20-Feb-2013 -- Back in Chad for a new mission on behalf of IIFARMU. The objectives of that mission were very different of those I had during my former stays. I had to visit 4 provincial hospitals in wich my students were sent for a 5-months traineeship. The visits were scheduled in the hospitals of Bongor, Moundou, Sarh, and Abéché. This would be a perfect occasion to try a few visits on yet undescribed confluence points.

After studying the (quite untrusty) french road map and the Google earth pictures, I choose to make a try on 9N 18E and 10N 16E during the first week, then a second visit on 12N 18E on our way to Abéché during the second week. For each of these points I would evaluate the possibility of a visit during the first trip and make the try on the return trip.

After the Abéché hospital visit I would have the opportunity to keep the rented car and the driver for one more day on my own. So I planned to make a 1-day stage in Mongo on the return trip from Abéché and try to visit 12N 19E in the remote and mountainous area of the Guéra province.

The whole 2-weeks trip was done with Issakha, the local coordinator of the IIFARMU program, and Yayah our driver. Now let’s see what happened!

Since I first met Issakha back in 2011 he told me that he was born in a small village named Niergui located 45 kilometers south of Mongo. What a surprise to discover on the map that Mongo and Niergui were on the west side of a mountain range named Abou Telfân and that 12N 19E is located on the east side at 20 km (bee line) from Niergui. So during the preparation of our mission I suggested to use the car for one day on my own allowing us to visit Issakha’s family and try to reach that particular CP.

After spending the night in Mongo, we were ready for an early start on Wednesday, 20 February at 8 a.m. Our first stop was in Niergui one hour later, where Issakha introduced me to his large family. One of his sons, aged 12, lives here because Issakha thinks that it is safer for him than living in N’Djamena.

Two hours later we were ready for our second visit and headed south on the dirt track from Mongo to Abou-Deïa. My plan was to go to Dafra and try to spot a track heading north. We discovered many tracks but none of them was usable by car; the only way to reach the point would be on foot or on horseback riding due north for 22.5 km. That would need at least 6 to 8 hours for the round trip. I was not only lacking time to consider it but hiking alone for that distance with an outside temperature over 35°C would be unsafe.

So I decided to spot the closest point to the CP on the road between Dafra and Niergui. I discovered it at 15.3 km south of the point near a small village named Kilim. At that point the landscape is dominated by a rocky hill wich is colonized by chimpanzees, some of them looking really huge. We took some rest before driving back to Mongo in Kilim where you can see some big granaries containing the production of the October harvest.

Continued at 12N 18E.