Lake Chad Shore

Retreating shoreline where fishermen land pirogues on the edge of a disappearing lake

The shore of Lake Chad lies roughly 30 km east of N'Guigmi along a track through the Sahel, though the exact distance from town changes as the lake continues to retreat. Fishing communities still work the shallow waters from pirogues, and the lake remains a critical water source for the people and animals of this hyperarid region. The shoreline at dawn or dusk, with fishermen landing their catch and birds moving across the pale water, is one of the quietly extraordinary sights of this part of Africa.

Reaching the lake requires a vehicle or a negotiated camel or donkey journey; go with a local guide who knows the current shoreline position. The lake's shallow, shifting nature means GPS coordinates for the shore are unreliable — ask in town.

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A story
Lake Chad was one of the largest lakes in Africa as recently as the 1960s, covering 25,000 square kilometres. By the 2020s it had shrunk to less than 2,000 square kilometres — less than 10 percent of its former size — due to climate change, irrigation, and population growth. The shoreline near N'Guigmi has retreated many kilometres from where it stood within living memory. What was once a thriving fishing port is now a walk through scrubland to reach the water.