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the Degree Confluence Project
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Chad : Lac

12.6 km (7.8 miles) NNW of Ouel Tendjen (Hadjer-Lamis), Lac, Chad
Approx. altitude: 281 m (921 ft)
([?] maps: Google MapQuest OpenStreetMap ConfluenceNavigator)
Antipode: 13°S 165°W

Accuracy: 23.5 km (14.6 mi)
Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

#2: Camel herd #3: Elephant Rock #4: Children on Elephant Rock #5: Chasing monkeys on Elephant Rock #6: A village close to Elephant Rock but over 20 km from the CP

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  13°N 15°E (visit #1) (incomplete) 

#1: Panoramic view from the road to Hadjer el Hamis

(visited by Philippe Burtin)

27-Feb-2011 -- I stayed in N’Djamena, Chad from 20 February to 4 March for professional reasons and I intended to make a couple of tries on yet undescribed CP on Saturday, 26 and Sunday, 27 February. My job didn’t run at the expected pace during the first week of my stay so I had to schedule a meeting on Saturday morning till noon on that day. I decided then to cancel my try for that day having not enough time left in the afternoon. On the next day, Sunday 27th, I decided to make my try on 13° North 15° East.

I choose this point because it lies 25 km ENE of a remarkable geological site named Hadjer el Hamis so I would fill both objectives in visiting this site and the CP on the same day. I rented a car with a driver, obtained a circulation permit from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and off we went with my driver named Moussa.

My first objective is located 106 km straight north of N’Djamena, the capital city. The road runs through a cultivated plain with rice fields (harvested at that time), separated by savannah and low forest areas. The land is occupated by nomad shepherds farming cows and camels. They told us that a small herd of elephants crossed the area just one week earlier.

Hadjer el Hamis is a group of 6 rocky hills poping out in the plain without any relief in the area. Two of these rocks have an elephant shape, so the site is named the “Elephant Rock”. One can easily climb on the rocks often preceded by a crowd of children of all ages who use the rocks as a fieldpla, spending time on chasing monkeys with catapults displaying extraordinary skill.

Moussa told me that the CP most probably would be in an area still flooded and that a visit to the Confluence would not be possible before the end of March. With this argument he refused any approach of the CP by car judging that he could bog the car in trying. Before leaving Hadjer el Hamis we just made a side trip to a village that I saw in the distance from the Elephant Rock and went back to N’Djamena. The day ended slowly and I had to satisfy myself having approached the CP as close as 23.5 km.

I am to come back to Chad at least twice during the next 12 months and this will give the opportunity for a new try on this CP if one of my stays occurs later in the dry season.

Continued at 12N 16E.


 All pictures
#1: Panoramic view from the road to Hadjer el Hamis
#2: Camel herd
#3: Elephant Rock
#4: Children on Elephant Rock
#5: Chasing monkeys on Elephant Rock
#6: A village close to Elephant Rock but over 20 km from the CP
ALL: All pictures on one page
  Notes
In the Lake Chad, close to some islets.