We’re in Zakouma National Park in Chad where we’ve just had an incredible wildlife experience (see our previous blog post). It will be difficult to top but we were up for the challenge. That afternoon we visited the Riguek region of the park consisting of vast plains interspersed with wetlands. A pride of 7 lions comprised of 2 adult lionesses with 5 nearly grown cubs was snoozing in the afternoon heat.
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| Pride of Lions |
As the sun sank lower, the sky became alive with millions of Red-billed Quelea coming in for a drink. They flew in a synchronous flow called a murmuration. How they managed to avoid mid-air collisions is beyond me. These small sparrow-like birds feed mainly on grass seed but also cause extensive damage to cereal crops hence the nickname “Africa’s feathered locust”. The sound of their combined wing beats was deafening.
As it cooled down, the lions became more active. The youngsters began to play with each other, stalking and pouncing. One cub spotted a Large-spotted Genet and chased it but it got away. The pride headed out to the road and we followed them. Finally, they tired of us and sauntered off to hunt.
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| Lions at Night |
We went into night drive mode seeing another 5 genets and finally a Pale Fox, a new canid for us!
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| Pale Fox |
The following morning we returned to Riguek to see if the pride of lions had made a kill. We found the pride plus a radio-collared lioness. They hadn’t made a kill and we thought that they might go on a hunt but they decided to rest so we left them in peace.
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| Pride of Lions at Riguek |
We went off in search of a large herd of Tiang that commonly graze on the floodplain. They are a subspecies of the Topi, a handsome African antelope with a black face, a reddish-brown coat with contrasting black patches on their forelegs and thighs and tan stockings.
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| Tiang |
There were also herds of buffalo, waterbuck, reedbuck, and hartebeest grazing in the area. The bird life was equally impressive with huge flocks of Great White Pelican, Black-crowned Cranes, Spur-winged Geese, African Open-billed Storks, White-faced Whistling Ducks, Knob-billed Ducks, and Garganey. If this isn’t a Ramsar site it should be!
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| Flocks of Birds |
A few Tantalus Monkeys, a new primate species for us, were frolicking outside the camp’s dining area. It was nice to see wild animals completely relaxed around humans yet not to the point where they had become a nuisance. These monkeys were not fed and knew enough not to come into the restaurant.
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| Tantalus Monkey |
As we set off for our afternoon game drive, Doug joked with Bonaventure about finding us 3 cheetahs. Bonaventure replied that the workman had seen 3 cheetahs earlier that afternoon not far from camp. Doug said you’re kidding and Bonaventure assured him it was true so we set off to find them. Despite our best efforts, we could not locate them but at least we tried. By now the sun had set and we went into night safari mode. The drive got off to a slow start then Doug amazingly spots the Cheetah! There were three in the dry grass about 70 meters from the road. They were in the open and we got good views and photographs.
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| Cheetahs |
Cheetahs are rarely spotted in the park and to see three was extremely lucky. The cheetahs here are a critically endangered subspecies, the Northwest African Cheetah (Acinoyx jubatus hecki) also known as the Saharan Cheetah. Based on data from 2007 to 2012, there are only around 450 Northwest African Cheetahs in the wild with approximately half existing in the Central African Republic and Chad.
On the drive back to the camp we encountered a lioness with her two 3-month-old adorable cubs on the road. We had now seen 4 species of cats in Zakouma, just the Leopard and Serval to go!
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| Lioness and Two Cubs |
The following day we made a final visit to Riguek. Doug heard a lion roaring and we found a large male with an impressive mane.
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| Male Lion at Riguek |
Not far away the radio-collared lioness and the pride of 7 resting in the shade. They had flies and dried blood on their faces so they must have made a kill last night.
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| The Rest of the Pride at Riguek |
That evening we had dinner on a wooden platform high above the Salamat River. A nearly full moon rose over the river making for a tranquil scene.
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| Moonrise Over the Salamat River |
On the game drive the following morning we encountered a lone cheetah drinking at a waterhole, possibly a male that had made a kill the night before. What incredible fortune to see 4 of these rare and endangered felines!
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| Lone Cheetah at a Waterhole |
We took a break from wildlife watching and drove outside the park to a village that was having its weekly market. Just outside the park gate, a smaller village was holding some sort of women’s celebration. Most of the villagers had gathered around the performers and it was difficult to get a view of what was going on.
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| Village Gathering |
We drove for another hour to get to the village where the market was being held. Along the way, we encountered nomads on their donkeys bringing goods to sell. It was the real deal with people from local villages coming together to sell clothes, vegetables, meat, fish, goats, knives, milk, soap, spices, and everything imaginable.
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| Local Market |
On the long drive back to Tinga Camp, we did our final night drive of the trip. The pressure was on to find a leopard and serval. We were finding plenty of other nocturnal animals, African Civets, White-tailed Mongoose, and a Side-striped Jackal but sadly no felines. Suddenly Marc spotted an animal in the grass, could it be, yes, an Aardvark another creature that is rarely seen! We got an open and prolonged view before it disappeared into the tall grass. Although not a leopard or serval, the Aardvark made for a grand finale to our night drives!
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| Aardvark |
On the way to the airstrip the following morning, we did our final safari in Zakouma National Park. We encountered the same pride of 6 lions seen yesterday. In fact, we saw lions on most of our game drives. It turns out that there was an Italian conservation biologist, Chiara Fraticelli, here studying carnivores in the park. Chiara had requested that lodge guests take photos of the carnivores they encounter and send them to her to assist in her data collection. We readily agreed to help and when I returned home I created a project in iNaturalist which is a compilation of all our carnivore sightings.
Our eventful week in Zakouma National Park had come to an end. Although we had missed seeing the large breeding herd of elephants, we had seen our first Caracal in the wild, observed 4 rare and critically endangered Northwest African Cheetahs, spotted a near-mythical Aardvark, and had the extraordinary privilege of giving water to a wild bull elephant with a garden hose! No wonder, Zakouma is the new crown jewel of Africa’s national parks!
We hope all is well with everyone,
Peggy and Marc
Our Route Map:
Zakouma Mammal List: March 3-10, 2020
| No. | Species | Scientific Name | Comments |
| 1 | Aardvark | Orycteropus afer | |
| 2 | African Savanna Elephant | Loxodonta africana | |
| 3 | Northern Lesser Galago | Galago senegalensis | lifer |
| 4 | Patas Monkey | Erythrocebus patas | lifer |
| 5 | Tantalus Monkey | Chlorocebus tantalus | lifer |
| 6 | Olive Baboon | Papio anubis | |
| 7 | Unidentified rodent | ||
| 8 | African Savanna Hare | Lepus victoriae | |
| 9 | Northwest African Cheetah | Acinonyx jubatus ssp. hecki | |
| 10 | Caracal | Caracal caracal | lifer |
| 11 | African Wildcat | Felis lybica | |
| 12 | Northern Lion | Panthera leo ssp. leo | |
| 13 | Large-Spotted Genet | Genetta maculata | |
| 14 | Egyptian Mongoose | Herpestes ichneumon | lifer |
| 15 | Banded Mongoose | Mungos mungo | |
| 16 | White-tailed Mongoose | Ichneumia albicauda | |
| 17 | Spotted Hyena | Crocuta crocuta | |
| 18 | African Golden Wolf | Canis lupaster | glimpse only |
| 19 | Pale Fox | Vulpes pallida | lifer |
| 20 | Side-striped Jackal | Canis adustus | |
| 21 | Common Warthog | Phacochoerus africanus | |
| 22 | Kordofan Giraffe | Giraffa camelopardalis ssp. antiquorum | |
| 23 | Lelwel Hartebeest | Alcelaphus buselaphus ssp. lelwel | |
| 24 | Red-fronted Gazelle | Eudorcas rufifrons | lifer |
| 25 | Central African Savanna Buffalo | Syncerus caffer ssp. aequinoctialis | |
| 26 | Northern Bushbuck | Tragelaphus scriptus | |
| 27 | Common Duiker | Sylvicapra grimmia | |
| 28 | Roan Antelope | Hippotragus equinus ssp. scharicus | |
| 29 | Defassa Waterbuck | Kobus ellipsiprymnus ssp. defassa | |
| 30 | Buffon’s Kob | Kobus kob ssp. kob | |
| 31 | Bohor Reedbuck | Redunca redunca | |
| 32 | Tiang | Damaliscus lunatus ssp. tiang | |
| 33 | African Civet | Civettictis civetta |
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| Mammal Sightings Map |
Postscript: Little did we know that our visit to Chad would be our last international trip for nearly 2 years! When we returned to N’Djamena it was clear that the Coronavirus pandemic had only grown worse. Cases were being reported in Egypt, our next destination so we cut our trip short and returned home on March 13, 2020, the very day a State of Emergency was declared in Vermont.
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