Zakouma National Park Chad Africa

I arrived at Yamena, I was received by Abdul a serious man who held a hand made sign with my name on it. We went to the parks head quarters to meet some of the staff. An hour or so later we drove through the city center and the big bazaar so I could get a sense of the place. The first thing that came to my mind as we drove was "old" not antique but old. Very few walls had been recently painted and most of them still had bullet holes from the past civil war. 

As we drove away from Yamena you could see  next to the road small villages with houses made of mud, women coming back from water holes over their fully loaded donkeys, men discussing business over a chai and children playing with whatever they found lying around.  We drove for about 6hours until we got to a small hotel in Baldjie where we spent the night. We had dinner at Abduls first wife house, and I, as a honorary guest, was invited to a banquet, to enter the mud house we took our shoes off  leaving them at the door, and then we sat all together in a circle on the carpet.  

The banquete's the entry was fried crickets  and as a main course everyone got a little bit of bread with the right hand and dig in the same pot of liber and rumen. Needless to say I was not too convinced but I  did not want to be rude so I ate everything that was in front of me.

The next day we were picked up by a plane that took me to Zakouma National Park, you can actually get there by car but as it was still rainy season it was easier and safer by plane. 

I spent 3 months inside the park. My job was to work with the Rangers and their horses to improve the anti poaching patrol. 

I lived 2 minutes away from the stables and 5 from the headquarters.  Everyday we would start working at 8 in the morning, stop for prayer at 12 and continue at 4 after prayer and we would ride all the way to Tinga (7Km) and back, in perfect timing for the next prayer.

Pets were not allowed in the park, not only because of conservation purposes but also locals did not completely got the idea of what a pet was. So one of the first assignments was to name their horses and learn how to spell the chosen name. It was difficult to say the least! But by the end of my stay, most horses  could be identified by another thing other than their physical faults. 

Men (and me) were the only ones allowed to ride stallions and women and children would only be allowed to travel by donkey, camel or by foot.  So it was normal for children in the village to greet me every day as I rode down road to Tinga.