothing elsewhere. Bring euros in cash for the whole trip.
What changed
Chad requires a United States passport to hold a visa before travel, and the application is now made online through the government's own electronic visa portal rather than by posting a passport to a mission. The fee is in the region of a hundred euros for a single entry of up to 90 days; it is set in Chad and has been quoted differently by different missions, so treat the figure as what to budget rather than as a schedule. What the portal changes is the queue, not the gate. The gate is what you attach to the application: a letter of invitation from a host in Chad, or a confirmed hotel booking, plus a return ticket and the vaccination certificate. Almost everybody who reaches Chad as a visitor does so with an operator - the Ennedi and the Zakouma are not places you arrive at independently - and the operator supplies the invitation as a matter of course. Start the application weeks rather than days ahead; the portal has answered in ten days and it has also gone quiet for a month, and a Chadian mission remains the fallback where it stalls. A yellow fever vaccination certificate is a condition of entry to Chad for every arriving traveller old enough to be vaccinated - not only for those coming from a country where the disease circulates - and it is checked at the airport beside the passport rather than assumed. The certificate becomes valid ten days after the injection, which makes it the one requirement on this page that cannot be dealt with in the week before you fly; arrange it before you buy anything else, because the visa application asks for it too. Two things happen after you land that visitors reliably do not expect. Foreign visitors must register with the police within 72 hours of arriving, which in N'Djamena means a short errand your hotel or operator normally does for you. And movement outside the capital requires a separate internal travel permit naming where you are going - it is the document that actually decides the shape of a trip here, and it is another reason independent travel is rare. Photographing government buildings, military sites, airports and personnel is prohibited and the prohibition is enforced rather than posted.
Check another destination with this passport →
Entry details: Editorial synthesis - Chadian entry requirements, the government e-visa portal and Sûreté Nationale registration practice (2025–2026) · compiled 18 Sept 2026
Who needs a visa for Chad
12 common passports| Passport | Requirement | Stay | Process |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| United Kingdom | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Germany | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| India | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| China | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Brazil | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Nigeria | Visa-free | up to 90 days | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Indonesia | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Philippines | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Vietnam | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Egypt | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
| Nepal | e-Visa | - | e-Visa · €100 / $108 · 10–30 d |
Holding a passport that is not listed? The picker above answers for any of them. See where your passport takes you. Source: Passport Index, updated 15 Aug 2026.
Chapter 03
When to go
BestNov–Feb. AvoidApr–Oct.
Cool and dry; peak Ennedi season.
The band above each month is our editorial verdict - it weighs crowds, prices and access as well as weather. The line is average daily temperature, the bars are monthly rainfall. Select a month for the figures. Climate figures: ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo, 2005–2024 normals.
Chapter 04
What it costs
A day in Chad
Comfortable · sample day
≈ $140
Line items are real prices we track. The daily budget is an editorial estimate for this level, not their sum.
Where this sits among 244 countries we have costed
N'Djamena hotels are priced for the aid and oil sectors and are expensive year-round. Desert expeditions run only from November to February.
Updated Aug 2026 · Editorial synthesis - operator quotes and African Parks tariffs (2025–2026) · confidence low
Excludes international flights - they depend on where you fly from.
Chapter 05
Regions to know
5N'Djamena
The capital on the Chari opposite Cameroon, the national museum and the Grand Marché.
The Ennedi
Arches, labyrinths, the Guelta d'Archei and rock art across the northeastern massif.
Ounianga and the Tibesti
The desert lakes, and the Tibesti volcanoes beyond them on the Libyan border - the latter effectively inaccessible.
Zakouma and the south
Savanna, recovering elephant herds, Kordofan giraffe and the wet-season floodplains.
Lake Chad and the west
The shrinking lake, its island communities and the Cameroonian and Nigerian borders - under advisory.
Chapter 06
Practical guide
Getting there
N'Djamena International is served by Air France, Turkish, Ethiopian, Royal Air Maroc and ASKY. Land borders with Cameroon at Kousséri are used; borders with Libya, Sudan and CAR are unsafe or closed.
Getting around
Desert travel is convoy-based with operators. In the south, roads are poor and become impassable in the rains. Domestic flights are minimal. Nothing about internal movement here is casual.
Money & costs
CFA franc, pegged to the euro. Cash only in practice. ATMs in N'Djamena; nothing elsewhere. Bring euros in cash for the whole trip.
Safety
Regional advisories cover much of the country. Banditry on desert routes, spillover from Sudan in the east and from the Lake Chad insurgency in the west. Photography of official buildings and personnel is prohibited and enforced. Travel permits are required for movement outside the capital.
Health
Yellow fever certificate compulsory for entry. Malaria in the south year-round. Meningitis belt. Medical facilities are very limited; evacuation from the Ennedi would take days, which is why operators carry satellite communications.
SIM & internet
Airtel and Moov; SIM registration requires a passport. Coverage in N'Djamena and larger towns only. Operators carry satellite phones in the desert. Internet restrictions have been imposed during political events.
Chapter 07
Driving
Self-drive outside N'Djamena is not realistic - permits, convoys, navigation and fuel logistics all argue against it. Desert travel requires an authorised operator and a travel permit issued in the capital.
Rules change - verify with an official source before you rent.
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Become ExplWorld Verified →Chapter 08
Itineraries through this country
Chapter 09
From the Journal
Chapter 10
Before you go
ChadChapter 11
Frequently asked questions
How do I actually get to the Ennedi?
With a licensed operator, a convoy of 4x4s, permits from N'Djamena and about a week of driving each way - or a charter flight to Fada that some operators arrange. Independent travel is not permitted and would be reckless regardless. Expect a two- to three-week trip and a substantial price.
Which areas carry advisories?
The Lake Chad basin, the borders with Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic, and much of the north. Advice varies by government and the Sudan war has made the eastern border region far more volatile since 2023. Operators running Ennedi trips route around these areas, but check the current picture.
When can I go?
November to February only for the desert - outside that, temperatures make it dangerous. Zakouma is open roughly December to April and closes for the rains, with the best game viewing in March and April as water concentrates.