Lake chad

Camels, The Guelta Archei Ennedi Plateau, Chad

Our week through the lens: 01-05 September 2014

Decrease in populations is compounded by poaching as people scramble to make ends meet

The miraculous oasis of Ounianga Serir in the Central Sahara of Chad is fed fresh water by an ancient aquifer from a time when the Sahara was a savannah. The lakes have slightly different elevations, and the higher ones are less salty. Maps from aerial surveys in 1954 show the lakes being larger and more connected, indicating that the water level has dropped.

Lake Chad is believed to be a remnant of a former inland sea. Thousands of water birds flock this lake in the pale-arctic winter. The many floating islands are home to a wide variety of wildlife including crocodiles, hippopotamus, fish, waterfowl and shore birds. Thriving fishing villages can be seen

The sweet waters of Lake Chad ~ Republic of Chad, Middle Africa photo by John Scofield/National Geographic

Guelta d'Archëi

Golden Saharan sands surround Lake Boukou at Ounianga Serir in northern Chad, Central Africa.

Natron is unloaded along the eastern shore of Lake Chad near Baga Sola, Chad.

The site includes eighteen interconnected lakes in the hyper arid Ennedi region of the Sahara desert covering an area of 62,808 ha. It constitutes an exceptional natural landscape of great beauty with striking colours and shapes. The saline, hyper saline and freshwater lakes are supplied by groundwater and are found in two groups 40 km apart. Ounianga Kebir comprises four lakes, the largest of which, Yoan, covers an area of 358 ha and is 27 m deep. Its highly saline waters only sustain algae…