The Road Across Chad: Not as bad as before

During my last term in Chad, my boss asked me to explain why our vehicle in Chad had so many expensive repairs.  Here is what I said about the roads across Chad:

“I could easily speak of the inconveniences of Chadian driving. It is very easy to get lost without a GPS along the way. My vehicle would often get stuck in soft sand. However, I will limit my comments here to the conditions that are hazardous to vehicles.”
“The roads in Chad have improved since I started serving in Chad in 1992. Back then, there were only 80 miles of paved tarmac, and we spent most of our time driving around the pits that had been dug in by the big transport trucks. Thankfully in our day, there is a paved highway from N’Djaména to Andoum and beyond to the Cameroon border, and all but 160 miles of highway from N’Djaména to Abéché.”

Room for improvement

However, the road conditions throughout the country are generally not very good. When the company who originally paves the roads does a bad job, small holes in the pavement gradually become potholes, deep into the most used parts of the trail.

One of the worst locations for this is the highway from N’Djaména to Massaguet. There, the road is almost too narrow for two vehicles to pass each other on this two-way road. Many vehicle carcasses can be found along this trail.  You have to be alert as you drive to avoid being like them.

It is true that there are fewer abandoned vehicles on the dirt roads which cross the country, but these are much worse on the wear and tear of the vehicle; especially on roads that were once graded and prepared but have not been maintained for over five years, often longer than that.
On these roads, the washboard effect is the greatest trouble; if you go over the road slowly, you get bounced all around. If you go over them fast enough, you can to make the bounces harmonize and disappear somewhat. However, you run the risk of hitting a sudden pothole – or a goat, or a camel.

Travel Tactics

Our family lived in Iriba for a time.  It takes eight to ten hours to complete this 160-mile trip. We had to make a trip each month to restock on supplies, and money to pay the rent. There are two ways to make the trip: via Guéréda and via Biltine.

In the larger towns along the way to Iriba via Guéréda, specialized mechanics repair tires. However, the mountain pass is very rocky, with some of the rocks as sharp as a knife, pointing up at your tires as you go over them. If we go through Biltine, the trail is more sandy; but you have thorns to contend with, along with the risk of an inability for tire repair. That’s why we travel with two spare tires.

Either way, we consider it a miracle the days we travel in Chad without having a flat tire!  And although the days are rare when we run out of flat tires en route, it has happened. We have never had a third flat tire en route, thus forcing us to stay in the desert wilderness overnight… but we have been close… and God has been merciful.

Update: Things have improved significantly since this description was first written. However, there is still a need to be cautious.