Chad

A glance at the map of Africa is enough to realise that Chad is the heart and crossroads of the Sahara. An obligatory passage of trade routes and caravan routes, still travelled by nomadic populations, and with an evocative diversification of the territory, due to one of the most complex and fascinating morphologies of the continent, it is also one of the countries with the widest ethnographic variety in Africa, with over 150 languages and dialects spoken.

Sedimentary and surreal rock formations, peaks over 3,000 metres above sea level, volcanic massifs that are still active, jagged canyons, sandstone spires and pinnacles rising from the golden sands of the desert. And then there are impassable ergs, sandbars and paradisiacal oases set between cliffs and palm trees thousands of years old. Not only sands and rocks that the wind has sculpted over thousands of years, creating labyrinths and suggestive embroideries, but also lakes with crystal-clear waters, sources of life for tribes of nomadic shepherds, and ancient settlements that have survived the lava flows of the Tibesti volcanic complexes, the largest mountain massif in the Sahara. And then there is the Ennedi, with its spectacular sandstone plateaus shaped into arches, pylons and rock walls strewn with paintings and rock engravings, evidence of the time when the Sahara was an endless fertile and populated plain.

A country so vast and varied that it is impossible to exhaust its description with a few words and a visit to a single experience. A destination for true travellers, willing to face a sometimes challenging, but extremely satisfying journey.